Product: Batman Begins (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (2005)
Rating: 3.0
Didn't Meet My Expectations
After hearing the director on NPR describe the psychological complexity of the character and how the first third of the film was devoted to developing that complexity, I was eager to see Batman Begins. Indeed, Christian Bale was excellent and so was Michael Caine, two very witty, sympathetic characters. But the love story with Rachel the DA played by Katie Holmes is flaccid and wastes a lot of the film. The "face your fear" lectures made my eyes roll more than a few times.Most of all, the style was all over the place. At times realistic; other times hyperreal in the best sense like the masterpiece film Sin City, Batman Begins ultimately was a pastiche of cliches and empty chase scenes.Part of the problem is that a few months earlier the film Sin City raised the bar on highly stylized comic films and sadly Batman Begins is several notches below Sin City.