Finnegan Bat Begin Again
Okay, for starters, let's get this out of the way. To my knowledge, there is virtually no resemblance between "Batman Begins" and any Batman comic I've ever read, and there is definately virtually nothing in common between the movie and Frank Miller's classic "Batman: Year One". The names are the same, the Spirit of it all is there (more or less), but the sequence of events is something unique unto itself. So, we'll just set aside my fanboyishism, and judge the movie on its own merits.
Actually, I wanna get something out of the way first. The first four Batman films (as well as the campy old TV series for that matter) were experiments in style by their director. Instead of trying to make a decent Batfilm, the previous directors tried to make what they thought would be an "accurate comic book movie". The end result was always a mess. "Batman Begins", thankfully, just looks like a movie. That alone is a breath of fresh air. No monochromatic lighting schemes, no campiness, and (whew!) no Bang! Pow! Bam!
On another side note, I caught the flick in IMAX. Y'know what Imax is Latin for? Bigger and Louder.
Moving on, I won't spoil the plot for those of you on your way out to see the flick yet, so here's a general rundown. First off, the acting is topnotch. This is an A-List cast from top to bottom. Christian Bale goes from broken man, to focused student, to happy go lucky playboy, to Dark Knight at the drop of a hat quite convincingly. He holds the film together quite well. For support we've got that spunky chick from Dawson's Creek (damn you Tom Cruise!), Morgan Freeman rocking as Tech/Money guru Lucious Fox, Michael Caine adding wit and charm to the proceedings as Alfred, Gary Oldman is easily the best Commisioner Gordan to date (not that he has a lotta competition, but I digress), Rutger Hauer pops up as a seedy businessman (slimy), that guy from 28 Days Later goes from effeminate psychologist to raging looney as the Scarecrow, and Liam Neeson (always top notch) plays Bruce's mentor. The story is good, pacing is tight, and even though the film covers Wayne's childhood and travels, it doesn't get bogged down in boring crap. Not surprisingly, it takes a while before Bruce becomes Batman, but the movie handles well enough that you don't really notice.
Now for the gripes. My biggest gripe is with the editing of the fight scenes. Every fight scene in this flick is just a blur of motion, and I don't mean that in a good way. I don't know what the hell they were thinking, but the bangemups in this flick are indecipherable. Besides that major complaint, I have some minor complaints about story logic that I won't go into. And, although she is stupid hot, Katie Holmes's character is so brutally tacked on it's not even funny. I can just hear the Hollywood executives, "Batman needs a woman to drive him to fight evil. And make sure she has nice hooters".
Long story short, minor complaints aside, "Batman Begins" is a solid film. It's not a killer, but worthwhile, and infinately better than any Batfilm before it.
Actually, I wanna get something out of the way first. The first four Batman films (as well as the campy old TV series for that matter) were experiments in style by their director. Instead of trying to make a decent Batfilm, the previous directors tried to make what they thought would be an "accurate comic book movie". The end result was always a mess. "Batman Begins", thankfully, just looks like a movie. That alone is a breath of fresh air. No monochromatic lighting schemes, no campiness, and (whew!) no Bang! Pow! Bam!
On another side note, I caught the flick in IMAX. Y'know what Imax is Latin for? Bigger and Louder.
Moving on, I won't spoil the plot for those of you on your way out to see the flick yet, so here's a general rundown. First off, the acting is topnotch. This is an A-List cast from top to bottom. Christian Bale goes from broken man, to focused student, to happy go lucky playboy, to Dark Knight at the drop of a hat quite convincingly. He holds the film together quite well. For support we've got that spunky chick from Dawson's Creek (damn you Tom Cruise!), Morgan Freeman rocking as Tech/Money guru Lucious Fox, Michael Caine adding wit and charm to the proceedings as Alfred, Gary Oldman is easily the best Commisioner Gordan to date (not that he has a lotta competition, but I digress), Rutger Hauer pops up as a seedy businessman (slimy), that guy from 28 Days Later goes from effeminate psychologist to raging looney as the Scarecrow, and Liam Neeson (always top notch) plays Bruce's mentor. The story is good, pacing is tight, and even though the film covers Wayne's childhood and travels, it doesn't get bogged down in boring crap. Not surprisingly, it takes a while before Bruce becomes Batman, but the movie handles well enough that you don't really notice.
Now for the gripes. My biggest gripe is with the editing of the fight scenes. Every fight scene in this flick is just a blur of motion, and I don't mean that in a good way. I don't know what the hell they were thinking, but the bangemups in this flick are indecipherable. Besides that major complaint, I have some minor complaints about story logic that I won't go into. And, although she is stupid hot, Katie Holmes's character is so brutally tacked on it's not even funny. I can just hear the Hollywood executives, "Batman needs a woman to drive him to fight evil. And make sure she has nice hooters".
Long story short, minor complaints aside, "Batman Begins" is a solid film. It's not a killer, but worthwhile, and infinately better than any Batfilm before it.
1 Comments:
It would have been cool to see what Arronofsky could have done with the film. Nolan needs one hell of a story to actually tell it in film ("Following" and "Memento"), as "Insomnia" was kind of a hiccup that movied Robin Williams into a serious actor role and Hillary Swank out of what ever dead zone of filmmaking she had been in. Don't know if I'll watch the flick, but I'm happy that they included Scarecrow as a villain. I watched 'em do a decent job with Penguin and Catwoman (not the Mrs. Will Smith version, though), and I also watched 'em destroy the Two Face character and Jim Carey do whatever it was he did to the Riddler. So the Scarecrow will be interesting to check out.
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