Batman Begins Reviews

I like this one much more than Dark Knight.................................................................................................................................................................

For Nolan, it is where the whole thing really started. I mean, many people, included me, had noticed him before, above all thanks to 'Memento', but, up to that point, the guy was rather unknown to the mainstream audience. Anyway, it was his most ambitious project so far and it was nothing small. Indeed, his mission was to resurrect the almighty Cape Crusader, a beloved character whose reputation had been terribly destroyed following the misguided installments directed by Joel Schumacher. Eventually, this first movie was a success, financially and critically. Indeed, he threw away everything that had been done before and started the whole thing from scratch, with a new gritty realistic approach. Suddenly, super-heros meant serious business and this genre never looked the same after that. Of course, it was not completely flawless. Indeed, Katie Holmes was not really convincing and the 2nd part, when we actually finally see the Batman, was actually weaker than the awesome 1st part when you witness his actual birth. Still, even though it might not be a masterpiece like the great 2nd installment, it remains an awesome flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre or if you are interested in Christopher Nolan´s work.

Oh man, 'Batman & Robin' was so bad, we thought that 'Batman' was gone for good! Thanks to Christopher Nolan for bringing Batman back! And better than before!

'Batman' seemed short as it told Bruce (Michael Keaton)'s parents being killed at the beginning and then the appearance of The Joker (Jack Nicholson). The Joker doesn't even appear in this one (to later appear in 'The Dark Knight) and in this version, Bruce (Christian Bale) becomes Batman after about 1 hour.

'Batman Begins' is like the first half of 'Batman', 'The Dark Knight' (presumably) finishes it off! Dark and amazing, 'Batman Begins' is also the beginning of director master Christopher Nolan's trilogy!

Brilliant introduction where Nolan brought his multi-layered narrative into the Batman franchise. A work of art in storytelling the origin of a legend with appropriate cinematography.

It lacked something, but it was still pretty good.

I've come to learn something on Listal, and it's that people always say these Batman movies are overrated. Well the people who say that are fans of Ingmar Bergman films and don't like superhero movies. So if you don't like bloody super hero movies then don't f*cking watch them then you idiots.

The Batman franchise was at a normal, balanced level following the two successful comic book adaptations by Tim Burton, but it had gradually sunk rock bottom due to the release of Batman Forever and especially Batman & Robin at the hands of Joel Schumacher. The strongest alternative to possibly revive the series was to simply reboot it in an attempt to expose another side to Batman and co in Gotham City. Furthermore, because Batman Begins told Bruce Wayne’s origin story of how he became the Caped Crusader, it partially served as a non-official prequel. Nevertheless, Batman Begins became a critical and commercial success that became the reboot the series desperately needed.


Nolan’s work hadn’t quite risen to worldwide fame until The Dark Knight’s release but Batman Begins was where he started off his own Batman trilogy. Unlike any other within the series, Nolan slightly reduced the essence of comical backgrounds and approach to characters and expressed that even those in comic books can be exposed as normal human beings. Nolan provided the telling of Batman’s uprising in not only a very masculine and realistic tone but also took us on an emotional and very personal ride. Furthermore, he avoided the vintage computer-generated effects that have overkilled many films over the years and used stuntmen to perform an action sequence, which was more than impressive. Still, the most successful aspect of Batman Begins was how well Nolan handled the realism of it all. The emotions, the storyline and again, how it was filmed captured that feeling and continued to run throughout the rest of the trilogy.


Behind every superhero, there is a build-up, background story of how he/she fulfilled their destinies and obtained their abilities. Peter Parker had his tale of his transformation into Spider-Man as did Clark Kent into Superman, but now we are provided with Bruce Wayne’s young life and the beginning of Batman. Wayne had been portrayed three previous times by Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer and George Clooney. Now we have Christian Bale in the role where we witnessed a much younger Bruce Wayne. Unlike his predecessors, Bale fitted perfectly into both the rich, noble but emotionally confused Bruce Wayne and the uniquely heroic Batman. He grasped a very fixed connection between the two but at the same time, exposed two opposing characters. Nevertheless, Bale may have been underestimated but he undoubtedly is the strongest performer in the role. There weren’t any other actors from the previous films that returned in Batman Begins but there were more sophisticated supporting performers in Nolan’s trilogy than in Burton and Schumacher’s instalments. Michael Caine became the latest actor to portray Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce’s butler and personal mentor. Alfred is what one would describe as “the normal one” as Alfred simply feels how we, the audience, feel during the film. Caine provided this successfully and established a very close on-screen bond with Christian Bale.


Furthermore, Liam Neeson made his presence known in another franchise as Henri Ducard, who trained Bruce before he became Batman. Neeson, ironically, portrayed the master and trainer of Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace - the first instalment of another trilogy. There is always a love interest for every superhero and in this reboot; the role of Rachel Dawes went to Katie Holmes. Her performance was not entirely appalling but her beauty did not suit the nature of the character. She seemed a bit too young in the role, but thankfully her performance was replaced and redeemed by Maggie Gyllenhaal in The Dark Knight. Cillian Murphy took on the role of Dr. Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow and gave a psychologically terrifying performance. He became a mentally unstable start for Batman but was only the beginning as the Joker came along next. Finally, Gary Oldman portrayed Sgt. Jim Gordon, Morgan Freeman performed as Lucius Fox and others, such as Rutger Hauer, Tom Wilkinson and Ken Watanabe made appearances in Batman Begins too.


Overall, Batman Begins is a very personal, dark reboot that the Batman franchise not only needed, but deserved. In addition, it served well as a prequel too as it fulfilled the wishes from the fans and critics as Bruce’s story was told very realistically and became a more than convincing character to journey with. This does not always work with film adaptations, but it firmly honoured the comic books, its original sources, but also revolutionised a modern Batman and Gotham City. The birth of Batman in Batman Begins literally became the equivalence to the resurrection of the entire Batman franchise. Christopher Nolan was the perfect man for the job of renovating this series as he bolted off to a flying start and then progressed to make the two widely successful sequels.

Michael Bay takes a lot of flack for his films, but whatever you think of them you have to agree that he’s pretty good at blowing stuff up. Directing an action movie is actually a special skill, and not one that everyone always gets right. Some directors fall prey to the shaky-cam, others use too many wires and end up making their actors look like they’re full of helium. The real trick of helming a superhero franchise is that in the end it’s not enough to fill your movie with nothing but kick ass stunts, nor is it enough simply to nail proper character development. A truly great superhero movie successfully scores with all elements: story, character, atmosphere, and action. The Batman universe’s new entry, Batman Begins, misses being the definitive take on the character precisely because helmer Christopher Nolan is no action director. In spite of that, the movie works because he gets the Dark Knight in a way no one else yet has.

Nolan’s attempt is called Batman Begins and as the title suggests it covers the most boring of superhero genre necessities, the origin story. Next year director Bryan Singer will try to restart the Superman series by picking up where Richard Donner left off, but Nolan is going the opposite war here, he’s giving Batman a total reboot. Behind the cape and cowl (at least when Bruce Wayne finally gets around to putting it on) is British actor Christian Bale who most recently won acclaim for doing a Lindsay Lohan impression in The Machinist.

Begins follows Bruce Wayne’s journey to becoming Batman, from the murder of his parents in a back alley to training in a remote Chinese dojo under the tutelage of a mysterious martial arts master. Batman, unlike most superheroes, isn’t driven so much by a desire to do right as he is by a burning need for vengeance. The screenplay by Chris Nolan and genre veteran David Goyer builds towards that admirably, taking time to languish over Bruce Wayne’s internal conflict for at least an hour before he actually wraps himself in a bat symbol. In that time we’re treated to flashbacks and flash forwards, training montages, and words of wisdom from Bruce’s crime-fighting instructor Ducard as given life by the perfect on-screen mentor, Liam Neeson.

Once Wayne returns to Gotham, we’re thrown still more exposition as the film tries to put a realistic spin on the vigilante character. Batman’s car for instance is an abandoned military tank prototype, a little more plausible than a Rolls Royce that can climb walls. Time for more montage, this time while Bruce paints his costume, sharpens Batarangs, and orders his mask from Taiwan. Yes, Batman’s cape is made in China. Isn’t everything?

By the time Batman takes on his first mission, we’re well and fully primed for some action. It’s here that Nolan really does something different, by first showing us the Batman from a criminal’s perspective. Our dark clad hero lurks unseen in the shadows, luring criminals in and then in the blink of an eye dragging them mercilessly up to a rooftop. Batman’s initial costumed outing plays a lot like a scene from Alien, with the caped crusader hanging from the ceiling as he awaits unsuspecting prey. When he finally attacks it’s in a blur of darkness and pounding kicks, for the first time we fully understand what it is about him that strikes so much fear into the heart of his opponents. This shadowy, obscured introduction to Bale in costume is wonderfully effective, provided that we’re given an opportunity to clearly see the icon at work in costume as the rest of the movie progresses. This is Batman after all, and we’re here for the action as much as the character.

That’s where Nolan’s movie really hits a roadblock, because the action never goes much further. Subsequent fights are shot with extreme close-ups and in overbearing shadow. We don’t get many good looks at Batman in motion, and anything approaching a wide shot is obscured in heavy clouds of steam. The film’s climax features a powerful hand to hand battle between Batman and Ra’s Al Ghul, but with Nolan’s camera three inches away from the Dark Knight’s cowl I’d be hard pressed to tell you who is punching who. I admire Nolan’s reported refusal to over-use computer generated effects on his film, but if this sort of off-screen action is the result perhaps he should have considered throwing in some nice animation. Tim Burton managed to give us a few thrills without computers so I’m not sure that’s a valid excuse.

It isn’t that Batman Begins isn’t visually stunning, it is. Nolan has a distinct visual style that pays off in gorgeous ways when put to work on Bats. Watching him descend from Gotham’s pollution streaked sky into a hive of villainy has never looked quite so eerily beautiful. There’s a great chase sequence involving the new Batmobile too, its new tank-like structure opening up new opportunities for destruction. I also love the way the film uses actual bats, it ads a unique air of significance to Batman’s animal persona that the other movies have never had. Aside from a rather odd scene in which Batman fights the equivalent of hordes of lumbering zombies, sharp believability seems to be the watchword here, in place of Burton’s Gothic influence or Schumacher’s wacky circus act.

For me, the film is at its best when breathing life into the people around Batman. Future police commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) plays a pivotal role in the story, except we’re catching him before he’s even made Lieutenant. You’ll like the way Goyer’s screenplay develops a relationship between Gotham’s last honest cop and the controversial vigilante, it’s the first time that’s been explored on-screen outside of some half-hearted references. Bruce Wayne’s butler/father figure Alfred benefits as well, and of course it doesn’t hurt that he’s played by a venerable actor like Michael Caine. I could have done without newly appointed tabloid centerfold Katie Holmes mucking things up as an obligatory girlfriend, but her role isn’t important enough for a lackluster performance to drag the movie down.

Batman Begins is a solid re-entry into the comic book hero’s crime riddled world. Missing is some of the exhilaration and fun of its predecessors, in its place is a closer examination into the nature of the character. If there’s fault to be laid, put it at the feet of Nolan who seems to understand the character, but not his karate chops. You won’t see a lot of good “Pow!”, “Bang!”, “Boom!”, or “Zowie!” in this version of Batman, Nolan appears incapable of making that sort of movie. Luckily, the film otherwise captures the Batman so well that any missing excitement can be forgiven.

After the disappointing results of Batman & Robin, up-and-coming director Christopher Nolan took it upon himself to do a Batman reboot. And that's exactly what Nolan did and bought forward the (then) greatest Batman installment of all time. Frankly speaking, I did not like it the first time around because I wasn't much exposed to Christian Bale. After seeing him in The Machinist and American Psycho, I saw this film again and this time, loved it. Each scene builds up to another scene like a long great drum marathon by either Nick Menza or John Bonham. Overall, I liked the dark tone of the movie which was lacking in the superhero movies of its time, bar Blade.

One thing I would like to point out: I liked Katie Holmes performance as Rachel Dawes and she was quite convincing. Of course, when Maggie stepped in the sequel, she was more better but Katie was also good nevertheless. Also, the chemistry between the leads, Bale & Holmes, might be a little shaky but it wasn't whiny as the Peter Parker/Mary Jane pairing from the Spider-Man franchise. This one had more realistic feelings and emotions. Also, I liked the fact that this had a wide variety of classic actors like Tom Wilkinson, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine. I mean, an epic movie like this deserves to have epic actors, right?

Let's see, what about the film? Unlike it's predecessors and it's successor, Begins is more dialogue-driven. I think that was a good thing or otherwise it would've been just another action-superhero movie and would've been boring. All in all, the acting by everyone is great (check out Cillian Murphy and Tom Wilkinson) and the action is well placed and Cillian Murphy is the only actor who easily blends with all characters and shares good chemistry with each. In conclusion, first watch Batman & Robin, get heavily disappointed and then watch Batman Begins to lift your spirits higher.

9.0/10

--Although not as brilliant as the newer The Dark Knight, it's still a spectacle to see. The film goes back to Bruce Wayne's training and more in depth with how he became Batman. It's not exact like the comics, but still a very great idea and it pans out quite well to me. Christian Bale with his funny batman grunts are still awesome and he plays a better batman than any other. Blows Clooney, whom was a HORRIBLE Batman, out of the water. Michael Caine as Alfred is awesome. I loved it! Morgan Freeman as part of Bruce Wayne's corporation, you could say, is his friend who hooks him up "Q" style and has funny moments. Oh..and Cillian Murphy is the bomb!

Dislikes: Katie Holmes as Bruce Wayne's love interest. A bad choice in my book, in the other films his love interests were much different. She lacked personality too. That's me tho.

Rating: 9.5/10

Batman Begins which stars Christian Bale as the caped Crusader/media/weapons empire. is just as good as the original and is filled with great lines and action that will keep you on your feet the whole 2 1/2 hours. Bruce wayne is in search of something. He finds it in Vigilante Justice. just after being arrested for stealing his own stuff. In prison Wayne is approached by none other than Ducard ( a very good Liam Neeson). He is told to find a very pretty blue flower and bring to the top of the moutain. once wayne arrives he discovers what his friend Ducard and his orgnaization are not who they seem to be and returns to Gotham city where all hell has broken loose. Batman Begins is a great re-start to the franchise and like casino royale breathed alot of life into the franchise once again. Batman begins looks great in Hi-def (on blu-ray). However, it also sets up further plot into The Dark Knight. possibly an academy award winner later this coming year. so don't miss this title before the Dark Knight hits dvd and blu-ray next week.