Batman Begins

Over the years, many superhero films have been destroyed in the hands of incapable directors. Ang Lee pretty much screwed The Hulk up for me as did Stephen Norrington with Blade and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. An argument can also be made for Sam Raimi with the Spiderman franchise. But no director has screwed up a superhero as much as director Joel Schumacher did with Batman. After Batman Forever and Batman and Robin, the previous being so detestable that it required a change in the actor playing the dark knight, I avoided Batman like I try to avoid any other Joel Schumacher film. Thus, my initial reaction to the release of Batman Begins was understandably dubious. Also, the fact that it was in the hands of Christopher Nolan, director of Memento which is yet another film I was never keen on. Even with all the critical and commercial praise that this film was receiving, I was still prepared to see another disappointment in the genre of superhero films. But surprise can be a good thing as it proved with this film.

Instead of showing Bruce Wayne as Batman, director Nolan takes a different approach to the other Batman films by introducing us to the character of Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale). Having turned his back on Gotham City after years of depression and anger resulting from the death of his parents, Bruce becomes involved in drug-related crime which ends him in a jail somewhere in Asia. Bruce's ability to fight the majority of prisoners by himself impresses a man by the name of Ducard (Liam Neeson) who is from a clan of ninjas called the League of Shadows and is headed by the notorious Ra's Al-Ghul (Ken Watanabe). Bruce is taken in by this temple of ninjas where he develops his skills as a martial artist and as a fighter. After having developed these skills and running away from the temple, Bruce returns to Gotham City which is fallen into moral descent with the city being run by Mafia boss Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson) and Wayne Enterprises is being run by the immoral, cutthroat Richard Earle (Rutger Hauer). Seeing that the city is in such a disgraceful state with criminals seeming to literally get away with murder, Bruce decides it is time to step up and do something about the state the city is in and thus, in comes Batman!

Watching this film, I was immediately intrigued by the character of Bruce Wayne. For a man as young as he is, Wayne has faced many obstacles in his young life such as the death of his parents, losing his friendships with his childhood friend Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes) and even with his trustworthy butler Alfred (Michael Caine) and descending into a life full of self-pity. Driven by his anger at both himself and at the world around him, we finally understand what drives Bruce, and of course Batman, to seek vengeance in the way he does. With all that has happened to him in his life, it is very easy to sympathize with the character of Bruce Wayne. I actually felt sorry for Bruce Wayne and all that has happened to him and you do root for him to win because of his drive to succeed in what he does. As for the development of Batman, it is very well-developed in this film. Audiences unfamiliar with the comics finally know why Bruce Wayne chose bats instead of some other animal or symbol. Bruce is also driven by his fear of bats and his ability to overcome this fear is something that is both admirable and courageous at the same time. I guess what this film is aiming to show is that Bruce Wayne is human like all of us are and is just as vulnerable as every other person is. I simply liked the fact that Bruce Wayne is shown as a fallible rather than an invincible person as he too often is in TV series, cartoons and movies in which he is portrayed. But this does not mean that Batman is not intimidating. He is and is probably more of a frightening presence in this film due to his past and the anger that drives him which keeps in line with the comic books.

Along with the comprehensive examination into the history of Bruce Wayne and Batman, the film also delves into the history of how Batman's costumes and his various gadgets were created. The film shows how much the creation of Batman depended on various materials from Wayne Enterprises. From the suit itself to the cape to the actual helmet, the history of each of these items in his suit are explained in the film. I also liked how the film shows why Bruce Wayne chose bats as his symbol and as a way of instilling the fear that he has into the fear of all the criminals in Gotham City. And who could ever forget the Batmobile from this film? Even though it is far from the classic, orthodox Batmobile we are used to from the comics, TV shows and other movies, this Batmobile is still as awesome a car as ever and probably a more realistic super-hero vehicle than any other one I have seen so far.

Not only is the character of Bruce Wayne better developed in this film, I generally liked how the film looked into the majority of the secondary characters of the film. Alfred, who has far too often been portrayed as the submissive and reliable servant of Bruce Wayne, is shown in a different light here. Although he still maintains these qualities, he is shown as much more than that in this story. Alfred acts as the fatherly figure in Bruce's life and we see him taking on a more active role in the creation of the character of Batman. Also, it was great to see characters such Lucius Fox, Bruce Wayne's parents, Ducard and Ra's Al-Ghul being introduced into the film. The film shows how much of an influence Bruce's father has had on Bruce in terms of his fight against evil in Gotham City. Ducard and Ra's Al-Ghul are also interesting characters particularly the latter as this character, although a foe of Batman, is rather ambiguous. When the character appears in the film, you are unsure as to whether he is actually good or bad and this keeps you on your toes. Even though the majority of characters are well-developed, I still felt that characters like Dr. Jonathan Crane (or Scarecrow who is portrayed by Cillian Murphy) could have been better developed in terms of how he became this character (mind you, his presence is a rather intimidating and frightening one) and that Rachel Dawes was just an excuse to include the stereotypical romance in the Bruce Wayne story. I also felt that the Mafia boss Carmine Falcone was a bit of a caricature which slightly detracts from the film's attempt to be as realistic as possible. But I guess with the few exceptions, the film's characterisation was generally fine.

The technical aspects of this film were also impressive. The cinematography perfectly complements the mood of the film by constantly portraying Gotham City in a murky brown light which again represents the moral decay that Gotham City has descended into. The musical score of the film is also pretty haunting and unobtrusive. Again, this fits in perfectly with the film. The editing is also rather solid even if a few of the scenes could have been shortened or scrapped from the film altogether.

Christian Bale is probably the best Batman yet to grace the screen. This is a role that is specifically designed for him and I personally think it is great to see an actor of Bale's quality to finally get a role that suits him. You can feel his anger and his desire to seek vengeance for the death of his parents. Those eyes definitely express a lot of that anger and fear that he has. Much has been said about the way Bale's voice changes as Batman but I actually thought this was one of the more smarter moves by the film's director Christopher Nolan. If Bruce Wayne used the same voice as Batman one would immediately suspect that Bruce Wayne and Batman are the same person. The fact that a different voice is used makes it difficult to separate the two. Along with Bale's performance come some very solid supporting performances. Michael Caine is great as Alfred portraying him as a more of an outspoken presence than in other films. It fits well both with the character of Alfred and Michael Caine and it would be hard to imagine Caine playing the role in the same fashion as Michael Gough did in the previous four Batman films. I also particularly liked Ken Watanabe as Ra's Al-Ghul. Its hard to read his character and I felt that Watanabe did very well in maintaining an air of uneasiness over his character. Gary Oldman also stands out in this film as Sergeant Jim Gordon (or the future commissioner of Gotham). It is very rare to see Oldman play a good guy and he portrays Gordon as a very down-to-earth, wholehearted person which is the essence of the future commissioner. Cillian Murphy is also solid as Dr. Jonathan Crane even if his character is somewhat underdeveloped. It is unfortunate though that the same cannot be said about Katie Holmes' performance as Rachel Dawes. To me, Katie Holmes was merely portraying Katie Holmes and like Kirsten Dunst did with Mary Jane in Spiderman, I was left unimpressed by the female presence in the film. I also disliked Tom Wilkinson's performance as Falcone. I have never particularly liked Wilkinson as an actor with his air of monotony and he shows it again with this film. I felt that Falcone is not as menacing as he should be and never quite sat right with me during the film.

As for Christopher Nolan's direction, I was most surprised by this. I never particularly enjoyed Nolan's style of directing but this film has changed my opinion of his style. He does his best to keep in line with the screenplay by ensuring that the film is as realistic as possible. The film felt very authentic in its depiction of Gotham City and you feel that Gotham City could actually be a real city somewhere in this world and it also helps that the characters are fully realized as well. The film does drag slightly but this is all done in the manner of building up suspense throughout the film. I liked how Nolan concealed Batman from the audience during the film which only increased my curiosity as to what the Batman in the film actually looks like. To me, Nolan knew when to hold back from showing action and when to let loose with a ton of action sequences which is something that is rarely seen in today's film world of mindless action sequences.

All in all, I really enjoyed watching Batman Begins and would easily say that this is the best Batman film that I have seen yet. I would highly recommend the majority of people here on Epinions and every person out there to watch this film especially you comic book buffs. I promise that you will not be disappointed.

Thanks for reading the review.