Batman Begins

http://www2.warnerbros.com/batmanbegins/index.html

Director: Christopher Nolan

Writer: David S. Goyer

Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Ken Watanabe, Katie Holmes, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson, Rutger Hauer, Sara Stewart, Richard Brake, Gus Lewis, Emma Lockhart, Linus Roache

Christopher Nolan's “Batman Begins” works to expose the origins of the Dark Knight and what drives a man to live as a force for good in Gotham City.

And unlike the previous films where Batman was a co-star, with Bruce Wayne barely mentioned and the villains as the major screen-pieces here we have a confused and downright mad Bruce Wayne, who wants to avenge his parents murder but has no idea how to do this.

Traveling the world, he finally comes under the tutelage of Ra's Al Ghul, leader of the League of Shadows, a sinister organization that meets out justice in a world they feel has become corrupt and decadent.

Under the training of Henri Ducard (Neeson) Bruce become an expert fighter and learns to use the tricks of his trade.

Returning to Gotham City, he begins the creation of his other side, Batman, a masked guardian who uses his strength, intellect and an assortment of high tech weapons and tricks to fight the sinister forces that threaten the city.

Christopher Nolan has gone back to the roots of Batman to show how Wayne will ultimately become Gotham’s protector.

For the first half of the film, you are waiting for Bale to don the suit and become Batman. By the time he finally does, you almost breath a sigh of relief to see him in action. Bale was destined for this one; he is as much Bruce Wayne as he is Batman.

The film is actually believable in that it uses technology that could be found currently in military development and research. Take a look at The Batman Handbook if you want to know how to find many of the items.

And the bad guys here are great. No silly over abundance of make-up and goofy suits this time. The villains are perfect in their air of menace, while appearing normal the majority of the time. You find yourself wondering how anyone can be this evil, and then realizing that what makes him or her evil is their ability to blend in with the rest of society.

Now, when I first heard about Bale, I was worried. Then I heard that Katy Holmes was in it and my hopes just faded. When they added Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman I figured at least I could go and watch them. When they tossed in Liam Neeson and Gary Oldman I thought, heck at least I can give it a halfway decent chance.

Then I saw Christian Bale in “Equilibrium” and I said to myself, Whoa. From then on, I began to have a bit higher hope for the film. I remember talking to one person who said, “Hopefully, it will be better then Hulk.”

Don’t even worry about it. This thing is great, and the cast is perfect. Even Holmes did a good job as the crusading DA out to get the cities worst gangster, Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson in a beautiful role as the tough as nails killer) and Gary Oldman, as Jim Gordon was a stroke of genius. His ability to play against Batman while keeping his dedicated police officer ideals was great.

Ken Watanabe as Ra’s Al Ghul was also a very good idea. He helped to bring the air of mysticism and mystery to Bruce that was needed. And Neeson was nothing short of perfect as Ducard. Ruthless, dedicated to the ideals of the League of Shadows, a perfect killing machine, willing to teach young Wayne all he needs.

Michael Caine comes to the character of Alfred Pennyworth after dozens of others have made the character theirs, but he takes it over filling it with his own style of care and attention it needs. While Michael Gough was perfect for the Batman of the 1990’s, Caine brings Alfred back to his own roots by allowing him to be a partner to Batman while being a father to Bruce Wayne, keeping both of them on the path they were destined to walk.

As Thomas and Martha Wayne, Linus Roache and Sara Stewart were downright perfect. They showed love, attention and devotion to their son without spoiling him, trying to make him understand that just because they were rich, they were not ‘above’ the people of Gotham or the world. That they had a responsibility to others that was not just fulfilled by money, hence Thomas’ work as a doctor while letting his money work for others.

Finally, Rutger Hauer as the corporate bigwig who takes over Wayne Enterprises while Bruce is absent and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, the dedicated scientist and researcher who is pushed into the basement and helps Bruce to find and create his costume, weapons and car are both the kind of people you want to know in movies like this, and wish you could in real life.

And the car is amazing; it combines the look of modern urban travel (snicker) with the combat readiness of a beautiful war machine. Built from the ground up, this one is not based on any cars currently in existence and she can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 6 seconds.

Now for the bad stuff. There is a little bit of tinkering with Batman’s origin. Nothing fancy and most people won’t even realize it was going on. The situation with Joe Chill was not to my liking, and the sudden appearance of Ra’s caught me off guard. Did I hate what they have done?

And frankly, I missed the entire, “Criminals are a cowardly, superstitious lot,” speech. That was the moment he chose the Bat as his symbol. They needed that, in my opinion. No, hate is to strong a word. I do think the Chill plot would have been better if they had followed the original story a bit more. In fact, they came closer in the first Batman film then they did here, but both still worked.

And don’t misunderstand; this is a very dark film. It is not the goofy, almost light-hearted stories of the 1990’s. This is a disturbing, almost scary film with a strong tip of the hat to Batman: Year One, and even the Hush story line. Don’t worry, if you have never read these, you can still enjoy the film. In fact, before the shooting began, Christopher Nolan invited the whole film crew to a private screening of Blade Runner. After the film he said to the whole crew, "This is how we're going to make Batman."

They succeed.

And the ending is perfect. Is it too late to start hoping for a sequel?

Rated PG-13 for intense action violence and disturbing images. For rating reasons, go to filmratings.com, parentalguide.org and mpaa.org.