[image=left]http://www.alternativenation.net/gallery/files/1/batman.jpg[/image]Back in days of yore (1989) a chap called Tim Burton directed a movie called 'Batman', and it was jolly good. Indeed, it was wonderful, with Jack Nicholson perfectly cast as the Joker, and a brooding Michael Keaton as the Caped Crusader himself. It spawned a lavish sequel, which was also pretty good—if a little overboard on the crazy sets for my tastes—with Keaton reprising his role, and the unforgettably sexy Michelle Pfieffer as Catwoman.
Then things took a turn for the worse. For that read 'the next 2 films were utter shit'. Hollywood got its hooks in and threw in lots of big name actors, hoping to cash in on the success of the first two. Sadly, they got away with it, and we movie fans were left weeping in the streets at the cinematic abominations left to us.
Then some bright spark decided 'Here, let's completely ignore the crap that has gone before, and make an 'origins of Batman' movie, thus reinventing the series and completely disassociating it from drivel like 'Batman and Robin!' Belter of an idea. But easier said than done, of course.
They would have to craft something special to make people excited about Batman again, something that would be as good if not better than Burton's original, and by Jove, they have delivered.
An all star cast (Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Rutger Hauer, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes) and Christian Bale as the Dark Knight, under the direction of Chris Nolan, seem to have managed to crank out one of the best superhero movies I've seen in a long while, with—shock horror—tangible characters instead of over-the-top clichéd super villains.
Bale is superb as billionaire Bruce Wayne, suave and charming, and bloody brilliant as his darker alter ego, scaring the crap out of wrongdoers. Oldman stars as detective Gordon (seemingly the only non-corrupt cop on the force), Neeson plays what seems to be his token role these days as grizzled warrior/ teacher, and we get a surprisingly fantastic performance by '28 Days later' star Cillian Murphy as Dr Jonathan Crane, aka the Scarecrow.
The story begins with Wayne in a jail in the Middle East somewhere, brawling with the inmates, till he is taken under the wing of Henri Ducard (Neeson), and trained in the arts of combat and stealth. Much of the backstory is told in flashback during this first half of the film, of the young Bruce and how he came to be terrified of bats, some insight into the relationship with his parents before they died, and how he ended up in the cell where we came in.
Having returned home after years away, he vows to try and free Gotham City from the criminality that has crippled it, and Batman starts taking shape, as he acquires an outfit and a car, and starts work on building the Batcave, which is wonderfully low tech, filled with bench-grinders-and-hammers type gear. This is how a lot of the stuff looks: modern, sturdy, militaristic equipment rather than overly jazzy-looking superhero peripherals. The Batmobile is a favourite of mine, and gets used in one of the most enjoyable chase scenes I can remember watching in years (
Matrix Reloaded, go fuck yourself). The look of Gotham is great too; huge towering skyscrapers and run down street level areas, not unlike Blade Runner, which Nolan insisted the cast and crew watch before filming began.
If I wanted to criticise, I would say that the first 30 minutes moved a little too quickly, and there's a couple of monologues that are veering on the overly pretentious side, but other than that,
Batman Begins is a solidly put together and enjoyable piece of cinema that I would recommend to one and all. I had fairly high expectations of this, and they were well met, if not surpassed.
Batman Begins is out now on general release, rated 12A.
http://www2.warnerbros.com/batmanbegins/index.html http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0372784/
