"I'm Batman!" You all knew that was coming.
Batman Begins! So Batman Begins is the first film in a trilogy of a rebooted Batman series. After the disaster that was Batman & Robin, fans were nervous about this movie. This was a new type of Batman, a more realistic Batman; and director Christopher Nolan made it work.
In this realistic re-telling of the superhero we all know-and-love, we have Christian Bale taking on the role. Christian Bale brings everything he can to the role and he did a great job. He worked his ass off on this role because we see him as Bruce Wayne the college student, Bruce Wayne the outcast, Bruce Wayne the ninja, Bruce Wayne the drunken billionaire, and Bruce Wayne as Batman. Any one of these roles would be hard to do and he has to do all five. Thankfully, he did all he could and made it work. Props to you Bale. Now as for his performance as Batman: he killed it as the Dark Knight. He did what Batman would do, and he made it work even with that infamous voice. The throat cancer voice grew on me in time, but let's hope he doesn't read at any orphanages anytime soon. Despite my jokes, I still think Bale was the definitive Batman.
Now let's talk about the villains. We have Liam Neeson playing the sinister Ra's Al Ghul, and he did what he could to make his role work. But personally, I wish Scarecrow, played by Cillian Murphy, was the main villain. Since the 1980's and beyond, many Batman fans (including myself) wanted to see him go against Batman. Throughout the movie, we see him as Jonathan Crane and it's fine. He puts the mask on a couple times and it looked great. But near the end when he finally becomes Scarecrow, he gets tazed and we never see him again until Dark Knight. It seems that Ra's and Scarecrow were working together, but Scarecrow got the short end of the stick big-time! Now don't get me wrong, Liam Neeson kills it in his role, but not many fans care about Ra's. I like the character but compared to characters like the Joker, or Two-Face: there's not much to his backstory or motives. He just wants to save the world by destroying it. Naturally. I liked the confrontations between Batman and Ra's but I would've liked to see Scarecrow do more.
However, what the movie lacks with its villains, it makes up for with its supporting characters. First, we have the powerhouse actor Gary Oldman, putting so much attention and weight onto his role of Commissioner James Gordon. He kills it as Gordon and I couldn't imagine anyone else in the role. Along with him, we have the brains behind the technology Batman uses: Lucias Fox, played by Morgan Freeman. Freeman owns the role as Lucias, and...it's Morgan Freeman: how can you not like this guy? Alfred Pennyworth is played by Michael Caine, who stands by Bruce throughout the entire movie. What else is there to say: the supporting cast rocks.
Rachael Dawes is a character I've never heard of in the comics, but is played by Katie Holmes and thank you Nolan for writing a smart female character! Most of the time in other movies, women are simple arm candy or are a reward for the hero. but Rachael actually thinks in this flick. She helps Batman when she can and she even tazes Scarecrow. Granted, I was pissed that he got the short end of the stick, but she does something! Thank you Nolan, thank you.
Now as for the effects in this movie: they were okay. The film did suffer from too much shakey-cam action and some of the other effects were opbvious, but the team behind the movie did a good job overall.
The movie had a few flaws, but it did what it promised us; it gave us a new, fresh look at the story of Batman and we loved it. THe action was great, the characters are likable, the plot takes some time to follow but still kicks ass. It's a great film. I'm proud to say that Batman Begins is...Awesometastic!!! 5 out of 5!
So have you seen Batman Begins? If not, why? Comment below, let me know. And I'll review The Dark Knight as soon as possible. Bye-bye.