Yes, I am, in fact, the last person to have seen this movie. Well, the last person amongst the circle of folks I know who would be interested in seeing it. But when I saw the DVD marked down to $7.50 yesterday at Target, I couldn’t resist.
Batman Begins (2008)
| Overall |  | Story | |
| Production | | Acting | |
Story: Okay, for starters, this isn’t as much fun of a movie as Iron Man (the new touchstone for super-hero movies). That’s okay, because Batman — and his origin — shouldn’t be fun. This movie also takes canon, give it a few good shakes, then puts the results out on display. This is the sort of thing — Ra’s al Ghul being involved in Batman’s original training, for example — that drives some fanboys nuts, and all too often with justification. If you’re going to screw around with continuity, you better be replacing it with something at least as good.
In this case, they have. There aren’t necessarily compelling reasons for the changes, large and small, the insertion of new characters, the shuffling about of others, etc. — but they do work well, stripping much of the “comic book” from the mix without leaving Batman looking too ridiculous as a costumed crusader.
Finally, regarding continuity, let’s face it — over the last seventy years, Batman’s origin has been reshown, rewritten, rejiggered, so many times that, so long as it remains true to the original, no continuity fan is going to complain too loudly. Heck, the changes here are smaller than in the previous Batman franchise starter (where it turns out that the Joker was the one who killed the Waynes).
That all said — the story, which focuses on Batman’s origins, starting in media res of Bruce Wayne’s wanderjahr, is highly satisfying. If it gets a scosh too complex later on — plots within wheels within motivations within secrets within schemes, with various villainous parties working together and separately to make life difficult for Gotham — it still pretty much holds together, and then some.
Production: Unlike previous incarnations, this Batman is more high adventure than operatic SFX. Gothan here is a pretty ordinary (if grungy and decaying) city, not Burton’s stylize vision. That doesn’t make either the scenery or the action pedestrian, but does make it feel more real than what we’ve seen in the past. Well done.
Acting: The acting is surprisingly strong. Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne treads old ground but does so well and believably. Gary Oldman makes for a splendid Jim Gordon. Rutger Hauer, former action hero, now plays a nicely evil executive. Liam Neeson’s “Ducard” is quite nice, too. There aren’t any weak spots amongst the supporting cast, either, both in the canonical characters (nice Scarecrow) to the new ones (Rachel) — though there’s something just a bit off in Michael Caine’s Alfred that I can’t quite put my finger on.
Overall: Iron Man‘s getting all the hot press right now, and rightly so. But for a more subtle, less flashy, and equally worthy entry into the “comic book movie” genre, Batman Begins does just as well.
This particular DVD is utterly lacking in any special features — except for one well-done movie.
I know there was a weekend in there somewhere
SATURDAY: Family fun day. We went to the paint-your-own-ceramics place over by the Tattered Cover (Highlands Ranch edition), and spent an appalling sum doing just that (though I think…
The well-done movie is the one thing I’m looking for when I buy a DVD. I never watch the interviews or outtakes or such. And… I loved this movie. Wayne is a seriously messed-up dude suffering from deep PTSD due to watching his parents gunned down. Lots and lots of dark. Also the origin of the hardware was more believable – seems unlikely Wayne would be the world’s best detective, best fighter, and best inventor too. They also got that part right on the animated series – Batman recruited help with his hardware.
This movie exceeded my admittedly low expectations by a comfortable margin. The Batmobile was the only element I didn’t like.
I’m not sanguine about the upcoming sequel, though. I don’t think I’m going to like the new Joker. I might be able to tolerate the new look, but Heath Ledger seems to be underplaying the Joker, perhaps to make him seem more menacing, but if there’s one character that needs to be overplayed, it’s the Joker.
I think it’ll be hard to say until we actually see the final cut. I’ve learned not to trust trailers on this sort of thing.
The “new” Batmobile didn’t bother me. I was considerably less sanguine about the “secret” entrance to the Batcave that the vehicle used — it didn’t seem quite as believable as, say, the whole Adam West flip-down sign.
Believable? Are you saying that jumping the batmobile into the batcave was the least believable part of a movie about a guy apparently as wealthy as Bill Gates who dresses up in a bat costume to fight a guy in a scarecrow costume in order to prevent the destruction of a major city by a group of vigilantes from Tibet led by an Englishman with a French name who plans to use the guts of a giant military microwave oven to explode the entire water system of the city after secretly putting a psychotropic drug in the water? I mean come on, God said the car was designed to jump over rivers!
Of course, I’m just trying to pull your chain a little bit. I didn’t have any problem suspending my disbelief about the batmobile. My suspension of disbelief problem was, as I suggested above, with the idea that a giant microwave emitter could cause the whole city water system to “blow”.
Actually, the car jumping wasn’t the problem (I’m an old Speed Racer fan, after all). It was that the security for the Batcave deemed to depend on the car jumping off a bluff through a waterfall.
1. Pretty waterfall. Surely no tourists or hikers would ever wander by at an inopportune moment.
2. “Wow, this is weird. Look at the big tire treads that run right up through the dirt to the edge of the cliff.”
3. Relying upon the jump mechanism (and the vehicle in general) in order to get to safety sounds like a bad idea. (Though I’d guess there would be backup plans.)
It just seemed like something intentionally flashy that was less (so to speak) grounded than the other bits of the movie. 🙂
Too make you feel better, you are not the last, simply becuase I am unwilling to pay money for it. ;P
I see your point. Yes, the secrecy of the bat cave does seem to be at risk. Here’s another problem to add to your list: I can imagine busybody historic preservationists discovering that stately Wayne Manor was a stop on the underground railroad and wanting to turn the batcave into a historic site that must be restored to it’s historic appearance before the civil war.
Well, notice that it took the DVD being down to $7.50 to get me to it. So you can borrow it now. 🙂
Oh, speaking of the Dark Knight trailer, here’s a site that runs it simultaneously with the 1989 Batman trailer. The similarities are waaaay beyond coincidence!
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1813453