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All Movie Info
Directed By
Christopher Nolan
Written By:
David Goyer, Christopher Nolan
Cast:
Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Ken Watanabe, Katie Holmes, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson, Rutger Hauer, Mark Boone Junior, Linus Roache, Larry Holden
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Batman Begins (2005)
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Ever dance with the devil in the pale moon light?
This movie is proof that there is something to the saying "what's old is new again." I get irritated when you take a classic tale and retell it over and over again. It loses some of what made it great to begin with and you run the risk of diluting the material. In 1989 Tim Burton directed "Batman" which was a smash hit, staying true to the Batman franchise and story. As more of the sequels were release, the franchise lost its fire and steam giving way to sub par stories and poor interpretations of villains (Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze/Dr. Victor Fries could go down as one of the worst casting decisions ever.) It took 8 years, but Warner Brothers finally made amends for the terrible sequels by rebooting the franchise with Batman Begins. This is one of the few occasions where re-inventing the wheel vastly improve its function.
The story focuses on a young boy named Bruce Wayne who witnesses his parent's murder at the hands of a thug named Joe Chill. He spends his youth trying to find a way to exact revenge upon his parent's killer. Finding that he cannot rely upon the legal system he sets off on a journey to become a figure of justice and vengeance in order to avenge the death of his parents and become the Batman.
The Batman's origin remained basically unchanged in this retelling, the only major difference being that they changed the movie he went to see with his parents into a play featuring actors and actresses dressed like bats. This played upon a fear Bruce Wayne had from an early scene in the movie in which a young Bruce falls into a cave under Wayne Manner (which eventually becomes the Batcave) and is swarmed by bats residing within the cave. Later when he decides to become the Batman, it is based upon his own fear of bats and the idea that criminals will fear a dark clad bat-figure. In the original story Bruce Wayne returns from a night of vigilantism, bloodied and bruised. He slumps down in his chair realizing that he needs to find something to model himself after to strike fear into the hearts of criminals. At that point a bats crashes through the window and he takes it as a sign of the symbol he should use. There is a great scene in Batman Begins where Bruce Wayne is flying back to Gotham City and says to his faithful butler Alfred. He says, "I need to become more than a man. I need to become a symbol. A man can be killed, but a symbol can't be stopped only feared." Everything else is pretty much comic accurate and inspired by the series Batman: The Man Who Falls, Batman: Year One, and Batman: The Long Halloween. Christian Bale (3:10 TO YUMA) was everything Batman should be; dark, brooding, vengeful, analytical, cold, precise and strategically minded. He was also everything Bruce Wayne outwardly tried to appear to be; aristocratic, spoiled, business minded, decedent and cowardly. He fit the role like a pair of batgloves. Michael Caine (SLEUTH) was a great choice for Alfred Penniworth. He had the dignity, loyalty and charm fans have come to know of Alfred nailed. Liam Neeson (LINCOLN) excelled as Henri Ducard which is no surprise (being a teacher after his role as Qui-Gon Jinn in SW: Phantom Menace.) Kate Holmes (MAD MONEY) was effective as Rachelle Dawes, but did not go beyond the call of recollection in her performance. Gary Oldman (HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX) was a good choice for Lt. James Gordan, but I think his role was written in a very bland manner and didn't show his true talent. Hopefully they'll let him show his capabilities in the sequel "Dark Knight" scheduled for next year. Cillian Murphy (SUNSHINE) was also the personification of Dr. Jonathan Crane / The Scarecrow; cold, sadistic, malicious and just plain evil. The casting Morgan Freeman as Lucious Fox was great. He immediately gave new life to a character that not many people realized had a major role in where Batman "gets those wonderful toys" in the comic book. This movie has brought back the bat and in raised the bar for every other comic book movie to live up to.
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