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BATMAN
BEGINS - 2005
Warner Bros.
Rated: Argentina: 13 / Australia: M / Finland: K-14 / Germany: 16 / Norway: 15 / Peru: 14 / Portugal: M/12 / Spain:
13 / Sweden: 15 / UK: 15 / USA: PG-13 |
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Great
comic book. Mostly great cartoons. But actually making a guy in a freaky
costume look cool and scary instead of silly is tricky. Very tricky.
BATMAN BEGINS was directed by Christopher Nolan (MEMENTO, INSOMNIA) and written by Mr. Nolan and David S. Goyer (THE
PUPPET MASTERS, DARK CITY, all
of the BLADE movies).
This is the story of how Batman became Batman, a story any fan of the
comic book hero thinks they already know: his wealthy parents were murdered
in front of him when he was a boy and that led to a life-long obsession
with justice. This movie is that story, but it's the long version.
It opens
with Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale: AMERICAN
PSYCHO, REIGN OF FIRE, EQUILIBRIUM,
THE MACHINIST) waking from a nightmare. He was dreaming about bats,
something he's afraid of after an incident in his childhood, but the scene
he wakes up to doesn't look much better. Bruce is a convict in a Chinese
prison.
The round
eye is not a very popular prisoner. He's attacked in the yard by a much
bigger man who looks at Bruce and says, "I am the devil!" Bruce
is unfazed and responds, "You're not the devil. You're practice."
He's not Batman yet but he knows how to kick ass.
Bruce's
performance gets noticed by a mysterious man named Ducard (Liam
Neeson: DARKMAN, THE
HAUNTING). Ducard recruits Bruce into a secret society of vigilantes
dedicated to destroying corruption. He learns a great deal from them and
dramatically improves his fighting skills. He also faces some of his demons
and we find out just how consumed he was and is by thoughts of revenge.
This led to a falling out with close friend Rachel Dawes (Katie
Holmes: DISTURBING
BEHAVIOR, THE
GIFT) who went on to
become a Gotham City DA.
Bruce returns
to Gotham City and we find out he's been away for years. His life has
been an unfocused mess to this point but the things he learned from Ducard
has finally made his purpose clear. He confides in Alfred (Michael
Caine: SHINER, ON DEADLY GROUND, A SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM, THE FOURTH PROTOCOL,
DRESSED TO KILL, THE SWARM), the Wayne family butler since Bruce
was a child, and Alfred's loyalty knows no bounds.
Cleaning
up the tremendous corruption rampant in Gotham City will involve facing
a police force on the payroll of Carmine Falcone (Tom
Wilkinson: THE GHOST AND THE DARKNESS, SMILLA'S SENSE OF SNOW, THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE). It seems the only cop not on the take
is Sergeant Gordon (Gary Oldman: DRACULA, HANNIBAL),
destined to be Commissioner Gordon someday. It also seems like the head
psychiatrist at Arkham asylum, Dr. Jonathon Crane (Cillian
Murphy: 28 DAYS LATER), is working
for someone much worse than Carmine Falcone.
Bruce needs resources. Since his parents' deaths the Wayne fortune has been managed
by Earle (Rutger Hauer: THE HITCHER, BUFFY
THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, HEMOGLOBIN, SIN CITY), who is now the CEO of Wayne Enterprises and doesn't
want to give up his spot just because the rich boy decided to come home.
But Bruce does find an ally in Lucius Fox (Morgan
Freeman: SEVEN, THE
SUM OF ALL FEARS, DREAMCATCHER), a former board member forced out and relegated
to running the applied sciences division.
Okay, now
you know the set up. But what you want to know is, "Did it suck?" I'll
end the suspense and tell you: No, it didn't suck! This is a great
thriller and the first psychologically believable Batman movie ever!!! To do something like this you'd have to be more than just angry or vengeful.
You'd have to be obsessive and a little crazy and that's what we see!
Which is
just how I feel about having a
!!!SCIENCE MOMENT!!!:
Part of the plot depends on a microwave beam weapon meant to vaporize
water (supposedly so the military can "destroy
an enemy's water supply"). The basic idea is sound - in fact
that's how your microwave oven works. The microwaves are tuned to heat
water. But the way the beam weapon is shown in use is just plain wrong.
A powerful microwave beam could certainly vaporize water but it wouldn't
start a "chain reaction" in the water supply. And it wouldn't
just produce steam - it'd produce super-heated steam which is nearly invisible
and very dangerous. I also must mention that your body has lots of water
in it and the people in the path of the beam should have, well, exploded.
Check out the SCIENCE
MOMENT.
This is
an excellent movie and it feels like they finally got Batman right. I
give it four shriek girls.
This review
copyright 2005 E.C.McMullen Jr.
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