Batman Begins (2005)

Originally Written
Saturday , June 25, 2005

Well I just returned from Batman Begins, the IMAX Experience, and it definitely was an experience. If you get a chance to see this film on the super huge screen, with explosive sound, it is well worth the extra couple of bucks.

Batman Begins is a prequel, some may say, but in my opinion this is a new beginning, portraying Batman the way he should have been portrayed from the start. I enjoyed the first two Batman films, and Michael Keaton did a great job, but this is the way Batman should have always been. The film has started over fresh, Gotham is now a real city and not some freakishly strange Las Vegas as portrayed in the last two films. The villains are believable unlike the Riddler, Mr. Freeze, Two Face and Poison Ivy in the other films. The story is good, and the background into the history of Batman is very interesting.

The film starts with Bruce in an isolated prison somewhere in Asia, where he has fallen in with the wrong crowd after leaving Gotham. We see flashbacks of Bruce as a child, his fear of bats, and the death of his parents. His parents death seemed to have caused a lot of commotion for some viewers, since it is portrayed in Batman that his parents where killed by the Joker, well this is actually untrue and Batman Begins sets it right. Back to reality, Bruce realizes that he can do good things and help to bring justice back to Gotham, where justice was not given for the death of his parents. To do this he must become, a symbol, one that he fears and therefore one that will terrorize others.

What Batman must do is protect Gotham from tearing itself apart, when The Scarecrow and a man known as Ra's Al Ghul, plan to destroy Gotham and balance out the world of good and evil by releasing a hallucinating gas that will cause everyone in Gotham to go insane and destroy each other. Bruce must face his past and his fears to successfully succeed in bringing justice to Gotham.

Overall I was very pleased with this film, definitely the best Batman film thus far, it stays true to the character, and isn't corny or childish as the previous installments. Bruce is dark, full of anger and Bale does a wonderful job portraying this. I liked the fact that Gotham was portrayed as a modern day city and not given the comic book feel like it has in the past. The acting was great, with a well written story and timely inserted moments of humor. Katie Holmes was decent, even though her crooked smile was annoying; luckily she didn't have a huge part, but I would have liked to seen more of The Scarecrow, who had a quite a small part.

Obviously there will be sequels as we are led to believe at the end of the film when Gordon hints about another well know Batman villain. Hopefully the sequels will expand upon this film and grow, not turning into a childish, sloppy mess that the first life of Batman succumbed to, let us also hope Bale sticks with the series and doesn't pull a Keaton. In the end, it looks as though Spider-man finally has some worthy competition, and hopefully this film will bring back the faith in people that Batman is not dead. Many say this movie isn't for kids, it is darker than of course Spider-man, but not anymore violent than the recent Star Wars prequels, and 10 times better. I hope they keep the darkness, because it is what makes this film great!

9/10