When I heard that Batman was getting re-boot there was going to be a new trilogy of films I was super excited. So, back in 2005, when I was, well, a lot younger(!!) I couldn't wait to see how Christopher Nolan was going to bring the Dark Knight into the 21st Century.
Now, its probably worthwhile mentioning that I am a big fan of all of the Batman films, I recently watched the original...you know the one....Jack Nicholson plays an immensely insane Joker. Watching that has made me appreciate a lot o things about Nolan's Gotham, but it has also made me see a few things, which in my eyes are not so great.
So...some friends of mine decided it was time to get together and watch the whole Nolan trilogy on Blu-ray in one day, suffice to say I was in uber Batman heaven!
To start I will link to the Wikipedia article about the film so that you can read up and get your spoilers:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_Begins
Here is the IMDB link too:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0372784/
I really enjoyed this film, I thought it was great that we got to see Batman's origin story and I think in showing a lot of Bruce Wayne's childhood you get a real sense of genuine sympathy for the character. That said, I'm not 100% sure that Christian Bale was the perfect Batman, at times he is perfection but sometimes, for me, there is just something missing. I'm not a huge fan of his Batman 'voice' it grates on me a little bit, and the more of the film I watched, the make-up around his eyes when he was in the Bat-suit was getting me a little bit worked up - so much so that I am going to put in little photo of said make-up just to prove how wrong it looks.See....well, you might not see but for me, it makes his eyes look wrong.
after putting a bit more thought into it, maybe bale isn't quite suave enough to carry off Bruce Wayne, I think as the trilogy goes on, he improves greatly but for now, I am talking batman Begins and in this film, he didn't always do it for me.
it must be really difficult for any actor to play such an iconic character with such a diverse fan-base, I don't think you are ever going to be able to please everyone. Something I loved about Bale's Batman was the Bat-Suit....it looks AMAZING, the more modern style of the suit is great, I also loved the back-story about where the suit and all of Batman's gadgets came from. Now is probably a good time to say...Morgan Freeman as Fox, what a legend!
Michael Cane is perfect for the role of Alfred Pennyworth, he has wit (all of his comedic lines are delivered with impeccable timing), charm and an unconditional love for Bruce Wayne which you can see in his eyes all of the time. My housemate made the comment when we were watching that Bruce Wayne is sorted having Alfred and Lucius Fox watching his back!
Liam Neeson as Ra's Al Ghul is perfect...he is EXACTLY how I have always imagined him to be, he has an air of sophistication about him. There is something irrevocably believable about Neeson's Ra's, nothing too over-the-top but a perfect villain for Nolan's Batman World. Complimenting Neeson is Cillian Murphy as the Scarecrow....he is a little more eccentric than Neeson which is exactly what the part calls for, my only problem with the Scarecrow character was that he only wore the mask with his suit and to me, it looked a little wrong.
Having said that, the hallucinogenic sequences were really well done and definitely had me feeling a little queasy!
The only character who really lets the side down for me is Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes, she is as dull as dishwater. There is nothing sassy about her, in fact, the character doesn't really have much about her at all. I felt at times as if I was having to endure the film rather than enjoy it because some of the scenes with Holmes really lack pace.
So, as you can see, I definitely don't think the film was perfect, elements of it certainly were but there was a lot of scope for improvement over the trilogy.
Nolan's Gotham is dark and gothic, his storyline equally dark and gritty with an underlying vibe of fear throughout. Being a big fan of comic books and super hero films, I don't know if this one quite hits the nail on the head - it is almost too real for my liking, I know that was kind of Nolan's point, and I salute that but the Batman universe has some brilliant Villains (Clayface, Killer Crock and Penguin but to name a few) and some equally comedic goons and henchmen. I think Nolan could have still achieved his dark, gritty 9although unfortunately in this film sometimes seemingly muddy-brown) world with the inclusion of a more eccentric villain (obviously as we all know, he was definitely saving this for the next film!)
Batman Begins was definitely a film that brought batman up to date and made it more realistic than a comic-book world.
It set the scene and told the origin story well but there was just something missing for me.
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