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145 reviews
Batman Begins Again
Michael Keaton is Batman. Tim Burton is the only person who can best direct a Batman movie. This is just the way it has been since 1992. Anyone who would be Batman; anyone who would dare direct a Batman movie would have a high standard to be judged by.
For over a decade Batman fans have been scorned by AOL/Time-Warner. Batman fans have had to endure Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, many start and stop Batman movies; rumors of new Batman movies; rumors of directors, actors, plots. The latest was Batman Vs Superman, Batman Year One & Batman Beyond.
Finally, after many years of waiting, a rumor spread that Memento director Chris Nolan had been given the nod, while Christian Bale of American Psycho fame would be Batman.
The trailers were awesome. Could this be the Batman movie fans had waited for? Then came pictures of the new Batmobile. AOL/Time-Warner was attempting to sabotage the Batman franchise forever. But, could Nolan/Bale overcome the obstacles? Would Nolan measure up to Burton? Would Bale do the Dark Knight justice? The answer would come sooner than we had hoped. 48 hours, to be exact.
Weds. May 15th, 2005, Batman Begins began. Fans would be treated to what I personally had hoped they would do: a very intensive look at the man who would be the Bat, leading up to how he became the dark legend.
A risky move, as The Hulk spent an eternity explaining the origin; certainly a recipe for disaster. But Nolan & the screenwriters handled the situation perfectly, mixing in training, prequel, and drama to bring us a perfect balance of Bruce Wayne's history & his qwest to become Batman.
Not everyone can don the cape and cowl. The mismatched Keaton worked. The perfect choice of Clooney fell flat. While Kilmer was not the perfect choice, many agree he was good. Enter Bale. With huge boots to fill high expectations from fans, hoping Bale would fly high, much was riding on the success of this barely known actor.
Bale's portrayal of the Batman would leave many to ask, "Keaton who?" His unrelenting performance gives Batman Begins a new hope for the citizens of Gotham City, and, Bat-fans everywhere.
The dark portrayal of the dark knight is well scripted, well directed, and comes with great performances from an all-star cast. All of whom give an awesome performance.
The great thing about Begins is one does not have to be a Batman fan to enjoy this movie. There's action, drama, and lots of edge of your seat suspense, to keep virtually anyone's attention.
Oh, and the new Batmobile? Yeah, it's cool. Takes getting used to, but the nicknamed "The Tumbler" is awesome. It can do virtually everything seen in the movie.
The DVD: Unfortunately, there are no deleted scenes. But, there is a good reason. Chris Nolan states that because they did what they set out to do, filmed exactly what they set out to film, they used every scene they filmed. There were no deleted scenes to delete, or, add to the DVD. Not to worry, the DVd is still packed with plenty of extras, to keep "Special Features" fanatics happy.
There are two big downsides to Batman Begins.
1. It is so well done, that it will be hard to make an equally great sequel.
2. It so surpasses the previous four movies, it makes Batman 89, Batman Returns (and for those who liked Forever) look like second rate movies.
Yes, this is indeed the movie Batman fans have been waiting for.
On a scale of 1-100, Batman Begins receives an outstanging 95.Read full review...
IM BATMAN
e never been a big comic book fiend and I haven't been overly excited by recent comic-to-theater films like Spiderman, the Incredible Hukl, etc. But without a doubt - Batman Begins is the best of this recent phenomenon and is a fantastic movie if if you aren't a comic fan or even a batman fan - Batman Begins is done so well, that it really is an excellent movie. Christian Bale is outstanding (as always) as Bruce Wayne and Batman and the rest of the cast is, for the most part, stellar: Michael Caine as Alred is great, Liam Neeson and Morgan Freeman are always excellent. My only criticism of the acting - and really of the film - is Katie Holmes as love interest Rachel Dawes... she is awful - has no emotion, is a painfully poor actress, and of course this movie arrived during her Tom Cruise escapade... But enough about Katie and more about Batman:
Batman Begins is more like an epic and a novel than a regular action film - it follows certain themes very nicely throughout the entire plot and does so under a very dark setting. The action scenes are filmed beautifully and the movie is general is a pleasure for the eyes - the DVD is an excellent addition for any big screen TV!
Batman Begins Cast:
Christian Bale .... Bruce Wayne/Batman
Michael Caine .... Alfred
Liam Neeson .... Henri Ducard
Katie Holmes .... Rachel Dawes
Gary Oldman .... Jim Gordon
Cillian Murphy .... Dr. Jonathan Crane
Tom Wilkinson .... Carmine Falcone
Rutger Hauer .... Earle
Ken Watanabe .... Ra's Al Ghul
Mark Boone Junior .... Flass
Linus Roache .... Thomas Wayne
Morgan Freeman .... Lucius FoxRead full review...
*~*~ BATMAN Begins: A Good Movie After Watching 2X ~*~*
We give Batman Begins a Rating of Good. We were not sure if we would like it or not but we ran out and bought it when it came out. At that time, we lost interests at the beginning, and never really watched it. So.. we watched it again recently(Jan 09) after watching The Dark Knight, and enjoyed it much more. If you see The Dark Knight, you should really watch Batman Begins. It explains a lot.
We're not big Batman fans, but now that we have seen it "again", we're PLEASED! You have to watch the WHOLE movie to get the full effect, as the beginning is somewhat on the boring side, with no action and no suspense. The action and suspense kicks in about halfway through and lasts throughout the rest of the movie.
If you see The Dark Knight, you really should see Batman Begins. It shows exactly that, how Batman began.
A lot of the acting cast is the same cast in The Dark Knight.
Good Movie!
Our Overall Rating: B-
Rent It or Buy It? Rent It first. If you already own The Dark Knight, Buy It!
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THANKS FOR READING OUR REVIEW!!Read full review...
Best Batman movie of them all.
The only reason I didn't give this an excellent is because it's not a movie I could see, over and over. However, that's doesn't take away from a film that answers many questions about and shows the guiness of this crime fighter, that was never shown on Tv or in the previous films. The powerful displays he uses his "bat" image to bring fear into these "fearless" crime bosses and thugs is just amazing. Any sequels to this should be beyond amazing, since much of this movie had to deal with his past upto his first wins and losses as Batman. A must see for anyone even remotely interested in Batman. Lots of action and drama.Read full review...
Batman Begins (2005)
For many cases of something big in the movie business, they will either depend on the franchise or the continuation of the best selling movie. It's been barely ten years since we've seen Batman on the big screen, so why aren't we waiting longer to put this one out??? With the new hipe of comic book-based movies, it was already planned to follow the comic books written by Bob Kane with the DC Comic printers. Warner Bros. has had the rights to the comic since the original release back in 1963, Batman The Movie. Christopher Nolan had already been doing the latest cartoon series, Batman Beyond. In doing so, he took the next step. Nolan did a good job in the craftmanship of the film both emotionally and physically. The heavy Halloweenish type images especially bring out much of the action sequences for both Christian Bale and Cillian Murphy.Read full review...
Mentor needed - 1800-CAL-LIAM
Liam Neeson adds so much to any movie. His natural intensity and poise is perfect for Ra's al Ghul in this movie. As an intense teacher and friend the movie rocks, the first half of the movie speeds by and you accept that it's real even though in now way would it be (it is a super hero movie after all).
The problem is Bruce Wayne. The movie is great when you don't have Bruce trying to fake being Bruce. You've got an actor playing an obsessive personality who in turn is playing a playboy.
This just seems forced like they are trying too hard to get the audience to believe this is happening. OK, well duh, it's a comic book movie, we are there to buy in, you don't have to work super hard to get us to buy in, don't force it. We want to buy in and if you don't go campy we will.
Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the movie and once again love the beginning of it. The actors are good choices and it's well played.
I just couldn't stop myself from rooting for Liam Neeson even though he has very nefarious plans. The conclusion and the subplot with Scarecrow didn't thrill. The ending was very disappointing and wasn't satisfying. Ra's deserves better!
For matching the fantasy of superheroes and our living world the Brian Singer X-men is still the gold standard in my opinion.Read full review...
Bale IS Batman
Director Christopher Nolan (Memento) can be credited with the first cinematic miracle of the 21st century: resurrecting a flatlined franchise. Having no connection to Tim Burton's first two magnificent installments & moreover Joel Schumacher's uber cheesy last two films which transformed the series into a modernized clone of the slapstick filled Adam West show, Nolan instead returns Batman to his gothic gritty roots. While Tim Burton's original will always be classic, the titular hero of his film had most of his mojo stolen by his twisted arch-nemesis the Joker (played by scene stealing Jack Nicholson). Nolan's refreshed vision of the Dark Knight injects an aspect that was mostly dry (albeit brief flashbacks) from Burton's adaptation: a fleshed out backstory to how billionaire Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) became Batman in the wake of his parents murders. Now donning the cape & cowl of the Caped Crusader is Christian Bale, who pulls off the rare feat of living up to & possibly outdoing Keaton's original role. A first rate supporting cast includes Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson & Gary Oldman amongst several others. Batman Begins ultimately boils down to being a cinema prototype for comic book mythology. Beautiful cinematography, top notch acting/chemistry, a momentum building musical score, & adrenaline rush action set pieces all gel to create what is probably the most prolific supehero film one is likely to ever see.Read full review...
"What I Do is What Defines Me!," A Quote from the Movie
With stars galore, the mystery of how Batman became what he is is explained in this 2005 movie that thoroughly entertains with gadgets, suspense, action--and a great plot.
Christian Bale plays Bruce Wayne as an adult, and we learn that he was overwhelmed with bats when he fell as a child into a well on his family's estate; soon bats were whirling all around him. He was rescued by his loving father, but soon his fear of bats caused his rich family to leave a play at which his parents were killed by a vagrant. Then he became a vagrant-criminal on his own, and from jail was recruited to join a cult of warriors in Asia called the League of Shadows. There he was taught the martial arts and fear conquering warrior tactics and much more by his mentor, Ducard (Liam Neesom) and the ruler of the cult, Ra's a Gul (Ken Wattanabe). Surprisingly, all the warriors got into a civil war, and Bruce killed them. Then, he returned to Gotham City to take up his rightful role as heir of the Wayne forturne but on the side a warrior in the disguise of a bat to rid the city of evil.
From there we are entertained throughly by his butler Albert (Michael Caine), gadget employee of Wayne Enterprises, Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), and drug dealer Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson). And there is a love interest too. The little girl Rachel Dawes who saved Bruce's life by running to get help when he fell into the well is now the District Attorney Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes).
This is a comic hero, but this movie is more serious than the previous Batman movies and has a real plot. And the special effects and music in this movie are out of this world. We spend much of the movie in the air viewing the technology advanced, futuristic city of Gotham while the plot unwinds with a story of drugs, poisoning, and world supremacy.
The pre-quel movie ends with a prediction of the future too, when a new menace comes to Gotham City. When Detective Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) shows Batman a playing card with the figure of a Joker on it, we know that there will be a sequel to the pre-quel. It happened in 2008 in the form of "The Dark Knight" with Bale reprsing his role.
This movie will not disappoint you. And it is not silly like some of the other Batman movies.Read full review...
A Must Have 4 EVERY Cape Crusader Fan!!
Batman Begins discards the previous four films in the series and recasts the Caped Crusader as a fearsome avenging angel. That's good news, because the series, which had gotten off to a rousing start under Tim Burton, had gradually dissolved into self-parody by 1997's Batman & Robin. As the title implies, Batman Begins tells the story anew, when Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) flees Western civilization following the murder of his parents. He is taken in by a mysterious instructor named Ducard (Liam Neeson in another mentor role) and urged to become a ninja in the League of Shadows, but he instead returns to his native Gotham City resolved to end the mob rule that is strangling it. But are there forces even more sinister at hand?
Cowritten by the team of David S. Goyer (a veteran comic book writer) and director Christopher Nolan (Memento), Batman Begins is a welcome return to the grim and gritty version of the Dark Knight, owing a great debt to the graphic novels that preceded it. It doesn't have the razzle dazzle, or the mass appeal, of Spider-Man 2 (though the Batmobile is cool), and retelling the origin means it starts slowly, like most "first" superhero movies. But it's certainly the best Bat-film since Burton's original, and one of the best superhero movies of its time. Bale cuts a good figure as Batman, intense and dangerous but with some of the lightheartedness Michael Keaton brought to the character. Michael Caine provides much of the film's humor as the family butler, Alfred, and as the love interest, Katie Holmes (Dawson's Creek) is surprisingly believable in her first adult role. Also featuring Gary Oldman as the young police officer Jim Gordon, Morgan Freeman as a Q-like gadgets expert, and Cillian Murphy as the vile Jonathan Crane. A great addition to your collection.Read full review...
BATMAN is back & FINALLY he has movie worthy of our money & attention.
Near the big-bang finish of "Batman Begins," the title avenger, Christian Bale, scoops up a damsel in distress, Katie Holmes,& spirits her away to his lair. Watching this scene, it was hard not to think how nice it would have been if Batman had instead dispatched the infernally perky actress, whose recent off-screen antics have threatened to eclipse this unexpectedly good movie. As it happens, the most memorable rescue mission in "Batman Begins" isn't engineered by the caped crusader, but by the film's director, Christopher Nolan. "Batman Begins" is the 7th live-action film to take on the comic-book legend & the first to usher it into the kingdom of movie myth. Conceived in the shadow of American pop rather than in its bright light, this tense, effective iteration of Bob Kane's original comic book owes its power & pleasures to a director who takes his material seriously & to a star who shoulders that seriousness with ease. As sleek as a panther, with cheekbones that look sharp enough to give even an ardent lover pause, Bale makes a superbly menacing avenger. His Batman is leagues away from Adam West's cartoony persona. Bale even improves on Michael Keaton. What Keaton couldn't bring to the role,& what Bale conveys effortlessly, is Bruce Wayne's air of casual entitlement, the aristocratic hauteur that is the necessary complement of Batman's obsessive megalomania. What Nolan gets, & gets better than any other previous director, is that without Bruce Wayne, Batman is just a rich wacko with illusions of grandeur & a terrific pair of support hose. Without his suave alter ego, this weird bat man is a superhero without humanity, an avenger without a conscience, an id without a superego. Which is why, working from his and David S. Goyer's very fine screenplay, Nolan more or less begins at the beginning, taking Batman back to his original trauma & the death of his parents. With narrative economy & tangible feeling, he stages that terrible, defining moment when young Master Wayne watched a criminal shoot his parents to death in a Gotham City alley, thereby setting into motion his long, strange journey into the self. The story opens with the adult Bruce in the middle of that journey, in the far reaches of Asia, where he first rubs shoulders with "the criminal fraternity," then a clandestine brotherhood called the League of Shadows. Lead by a warrior sensei, Ra's al Ghul (Ken Watanabe), and his aide, Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson, at his lethal best), the league invites Bruce into its fold, an offer he violently declines. Thereafter, he returns to Gotham City, where he assumes a dual identity as both the city's wealthiest citizen and its avenging angel. Intrigue ensues involving a crime lord played with brio by Tom Wilkinson, a headshrinker brought to skin-crawling life by Cillian Murphy & the last honest cop in Gotham, James Gordon, given expressive poignancy by a restrained Gary Oldman. It's amazing what an excellent cast, a solid screenplay & a regard for the source material can do for a comic book movie. It's obvious that Nolan has made a close study of the Batman legacy, but he owes a specific debt to Mr. Miller's 1980's rethink of the character, which resurrected the Dark Knight side of his identity. Like Miller's Batman, Nolan's is tormented by demons both physical & psychological. In an uncertain world, one the director models with an eye to our own, this is a hero caught between justice & vengeance, a desire for peace & the will to power.Read full review...