Movie Reviews
Batman Begins 
Rated PG-13 (2005)
Starring: Christian Bale, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman
Direction: Christopher Nolan
Production: Larry Franco, Charles Roven, Emma Thomas
Screenplay: David S. Goyer, Christopher Nolan based on Batman characters created by Bob Kane and published by DC comics
by Vincent St. James
The Lowdown:
Not only is it NOT like Batman and Robin, its actually pretty damn good. It gives the Batman franchise a shot in the arm; Bale, despite sounding awkward at times under the mask, is great as Bruce Wayne, and Nolan makes us believe that Gotham is a city worth giving a hoot about.
Back in form
Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale), the son of billionaires who choses to live nomadically after the traumatic death of his parents, is taken under the wing of one Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson). Ducard trains the young but physically gifted Bruce as a member of the League of Shadows, a society dedicated to serving justice cold, until Bruce returns to Gotham City. He seeks to end the corruption and crime of Gotham yet choses to do so under the disguise of his biggest fear...a giant Bat. With the help of familiar names such as officer Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) and Alfred Penningworth (Michael Caine) and not-so-familiar names such as Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes) and Lucious Fox (Morgan Freeman), he fights the likes of crime-boss Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson) and the king of fear, the Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy) as they seek to wreak havoc on the people of Gotham.
Thank goodness for Christopher Nolan. Its been a decade and a half since the last truly memorable Batman film graced the silver screen. Tim Burton succeeded in transforming the world of Batman into a twisted, dark territory and helped it gain new popularity. Joel Schumacher, however, couldn't help but go overboard with the fantasy world and earned the disgust of many for ruining this once powerful franchise. Enter Nolan. Eight years after the Batman and Robin debacle, Nolan has revived the franchise and has given fans something to cheer for. His hard work is evident as he builds "Batman" from the ground up in the journey that is Batman Begins.
Nolan's challenge with this film is three-fold: to make people care about Batman, help them forget what they saw in the past, and leave the audience wanting for more. He manages to do all three. First of all, his Gotham City is quite different and much more detailed than that of his predecessors, while still being impressive to look at and still being able to feel like Gotham. He gives the city a history, a pulse, and a face. Its a city in need of help in order to escape the corruption of those in power. Second, Nolan uses good pacing and story-telling techniques to explain how Batman came to be, who he is, who he fights internally, - all without losing the audience's interest. He is able to avoid what happened to Ang Lee's version of the Incredible Hulk. Finally, Nolan wouldn't have been able to leave us wanting more if wasn't for the help of some great performances, most notably (as if you didn't know) that of Christian Bale.
Bale is excellent as Bruce Wayne (the billionaire). He plays the role of beginner-hero well, and makes us believe that though Wayne is wealthy and gutsy, he is a man with heart, and not without his own internal battles. One can tell Bale has fun with the part. Once he dawns the black cape, he is as good as most, only most people seeing the film won't be able to help but notice the strain in his "Batman" voice. But to think that that is the WORST thing I can think about with this film, it lets you know how good of a job he really did. Supporting cast is played to perfection, though Katie Holmes doesn't need to do much to fulfill her role of damsel in distress.
I am pleased to be calling myself a believer in the Batman franchise once again, and Chris Nolan should be quite proud of what he has accomplished.
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