Product: Batman Begins (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (2005)
Rating: 5.0
He's Back And Beginning
First of all, forget your memories of Burton's films of Batman because this is much, much different. Christopher Nolan takes a much darker approach to Batman and tends to swerve farther away from a comic book type feel for the movie. Where Burton often used bright colors and dramatic close ups of caricatures of the infamous DC universe, Nolan takes a more subdued view of the characters and focuses on their psyches instead of their looks and over personalities.Batman Begins, quite literally, spends its time showing the audience just how Bruce Wayne developed his alter-ego and then put that other side of him into effect so that he might make Gotham City a better place. After his father died the city fell into the hands of greedy, biased, and lucrative men who allowed all of the hard work Bruce's father put into the city to fall to the wayside. Constantly filled with anger and hate for the iconic thug that killed his parents and the city's inability to hold itself up, Bruce flees. He searches for something to help him and he finds it in the idea, in the concept, in the teachings of Ra's al Ghul. However, unable to completely follow the definition of "justice" presented to him, Bruce returns to Gotham City with specialty training under his belt and a new definition of what he needs to be. What follows is a heart-stopping, action-packed thrill ride that speaks to any fan of the Batman tradition.The main villain here is Scarecrow. Just like Ra's al Ghul, he is not a well-known villain, but he definitely was part and parcel of the comics and deserves his place in the spotlight. More importantly, however, the villain in this movie is based on fear. Fear can control, can infiltrate hate, can skew logic, and can make people weak with the inability to act. Bruce suffered from fear for most of his life which turned into hate and loathing. The people of Gotham City live in fear and distress, unable to lift themselves out of the mire because of that fear. Ra's al Ghul and Scarecrow both use fear to further their means while Batman, Bruce, also taps into the fear well to be used for the better. It is the process of overcoming the psychosis of fear that makes this film so fascinating. It, like the comic books, is something we can relate to and allows us to empathize with the characters. Through this the true story of finding one's identity and fighting fear arises.A great film for the layman and for the comic book connoisseur alike.