Went and saw Batman Begins tonight and I must agree with the consesus — it’s GOOD. It takes a while to get going but it really hums once the movie finds its pace. I was a little wary of Christian Bale being cast as the next Batman, and at first I thought he looked a little off, but seeing him in the mask, he just looked right. Keaton looked right. Kilmer and Clooney did not (certainly not Clooney).
The casting was great. Gary Oldman is one of my favorite actors and he plays his part so well. Freeman and Caine were great. Neeson was a bit of a stretch, but that is forgivable. People are panning Katie Holmes but I thought there was just enough of her – that is to say not a lot. The guy that plays the Scarecrow was pretty creepy.
I give it a thumbs up. Action was fast and chaotic, not mechanical and choreographed. Nothing felt hokey, it felt real. It was a great movie and a great foundation to who Batman is. Now there is depth to Bruce Wayne’s past, but I’m a little confused. I don’t know the whole Batman mythos but it was my understanding that Jack Napier (aka The Joker) killed Bruce’s parents. Well, that appears to not be the case in Batman Begins. I’m so confused… can anyone clear this up?
Update: Wikipedia sheds some light on the Joe Chill/Jack Napier issue. (Thanks, Amit!)
No, the killer of Bruce’s parents was originally Joe Chill, and that’s how current continuity accepts it. The Joker thing was a stupid invention for the first Tim Burton flick, and really made no sense since it was a little too neat and seemed to make the Joker around 60 years old when he faces off against Batman. Wikipedia’s got a couple of things on it.
Ahh, thanks for clearing that up, I’ll definitely check out Wikipedia for clarity. Of course I immediately should have wikipedia’ed this before I started! It’s always the veritable fountain of knowledge.
Batman, aliens and zombies. It’s a good season for movies.
Yeah, there was just enough screentime of Batman as well. Did anyone else get the idea they were watching Aliens when Batman first appears at the docks?
Great stuff.
It kind of had the same premise as Unbreakable: this is what it would be like if Batman were real. He’d have to be rich and the Batmobile would NOT be a suped up Lincoln but a fast tank…
i personally didn’t care for the tumbler all that much, tho it does make more sense. but overall the movie was excellent. i was very pleasantly surprised. glad they finally did batman right again. it’s going to be weird to see the joker played by someone else tho.
I enjoyed the film. It was a lot better than all the other Batman films because it was more realistic, less campy.
Call me odd, but I thought Cillian Murphy (The Scarecrow) was rather hot in that obnoxious, condescending, know-it-all way.
Batman’s parents are killed!? @%”#&! You should have warned me that you had a spoiler on your site!
(A joke of course)
I haven’t seen the movie and to tell you the truth I was not going to. Now that I have read the reviews on this page I know I will end up going. Thanks.
“I gotta get me one of those.”
I won’t call you odd for saying he’s “rather hot”. Now if I (or one of these other guys) had called him “hot”, then I’d be calling them odd (and other things, too). Either way, the eyes have it. His eyes creeped me out.
Ooh, but his eyes are lovely.