Revisit "The Dark Knight" In "Batman Begins"

2008-07-14 17:25:33

"Batman Begins" Movie Review. 9/10.
By Alex DeMattia. ALL ABOUT MOVIES.NET.

'Batman Begins' is perhaps the first true and appropriate translation of the Batman comic book to the silver screen. Sure, there have been four previous big screen attempts, and even Tim Burton's first Batman from 1989 was a solid film, but in 'Batman Begins' we get the most accurate translation of the character, how he got there, and for the first time, making him the star of the story. Previous Batman films have made the villains the stars with Batman being the host so to speak. In this case, Batman himself, and by extension, Bruce Wayne, is the central character. Director Christopher Nolan takes the franchise in a wonderful new direction, thankfully jettisoning all the rubbish from the previous film, Batman and Robin, and grounding it all in a sense of realism that would almost have you believe it could really happen. In this film, Batman is perhaps the darkest and even scariest he's ever been which is welcome surprise; he's almost on the edge of being the anti-hero and by focusing the story in this area, 'Batman Begins' contains a richness and texture that the previous film don't come anywhere close to matching.

We start with Bruce Wayne in a hell-hole prison, a man lost but trying to understand the criminal mind by becoming one himself. We get flashbacks to his childhood, why he became afraid of bats, the incident where his parents are murdered in front of him (and not by the Joker as in Burton's film), culminating in his meeting with the enigmatic Ducard (Liam Neeson), a man who offers him the path to a secret group called the League of Shadows, a vigilante group who restore balance when greed and corruption have totally taken over society. After receiving ninja and mental training, Wayne is given one final test to prove his worth; he must execute a criminal. On this point, he disagrees with Ducard and ultimately the two come to blows, with Wayne barely escaping alive. Wayne then returns to Gotham with all his training and decides to create a symbol of fear for criminals in Gotham City, 'Batman'. As he goes about fighting crime as his alter-ego, Wayne comes to discover that Ducard is still alive and is actually the mysterious super-villain Ras Al Ghul, who has a diabolical plan to let Gotham destroy itself so it can be rebuilt in the name righteousness. Only Batman can stop him.

The storyline on the surface is perhaps quite the norm for a superhero origin story, but the first point it endears itself with is creating three-dimensional characters, and then getting quality actors to play them. Christian Bale is great as Batman/Bruce Wayne, and is absolutely threatening as Batman in particular. One sequence where he interrogates a corrupt cop with a voice straight from hell is frightening and dramatic. Liam Neeson is spot on as Ducard as well as the villainous Ras who serves as a foil for Batman, who in effect is Ras' student who ultimately rejected him. The remaining actors are also excellent; Michael Caine doesn't quite look like a potential Alfred but he definitely makes the character his own, Gary Oldman is perfectly understated as the up-and-coming Lt. Gordon, Cillian Murphy is creepy as the film's second villain The Scarecrow, Morgan Freeman is great as a James Bond 'Q' style character who helps to give Wayne all the tools he needs to be Batman, and only Katie Holmes doesn't fit well. Somehow a former Dawson's Creek star just doesn't fit in to this type of film.

The action set-pieces in this film are spectacular; Batman's first appearance to defeat a group of thugs and crime boss Carmine Falcone is effective, as is the final sequence where Batman and Ras battle it out one final time with Batman reluctantly letting his former mentor die to save Gotham City. Surprisingly, all the action plays second fiddle to the story which covers a lot of the pathos in the Batman character, starting with his fear of bats and his guilt over his parents' death. All of this makes Bruce Wayne perhaps the most flawed and internally conflicted characters ever to appear in a superhero film and serves to give him more depth and texture.

Where this film also scores major points is its realism; Batman only becomes who he is over a certain period of time as Wayne experiments with different looks and technologies until he finally settles on the look and feel he wants to properly enforce his crime-fighting in Gotham City. Even the batmobile looks more like an army assault vehicle rather than a stylised black bat-looking car and this is all very welcome, especially when compared to the previous film entries which despite certain strengths look pale by comparison to this movie. Even the Scarecrow is realistic; what is really a cartoon villain is actually portrayed with enough realism to make you believe any one could be such a character.

"Batman Begins" is an excellent film in its own right; as a Batman film, it's the only true Batman film.

For the original review, click HERE.