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Batman Begins

For years, there have been all different types of Batman movies. Each film seemed to take on a more humorous, more demented approach. Beginning with fantastically cast and portrayed villains like Jack Nicholson's The Joker and Michelle Pheifer's Catwoman, to the spontaneous and over the top Jim Carrey version of The Riddler and the God awful Tommy Lee JonesTwo-Face fiasco. The Batman series came to an end, it seemed, after doing just about everything it could. What direction could it take after Spider Man and X-Men have captured the minds of the new, younger generation. With a stroke of brilliance, it takes a totally different direction, an angle that would recapture the attention and love of its core fan base which followed the Batman series back in the day. Thus, Batman begins"¦

American Psycho star Christian Bale is this years Batman. Alongside Katie Holmes, (who by the way needed permission from Tom Cruise to view the screening of this film) Michael Caine, (who plays a phenomenal Alfred) Liam Neeson and Morgan Freeman, the cast is deeper and more captivating then any other previous Batman cast. The movie begins not like a superhero genre, but more like a dark drama that has you wondering what's going on. We follow Bruce Wayne through jail, training, childhood, and just about all the background information anyone would need to grasp the plight of this warrior. In fact, Batman doesn't appear until mid way into the film. That's when the superhero fantasy comes into action. Batman must bring justice to his poorly run town, "Gotham City," where drug shipments and mafia governed influence is ruining the city. Batman must fight a drug that is a panic inducing hallucinogen that makes the victim witness over exaggerated images that would scare the pants off anyone.

This latest Batman installment would shock anyone. It's similar to the first Batman, but much darker. We now understand the struggle Bruce had to endure before becoming a superhero. It is not predictable, as we jump around from his childhood where his fear of bats made him who he is today, to the trial of his parents murderer, to his present situation as Ducard (Liam Neeson) trains him to master physical and mental disciplines that will thrust him in the world of fighting evil. All this is very captivating.

On the down side, however, (yes there is a down side) all of this information isn't always so great. There is great action, but sometimes takes too long with explaining all the scientific mumbo jumbo that takes away from the film. It is not science fiction, it is an action adventure that needs to translate some of the language to a form someone as dumb as me can understand. I realize that for the true comic book

fan, that language is acceptable. From an entertainment standpoint, I say get on with it, I want to see some action, stop talking so much about things only a true nerd would want to hear. Towards the end there's a part where they're talking about how the bad guys are going to drug the city, and it's said in a way that is completely uninteresting and takes me away from the climax.

All said, this Batman is a good solid action packed movie and kept my interest. This was the direction that Batman should take. There is very little humor that compensates with a lot of action and not too many slow points. In all superhero movies there is always a crazy looking villain that animates the film. This film lacks a really good villain until the very end. Even with that, there is still plenty of conflict for Batman to endure including a mafia boss (Tom Wilkinson) and the scarecrow slash psychiatrist (Cillian Murphy) who carries the panic inducing drug. Also, the bat mobile is kick ass with one of the best chase scenes I have seen in a while. I don't know where you can go with this for a sequel, but for now it is safe to say, Batman Begins…

Movie Grade: B+

Synopsis:

A new restart of the “Batman” franchise under the helm of “Memento” Director Chris Nolan and more in tone with the early “Batman: Year One” style comics. As a boy a young Bruce Wayne watched in horror as his millionaire parents were slain in front of his eyes, a trauma which led him to become obsessed with revenge but his chance is cruelly taken away from him by fate. After disappearing to the East where he seeks counsel with the dangerous but honorable ninja cult leader known as Ra’s Al-Ghul, he returns to his now decaying Gotham City overrun by organised crime and dangerous individuals manipulating the system whilst the company he inherited is slowly being pulled out from under him. The discovery of a cave under his mansion, and a prototype armoured suit leads him to take on a new persona, one which will strike fear into the hearts of men who do wrong – he becomes, Batman. In the new guise, and with the help of rising cop Jim Gordon, Batman sets out to take down the various nefarious schemes in motion by individuals such as mafia don Falcone, the twisted doctor/drug dealer Jonathan ‘The Scarecrow’ Crane, and a mysterious third party that is quite familiar with Wayne and waiting to strike when the time is right.