Batman Begins At Last
I saw the long awaited Batman Begins tonight. The script I read back in December was very accurate.
This movie is the real Batman. No Day Glo. No Prince music.
Christian Bale is easily the best of all the live-action Batmans (I have a fondness for the voice work of Kevin Conroy who has become synonymous with Batman for me after more than a dozen years in numerous animated series) I can see why Bale has been cast in what seems like creepy roles for most of his career. His level of intensity is probably a bit high for the standard romcom-loving audience. I will definitely be looking to watch some of his previous films. The rest of the cast was also excellent. Katie Holmes was even generally acceptable.
Unlike the Burton films with their heavy gothic/noir feel, and the neon-drenched Schumacher flicks, Batman Begins has a real world immediacy. For the first time, we see Batman dwarfed by Gotham City (portrayed by its real life inspiration, Chicago) This film actually has more villains than any of the previous ones, but as they don’t spend nearly as much time chewing scenery as the typical comic book bad guy, it isn’t obvious. In fact, I’m very impressed at how well Nolan pulled this off, considering the plot was pure comic book.
The most important thing is that they finally got Batman right. Whatever else Batman is, he’s a bit of a psycho. Sure, the murder of his parents is extremely tragic, but it is isn’t an uncommon enough occurrence to drive him to the extraordinary lifestyle he chooses. The driven personality of Batman is who he really is. Bruce Wayne is merely a facade. This Batman was perhaps SLIGHTLY less driven than Miller’s Year One version, but they are certainly close in spirit.
I still think the Tumbler is the ugliest thing ever put on wheels. But it can smash through anything and everything, so who really cares.
Anyway, good good movie. Go see it ASAP.