Grade:  A

Director:  Christopher Nolan		Released:  June 2005
Writer:  David S. Goyer, Christopher Nolan		MPAA Rating:  PG-13
Players:  Christian Bale, Liam Neeson, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy, Katie Holmes, Morgan Freeman		Running time:  141 minutes

Ratings System

Batman Begins is the first Batman film to feature the Dark Knight instead of a cartoony comic book Batman.  This movie is so good, so entertaining, I feel foolish for having liked the first Batman as much as I did.  Christian Bale makes Michael Keaton look like a wuss.  Bale is now the best Batman ever projected onto a screen.  For the first time, film audiences can understand why criminals are afraid of Batman, Bale plays him menacingly and angrily ... scary as hell.

And it's not merely a great Batman movie. it's one of the best Batman stories I've experienced of any kind, period.  Featuring a theme of fear - how to face it, conquer it, use it to your advantage - on all sides of the story and from all the characters ... this screenplay kicks ass.  They reached an unprecedented level of success in terms of creating the illusion of a palpable superhero mired in reality.

The Scarecrow has long been a favorite villain of mine, I have a fondness for villains who fuck with people's minds instead of simply hurting them bodily.  I was worried about how the film would portray him, manifesting fear on film is not an easy task.  But I'll be damned if Nolan didn't nail it.  The effect they used to show the victim's point of view is frightening, no doubt.  Audiences will have no problem identifying with the fear of characters who get gassed by Scarecrow.  The best part is that Nolan and Goyer didn't portray him as just some fruitcake running around with a silly mask, they gave him a valid reason to need a mask.

Another thing that worried me beforehand was the new batmobile design.  The militarily styled brute of a vehicle goes against decades of what I've known about batmobiles.  But I'll be damned if that didn't work too.  The Big Chase featuring the batmobile was cool, I loved the bit when the cops lost visual on it.  By the end of the film, I was thinking of it as the most kickass batmobile in history (even if it was a little too decorative, somewhat defeating it's own purpose).

No romance required.  There is no love story to speak of, which fucking rules, because we spend all our time with Batman and his adventures.  Movies like this don't need a full love story, Katie Holmes is used sparingly, the perfect amount actually.  There was nothing dragging this film down at any point, every scene is relevant and absorbing.

Of course, I wouldn't be crocoPuffs if all I had to say were nice things.  My one beef with the picture is the style of the fight scenes.  All the hand-to-hand combat scenes were filmed in the shaky-cam-closeup-quick-cutting style that allows you to only barely follow the action and simultaneously acquire a mountainous headache.

Back to more stuff that I loved.  The batcave: it's creation, inception, and relevance to the story; and it's cool waterfall entrance for the batmobile.  The scene between Bale and Tom Wilkinson in the restaurant.  Michael Caine as Alfred.  The score and sound design.  The Ra's Al Ghul storyline.  The early days of pre-commisioner Gordon.

What else can I say?  Batman Begins is a highly entertaining film, brutal and scary, with true dramatic depth.  I can't wait for the next one, I'd be willing to watch two more hours of this Batman right now.  It's the kind of movie that makes me excited about movies.

- crocoPuffs