Batman Begins

[satori001]

Possible spoilers below - proceed with caution...

Christian Bale (whoever he is) was surprisingly good. The movie was a psychological study of Batman's genesis. I enjoyed the effects too. The cables gave him Spiderman like abilities. They were more mechanical than magical, and that made them more fun.

Michael Caine wasn't bad as the loyal, flesh & blood, salt of the earth butler, Alfred. (From Alfie to Alfred - such a legacy.)

Big spoiler here:

Liam Neeson's character began with considerable power and ended up just another Hollywood super-villain. They blew the twist. His apocalyptic rationale for destroying Gotham was somewhat less convincing, as it should be, than God's reason for destroying Earth with a flood, a far bigger extermination of human life, but we can accept it somehow. Talk about a cult with too much time on its hands... Anyway, the idea that someone of Neeson's stature could think he was serving humanity is silly. Cartoonish, yeah, but the movie transcends the cartoon with elegance and intelligence in other ways. Didn't here.

Rutger Hauer was under-utilized. He could be a world-class bad guy. Too bad he wasn't tied into something more diabolical than run of the mill greed. For a scheming CEO, not very imaginative.

Katie Holmes - when Batman races through the streets to prevent a creeping poison from destroying her brain, all you can ask yourself is, "Why the rush? The poison has to find her brain first, and that could take a while." Anyway, the "dialogue" at the end of the movie between Bruce & Rachel (Katie) confirms that, despite Batman's best efforts, her brain didn't make it. There's a moment when they kiss where she actually turns into a grotesque, female version of Tom Cruise. Really, kinda sort of. You'll have to see it for yourself. Something about the profile of her cheeks.

Gary Oldman plays the one honest and straight-laced cop left in Gotham. He too was under-utilized. Oldman is a true maniac, like Hauer, when he wants to be. I'd have enjoyed a scene between the two of them where they could cut loose a little. They were both mostly passionless. A waste of talent.

Cillian Murphy plays the creepy Dr. Jonathan Crane. Cartoonish character development. Where'd he get the horse? If the drug is supposed to terrify him, why is he riding around terrifying everybody else? And why are all the crazies unaffected by the crazy gas?

One of my favorite funny scenes, is where Batman breaks through a cell door in the asylum, and then breaks out through the cell's wall. After he's gone, the two cell mates momentarily look at one another. Classic.

You can't help but like Morgan Freeman. His part was pure pandering, but he was good, small though his role was. I'd have preferred Freeman in Oldman's part, and vice versa. Oldman could have brought a little crazy (more Christopher Lloyd than Christopher Plummer) to his character's enforced isolation, and the older Freeman would have been more challenged by Batman's appearance. They could have created a little of the "Lethal Weapon" chemistry between Gibson and Glover, all their own.

All in all, a really good flick.

[GeorgeStGeorge]

Satori, do you read Batman comics?

Ra's al Ghul has, at least for the last twenty years or so, been about purifying the world. (He has also been able to "resurrect" himself with "Lazarus pits," so he's a couple centuries old.) Initially, he was more about testing "the Detective" to see if he would be a suitable son-in-law. Although the Joker would face Batman more often, Batman recognized Ra's al Ghul as his most deadly adversary. Interestingly, when I saw the early part of themovie, all I could think was that Liam Neeson should be Ra's al Ghul, not the Asian actor. How nice that I was right.

Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon was great. I found his turn as a NON-psychotic a refreshing change!

Lucius Fox was a character (like Ra's al Ghul) introduced in the comics back in the '70's. He was COO of Wayne Enterprises, and he was black. Morgan Freeman was an ideal choice, though in the comics he's a business whiz, not a technogeek.

I don't recognize Cillian Murphy from any other work, but he made a believable Scarecrow (although he was probably a bit too good-looking.) The special effects involving his fear gas were more convincing than the comics.

A very pleasant surprise was Tom Wilkinson as mob boss Carmine Falcone. With his Brooklyn accent and ungentlemanly ways, it took me several minutes to recognize him as the actor who portrayed Cornwallis in "The Patriot."

I'm not sure why every leading actress in a Batman film has to learn his secret identity. That's the only thing I found disconcerting.

The ending sets up a confrontation with the Joker. I wonder who they'll get to play him, this time? I always thought Peter O'Toole would have been a marvelous one, but he's a bit too old these days. And with the district attorney killed off, it leaves the door open for Harvey Dent to take over. He would become, of course, Two-Face after a criminal splashed acid on him.

George

[satori001]

Okay, ya got me. I haven't read a Batman comic for 35 years, give or take.

[Raf]

Katie Holmes was a joke. She looked like she should be sent back to Dawson's Creek. (Was her name Dawson in the movie? Was that a joke?)