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Movie Series Review: Batman Begins (2005)

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    Directed By: Christopher Nolan
    Rating: PG-13

    It's been a long while since I watched this movie, but I remembered being wowed by the pacing, and the action in this movie, not that there wasn't any flaws, but it was entertaining to watch. Christopher Nolan is one of the worlds most beloved directors, creating movies with such artistic views and intelligent writing. In my opinion, he just may be the next Stanley Kubrick. Nolan had started out making great films since the 1990's, but the films that came out were only short ones and fixed on a low budget. The films included Tarantella (1989) Larceny (1996) and Doodlebug (1997). He soon was given the chance of directing 90 minute movies when given a $6,000 budget to Direct, Produce, and Write his first film, Following (1998).[1] It was a financial success, grossing $240,495 [2] He was noted for his gifted talents and soon went on to direct, produce, and write several films including Memento (2000), Insomnia (2002) {review link}The Prestige (2006), Inception (2010), and his newest block buster movie, Interstellar (2014), but is broadly known for his role in his own Batman Trilogy. Starting off his strong connection with his growing fandom, this is Batman Begins (2005).

   
The story starts off with a young Bruce Wayne, played by Gus Lewis, playing with his friend,a young Rachel Dawes, played by Emma Lockhart, in his garden, when he accidentally falls to the bottom of an abandon well and is encountered by disturbed bats. This appears to be a flashback and present day Bruce Wayne is locked up in a prison camp in a foreign country, far away from Gotham City. He is met by Henri Ducard, played by Liam Neeson, who knows that he is in this camp by choice and offers him a chance to do justice when he leaves and when he does leave, he meets with him atop a mountain where the League of Shadows hideout is. This was the one part of the movie, and it stretches threw a good portion of the movie. I understand that it's supposed to be Nolan's portrayal of Batman's origins, but I never really felt I was watching Batman during this part of the movie. It felt more like a "white man learns Karate in a foreign country" movie. I can't really connect Batman to this origin very easily, however it is a very interesting origin story. It is unique, cleverly portrayed, and even gives a connection between Batman and his villain. During the movie, there is a flashback from the time he developed a fear of bats to the point he was arrested for supposedly being a criminal. It shows his progression to the moment he is now in the present. There were moments that where shown like the death of Bruce's parents, Bruce attempting to assassinate the killer and his journeys to understand the criminal mind. This was all done very well. You really got to know the darker side to his story that Nolan portrays in these flashbacks. It argued about what was justice and was just revenge. When a thief does something in greed, for others, or self need. It even shows the maturity Bruce has and how he gains it. As Henri Ducard trains Bruce, it even gives foreshadowing elements of tactical fighting, and even inspirations for the Batman's apparel. Eventually he is proven worthy to join the League of Shadows and is confronted by Ra's al Ghul, played by Ken Watanabe, to become a leader of a team to attack Gotham City. Bruce Wayne, learning from his travels, his training, and morals, knows that killing people is not the answer to the problem, but the League of Shadows does not believe this. After escaping, he makes his way back to Gotham and creates a superhero persona. I really thought the story was pretty good and the crime in the streets was a good driving to understand why the League of Shadows was doing this, but there was this one little detail that got me curious as to what their plan was. They wanted to bring an end to crime by braking criminals out of jail to attack innocent people that are affected by the depression? It just makes me want to jump out of my seat and yell. "Who thought this was a good plan?" The rich people who they claim to be equally guilty of crime could just leave and the people in jail would go off and just do bad things. So... the only people who are paying the price of there doings are innocent bystanders or victims. This is what makes me contrivers over whether Tim Burton's Batman was better or worse over this. This Ra's al Ghul character sounds like he has a point, but I find the plan to get what they want very stupid. Rachel Dawes, played by Katie Holmes, did a good job in her role of being a role model as an idealist. Alfred Pennyworth, played by Michael Caine, was really enjoyable in this movie. Even though Michael Gough was enjoyable in Tim Berton and Joel Schumacher movies, Michael Caine was heart warming gold. Everytime he was onscreen, I felt like I wanted to cheer. He always sounded supporting and caring, with all the right words to say, maybe a little to much thou. Gary Oldmen was spectacular as Commissioner James Gordon. He latterly portrayed him exactly what I thought he looked like and acted like. I don't know how to really feel about Liam Neeson in his role thou. I thought he played a very good role as the villain, but of course there is that dumb plan in restoring order to the world. I almost forgot the scarecrow. I guess it is pretty hard to make a sack with holes look scary, but the did a great job with it. It was sort of a nice way to make the scarecrow more realistically, but still intimidating, however, the role for him, was confusing to me. I haven't read the comics, but I don't think Cillian Murphy as Dr. Jonathan Crane was really much of a enjoyment. He just seems like a cocky guy passing off as guy that knows what he is doing. The music was also enjoyable. The main theme really expressed the big impact that Batman was and how big he was. It gave you that sensation that this was a big epic adventure. Finally I wanted to state my opinion on Batman himself. This one was a pretty odd one, especially since Christian Bale had to ruff up his voice as Batman. Where all the other movies, you had Batman speak normally, this one was trying to hard to sound scary. Christian Bale played a great role, but it's nothing I would look at and say that it was complete gold. The voice just didn't sound more treating than it did sounding ridiculous. As for the whole movie in general, I would give it a B+. It's a great movie that won't disappoint, and even if you can't take the "voice" seriously, you can at least have a little comedy in your Nolan film. 

Movie Reviews Rating: Star!Star!Star!Half StarNo Star
Christopher Nolan is bringing back the Batman... and it's about time. Batman Emote

Here is how I will grade my movies and TV Shows. Scarecrow attacking 
A+ = "Perfect in my eye."
A = "Almost Perfect, Bravo."
A- = "Great Performance, theres always room for improvement."
B+ = "Few things wrong, overall great."
B = "It has it's problems, but they can be overlooked."
B- = "It's a working progress."
C+ = "There are some problems you might want to check on there." 
C = "Meh.... it was good." 
C- = "I guess it's OK." 
F = "I've got little to nothing positive to say to you." 

Other Series Reviews:
The Dark Night (2008): andyslife.deviantart.com/art/M…
The Dark Night Rises (2012): andyslife.deviantart.com/art/M…
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AgentSimpson's avatar
Yeah, shaky cam sucks no matter how good the movie around it is. It was okay to use it for the first fight, to keep Batmans image a secret until the reveal. But why for the other fights? Especially the fight with Rhas Al Ghul, which is a pretty cool fight even with the shaky cam. And that's really the only negative thing I can think of in this movie (despite a few other nitpicks). I'd probably give it a 9/10.