Review: Batman Begins
My reviews presume you have seen the film and will have spoilers. Be thou forwarnedeth.
It was great! Better than I expected! I even liked the new Batmobile, which I hated from the first time I saw it in a preview. First of all, I'm a big time Batman fan. As I have said many times, I can never be Superman, a super-powered alien, but I can be Batman, a man with a mission and lots of money. (It could happen.)
First and foremost, this was a film about Bruce Wayne. Not the Joker, or the Penguin, or Mister Freeze. Seems to me that DC took a look at the Spider-Man and X-Men movies and noticed that these were about heroes and people, and not about villains and cheesy guest stars. Christian Bale did a good job, especially as Bruce which carried the movie for me. He paled in comparison with Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine, but who wouldn't?
The Scarecrow? I remember him as being really lame in the comics. But in the film, he was a cool villain, reinforced by some nice special effects. I like it when a filmmaker says, "Sure this guy sucked in the comics, but watch what we can do in the movie." That's good film making, adaptation for the new medium.
The coolest part for me was the handling of Batman's "secret identity," always one of the corniest things about superheroes. He told Rachel that he was Batman, and you know that Morgan Freeman knew when he saw the Batmobile on TV what was going on. (Thank God they didn't call it the Batmobile, although that's what the box says at Wal-Mart.) This neatly avoids making everybody who knows Bruce and Batman look like idiots (remember when Tempus on Lois & Clark said, "Lois Lane, the stupidest woman in the universe! [putting glasses on and off] Clark! Superman! Clark! Superman!")
Katie Holmes did not carry the part of hard-nosed DA (what were they thinking there?) and I learned the horrible truth that with her hair pulled back, she looks like a cab with the doors open. That girl has some ears on her.
I think this film is a Top 100 for Shocho. Sometimes I say that and try to find a place and it doesn't fit, but I think Batman Begins will make the cut.
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6 comments:
Yeah, I did like this one as well. I'm another Batman fan for the same reason. (I also think that's why I like Indiana Jones) This movie definitely goes up there pretty close to the '89 Burton movie and I'd have to sit down and think to decide which is better. My only complaint was the fight scenes. The close angles and the quick cuts made it nearly impossible to see what was going on.
Bishop
Agreed on the fight scenes. That's how you film it to use the real actors when they're not any good. Occasionally you see a Jackie Chan movie made in America and they film his fights like that, and it's a tragedy.
When the actors know what they're doing, like in the Matrix or Episode I, you pull out a little to show them fighting and it looks SO much more real and cool.
I didn't find Katie Holmes bad, necessarily. But she just didn't fit the part. She's simply to young and too soft to play this tooth-and-nail DA. Throw in the fact that she's totally outclassed by the likes of Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and Gary Oldman (hell, even Rutger Hauer, Christian Bale, and Cillian Murphy), and she comes up as a seriously weak link.
Quality mention of Tempus. His episodes of Lois and Clark were the best of the series, and that particular moment you cite probably the best ever on the show.
That Tempus moment is one of the best in the whole of the Superman canon. I can't believe they did that.
Funny thing is, were a superhero like Batman to exist in real life, someone like Bruce Wayne would reveal his alter ego to a close circle of friends and confidants. It's not far-fetched.
I saw this one at a late show in L.A. (Lower Alabama) with about 4 other people and loved it! I was surprised as I had heard a few bad reviews, so much for reviews.....excellent choice of "bad guys" in the flick too.
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