Batman Begins (12A)
Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson, Rutger Hauer, Ken Watanabe, Morgan Freeman
There is only one Batman film you should watch, and it’s this one, Batman Begins
Up until now it was fairly safe to say that Marvel Comics had been romping all over the silver screen with hits such as “Spider-Man” and “X-Men”, and had seemingly ground DC Comics under its sweet imperial boot. The last Batman movie I watched was quite frankly embarrassing, with Arnold Schwarzeneger trying to be funny, and outrageously over the top costumes that were “optimistic” at best. With the partnership of DC Comics and Warner Brothers, the tide has turned somewhat.
Struggling to come to terms with the brutal murder of his beloved parents and his subsequent inability to exact revenge and his guilt, billionaire/heir Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) leaves his silver spoon existence and disappears from Gotham in an attempt to understand the “criminal mind”. In his quest to understand those he hates, Bruce himself ends up being accused of being a criminal and finds himself locked away in an Asian prison fighting for his life. Close to his sentence being served and freedom, Bruce is approached by the mysterious “Ducard” (Liam Neeson) who offers him a chance to join “The League of Shadows”. The “League” are led by the enigmatic Ra's Al Ghul (Ken Watanabe awesome yet again), and Bruce in search of purpose, joins them and is soon tutored in the ways of stealth, martial arts and “justice”.
Bruce finds his purpose and leaves the League, returning to Gotham to stand up to crime and corruption that is rife throughout the city and it’s establishments. For the first time we get to see how Bruce gets all of his magnificent “toys” (nice touch to see Bruce angle-grinding his own throwing stars), building a bat suit and assorted crime-stopping toys with the help of a tech genius (Morgan Freeman) and the Wayne Family Butler, Alfred (Michael Caine). The scene is set for the Dark Knight to bring Justice to a gothic nightmare of a city
Gone are the ridiculous gags, the grotesque over acting of “celebrities”, over the top outfits and downright gross stupidity. Instead Batman Begins returns to his dark, comic book origins the way that they should have continued with the films starring Michael Keaton. Even more gratifying is seeing major “A-List” celebrities actually acting for a change, and not just preening their egos. Gary Oldman, Rutger Hauer, Morgan Freeman, all put in fantastic performances that come as a wonderful surprise (I found myself saying, “Is that really Gary Oldman…he’s playing a good guy with no overacting!!). Cillian Murphy is quite frankly…chillingly disturbing.
One final word about a fantastic film that you must go and see, the film's final moment sets up expertly the inevitable sequel. For once, if they stick to this style, I will actually be looking forward to it. Batman Begins…fantastic, long may it continue.
We would like to thank the Odeon Cinema at Freeman’s (Especially Sally) for allowing us to review this fantastic film
