Batman Begins
In terms of starting the tradition of doing fully drawn out origin stories for popular comic book superheroes, Christopher Nolan faced quite a few challenges with this 2005 release in order to mostly make it work, amongst them getting carried away above and beyond when telling a drawn out, almost minutely detailed by past standards origin tale for that of Bruce Wayne aka Batman starting with the death of his parents (with his father in particular being painted in an almost angelic light), to his witnessing his parent’s killer being killed himself in a mob hit, to traveling around the world anonymously as a petty criminal and winding up in a Chinese prison, to being recruited by a mysterious man named Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson, unlike the original comic character who was French and was the world’s greatest detective and taught Wayne only those skills and not how to fight) to join a supposed anti-crime outfit called The League Of Shadows led by Ras Al Ghul (Ken Watanabe, a long revered villain making his first appearance in the live action films although much different than the supernatural being he was originally portrayed as) and being trained, ninja style(?), for his mission in life. Now, the comparisons to Tim Burton’s outright 1989 Masterpiece can start in full force, as Burton chose to portray Wayne’s parents’ murder and little else, instead showing us Wayne as Batman from the getgo and having us figure out the rest as we go along to keep the story moving. And it worked brilliantly, right down to having his parents killed by The Joker instead of the comic’s average street thug Joe Chill (which Nolan got right). Instead, Nolan found value in spending over half the movie dealing with Wayne’s training and development of his values before getting the Bat action so to speak underway. While Burton constructed a beautiful, carefully crafted, Gothic underworld that made the perfect theatrical setting for his Batman story, Nolan instead went with a much more ultra realistic approach, shooting on the streets of Chicago instead of on a soundstage like Burton did, along with giving meticulous time and attention to explaining how all the various facets of Batman’s gear could plausibly be done and put to use in real world terms. The best thing about the story though, was the way it explained how Wayne’s philosophy was shaped and molded by a number of different people besides The League Of Shadows with their death to criminals motif to make Batman the man that he is, and in doing so Nolan had a tremendous cast brought in to drive the point home that this was indeed a big league reboot. From Michael Caine as the loyal butler Alfred, in some ways too big a star for the part but other than that someone that could play this role in his sleep as a nurturing, loyal figure that carries on the last vestiges of Wayne’s father’s values; to Katie Holmes being hot and sweet as the childhood friend of Wayne’s turned Assistant DA (complete with her near iconic double slap scene) who’s willing to risk her life to put the bad people away for the means of justice, and the fact that Holmes was fired and replaced for the sequel by a less appealing actress is almost a travesty in and of itself; to Gary Oldman eschewing his psycho bad guy rep to put in a turn as future Commissioner Jim Gordon that shows his brilliant range as an actor, displaying a strong sense of warmth and decency as possibly the last good cop in town who forms a bond with Batman that almost makes them brothers united for a common cause (though he doesn’t know his true identity) which Oldman would carry on brilliantly in the sequel nearly stealing it from Ledger and Eckhardt; to maybe best of all Morgan Freeman sliding in smooth and relaxed as Lucius Fox, genius inventor and former board member at Wayne Enterprises who helps supply Wayne with his gadgets and military transport vehicle which becomes the Batmobile, as it’s wonderful watching an actor the caliber of Freeman not try to steal the show and just do his thing. As for the villains, Neeson’s mentor turned enemy brings the right emotional weight to the role to convey his intentions, noble or otherwise; Cillian Murphy comes out of nowhere to take on the long awaited first appearance of classic old school Bat Villain The Scarecrow, and at first strikes the viewer as miscast (this 20 something guy is the HEAD of Arkham Asylum??), but nonetheless projects a creepy ambiance that’s as unsettling as it is odd, and succeeds in doing what he came there to do; Tom Wilkinson as crime boss Carmine Falcone is given the most thankless part (crime bosses in Batman stories are pretty disposable) but still gets to wrap himself around some choice dialogue to project some nastiness; Ken Watanabe gets very little screen time as Ras, but still comes off quite well; and only Mark Boone Junior wears out his welcome as corrupt cop Flass, the epitome of a fourth string villain given a little bit too much to do. As if the casting bonanza wasn’t enough, we even have Rutger Hauer as the rather assholish corporate boss of Wayne Enterprises. Nothing like throwing in another legend on a throwaway part. As for Batman / Bruce Wayne himself, we get Christian Bale, and while he and Nolan get away from the deeper psychological aspects of the character (as Burton and Michael Keaton delved into) to instead make Wayne’s focus and motivation into pure rage channeled towards dispensing justice, Bale does bring the proper charisma and physicality to the part that allows him to adapt just fine and would continue to do so in the sequels. While the film remains far from perfect and has tattered edges like a big twist towards the end about Ras’ identity that would be dumb if it weren’t so obvious, or Oldman’s goofy Will Smith-like reaction to seeing the Batmobile for the first time, or a very draggy middle section of the film that kills the pacing while we wait for BATMAN to finally appear, it does set the stage very well for its magnificent sequel, set up perfectly in the final scene between Bale and Oldman in such a way that it made people want to buy their tickets walking out of the theatre. In the end, while a respectable, needed entry in the Batman saga that cleaned up the shit mess caused by Joel Schumacher and George Clooney, still a movie that plays more like a high quality pilot episode for an awesome franchise than a hit the ground running, wild and wonderful ride that its sequel would be…
8/10