Movie Review

Batman Begins (PG-13)

Scott Huver

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Hollywood.com Says
A lesser attempt to revive the once-blockbuster superhero franchise may have been called "Batman, Again?" After all, we've seen all the various interpretations: campy Adam West and punny Burt Ward; Tim Burton's baroque, hellish Gotham City; and even--Holy Misguided Fetish!--Joel Schumacher's bat-nipples. But the ambitious Batman Begins really does its most to deliver the definitive cinematic Dark Knight, weaving together some of the coolest moments from his 66 years of comic book history for the best--if often too serious--Batflick yet.

Story
For the first time, the tale is centered firmly on the Batman himself, or in this case Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale), and not on one of his over-the-top enemies. Now, the non-comics audiences can witness--and understand--the sequence of events that led an orphaned billionaire to dress up like a bat and scare the bejeezus out of bad guys. Expanding The Batman's world beyond the claustrophobic confines of Gotham, the film opens on a tormented and rudderless Wayne abroad in Asia, recruited by hypnotic Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson) to join the world-redefining forces of the enigmatic Ra's al Ghul (Ken Watanabe) by way of some serious ninja schooling. All the while Bruce flashes back on his parents' violent murder and his growing sense of impotence against injustice, despite the attentions of childhood sweetie and future D.A. Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes). Unwilling to mete out Ra's extreme form of "justice," Wayne returns to Gotham City to launch his own unique campaign to clean up the city's corrupt and crime-plagued streets, with three key allies: his faithful family valet Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine); Gotham's only clean cop, Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman); and tech-savvy Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), who provides the Batman's wonderful toys from Wayne Enterprises' experimental arsenal. Now trying on two different masks--Batman's crime-hating fury for the back alleys and a foppish playboy façade for the public--Wayne soon finds himself pitted against an inventive doomsday plot instigated by psychologist Dr. Jonathan Crane, better known as the sinister Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy), who uses fear as a weapon almost as formidably as The Batman himself. We're finally given a noble post-modern Batman who, with compelling motivation, will not resort to lethal force.

Acting
Bale leads the all-star cast, making the best movie Batman since Michael Keaton's excellently eccentric 1989 performance. Whereas Keaton's slight, intensely brilliant Wayne seemed to don the Batsuit to gain an edge of intimidation, Bale's Batman is simply a dark emblem expressing the rage and fury roiling underneath the billionaire's surface. His is a ferocious Dark Knight indeed. He's also effective portraying two other sides of the character's persona: the silly, randy public face of Bruce Wayne and the tortured real man underneath both guises. Of the potent supporting cast, Caine imbues Alfred with the appropriate fatherly warmth and wit while adding a fresh element of authority and capability as well; Neeson's multidimensional Ducard leaves one guessing if he's a hero, antihero, villain or all of the above; and Freeman is clearly having a ball as Batman's own "Q." Holmes is comely, capable and utterly superfluous; Tom Wilkinson tastefully chews the scenery as crime boss Carmine Falcone; and Murphy (once a close contender for the role of Batman himself) is tantalizingly creepy and villainous--the film could have used more of his off-kilter charisma. The only minor speed bump is Oldman's Gordon. His acting is always on the mark, but the character, so well-developed in the seminal comic book tale Batman: Year One, is never utilized to its fullest potential.

Direction
Along the way, every element of the Batman's back story is fleshed out in almost excruciating detail. Here's how he found the Batcave. Here's where he got the Batmobile. Here's why he has little pockets on his utility belt. Yadda, yadda, yadda. But some clever plot twists from director Christopher Nolan and screenwriter/professional comic book scribe David S. Goyer fuel the story's forward momentum. Nolan and Goyer work hard to inventively crib together a mélange of origin elements and plot points from influential comic book storytellers including original Batman creator Bob Kane, unsung early writer Bill Finger, Sin City's Frank Miller, David Mazzuccelli, Dennis O'Neil, Neal Adams and others (even bits and pieces from a comic story penned by Ducard's creator Sam Hamm, also the screenwriter behind Burton and Keaton's 1989 film). All these patches are effectively sewn into a clever quilt, creating a cohesive original tale told with entertaining gusto. However, the film does lack a certain knockout visual flair that defines the best comics--great, imposing "money shots" of the fearsome Batman are few and far between--and the action sequences are a tad too choppy, close-up and over-edited. Plus, for a film about a dude dressed as a winged mammal, it takes itself so darn seriously. The movie would definitely have benefited from a jolt of loopy outlandishness akin to Burton's undeniably quirky vision. And--despite the reigning notion that the previous films overdid the villains--a crazier, more charismatic bad guy would have done wonders to liven up the stately proceedings. There's a reason the audience burst into wild applause in the screening I saw at a third-act allusion to one of Batman's more famous adversaries. Let's hope for a little more inspired lunacy in the sequel.

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