Before I begin...

"Batman Begins" was a movie that I was sure I was going to love before I even saw the movie. I saw the people involved and thought that there was no way that this wouldn't be a great movie. I was surprised at how great it actually was...

----------------------------------------------------------
Well, I've seen "Batman Begins" twice now, so I feel more prepared to write out my review for this great movie.

I guess before I begin I should talk about Tim Burton's movie just a tad, because that's the movie that everyone I've spoken with has used as a yardstick for comparison to "Batman Begins." "So how's it rank next to Burton's?"

Tim Burton's "Batman" was a great movie. People often forget that before Tim Burton's "Batman" came out, the summer Blockbuster had kind of died off. There really hadn't been much in the way of a great geek movie in some time, and "Batman" more or less rejuvenated the geek genre. After "Batman" and "Batman Returns," you could tell that studio heads were licking their chops to create a franchise that could earn them billions of dollars in ticket and merchandise sales.

Tim Burton's movie really ignited the pop culture landscape, and I can distinctly remember not being able to go anywhere without seeing the Batman logo emblazened on something.

But with that being said, I feel that "Batman" was a heavily flawed movie. First off, the movie should not be called "Batman," but should instead be called "The Joker," since Burton spent more time on the Joker's story than Batman's. I can't think of a scene that Jack Nicholson doesn't steal from Michael Keaton.

I've always felt that Tim Burton's "Batman" was 3/4 of the way to being a great "Batman" movie. All the stuff that should be in a Batman movie just wasn't in the movie. The relationship between Gordon wasn't played up enough. Batman's inner struggles between being a vigilante and being a justice seeker were glossed over. I mean, even Val Kilmer's "Batman" went into more depth about not ever being able to satiate the revenge bug, even when the target of your anger is taken out.

Burton's "Batman" was never portrayed in a way that would trully strike fear in the hearts of criminals around Gotham. Michael Keaton was pretty decent as playboy Bruce Wayne, but never trully took flight as "the winged avenger." I mean, lowering your voice a couple of octaves doesn't really cut it in my book.

It's impossible to talk about "Batman" without calling it "Tim Burton's Batman," because it's a Tim Burton movie through and through. Which could be a good and a bad thing. Tim Burton seemed to have spent more time on the moody atmosphere of Gotham, than he did on the character work necessary for the most complex of all superheroes.

Don't get me wrong, I love Tim Burton's "Batman" movie. It's a fun movie, that will always be the definitive "Batman" movie for most people.

But "Batman Begins" accomplishes all that I wanted Tim Burton's "Batman" to accomplish and then some. Every frame of "Batman Begins" just feels right.

Beyond Michael Keaton, it seemed like the only real requisite for the previous franchise's Batman was to look good in the costume, aka to have good lips. Well, if that was the only requisite for this Batman, then Christian Bale accomplishes this and then some. He looks absolutely brilliant as the caped crusader. It's hard to pull off a believable Batman because there's a thin line of inhabiting the costume, and having the costume inhabit you. I like the way Christian Bale's costume weighs on the side of the costume inhabiting him. If you have a character set up with the precept that he's turned himself into a symbol, then the symbol side needs to partially outweigh the human side. You have to have it set up that the criminals see this "creature" and not be trully able to tell if it's a man or an animal. With the previous franchise, you always knew that it was just a man in a mask. If placed in the Batman Universe, I wouldn't be able to trully tell just what was attacking me.

Christian Bale also perfected the note that Batman and Bruce Wayne are really two separate characters like no Batman has before. Previous Batmen usually just dropped their voice partially and called it a day. Christian Bale really let it rip as Batman, employing snarls and growls every time he's talking to a crook. When talking to people such as Rachel Dawes and Commissioner Gordon, he pulls out the lower octave Clint Eastwood mode that the other Batmen have used. On that, I liked how Batman saved his most impressive growl for the crooked cop. It's like he was saying, "You should have known better."

I also liked how many of the Batman scenes were filmed like a horror movie. Unlike any Batman before, Batman finally employs sleight of hand and cloak and dagger techniques to catch his crooks. It's all about the re-direct. You get them thinking left, then snatch them up on the right. While your eyes are adjusted to slinking around the shadows, you knock out the lights on the crooks and snatch them up. When they come close to your shadowy location, you snatch them up and silence them only after they've screamed in fear so that other around anticipate the worst.

Christian Bale was really good as Bruce Wayne as well. People forget that Bruce Wayne is also two characters as well. He's the good hearted man who's trying to make a change in his world, while also giving off the appearance of being a party boy millionaire. People seem to forget that Batman is all about duality. Batman is two people. He's the avenger of justice, growling at crooks, but he's also the same guy who's able to communicate with Commisioner Gordon and other people on his side. Bruce Wayne also lives dual lives. While the other Batmen missed out on this fact, Christian Bale picked it up just fine.

It's also genius for this movie to show that Batman gets more than his fair share of bumps and bruises. One of the great things about Batman is that he's just a man without super powers. So it's only natural that Batman would find himself on the opposite side of what he intended to happen. It makes the movie, and Batman's struggles, seem more believable than to just show him always one upping the bad guys.

Christian Bale was also working with a great script that really dove into the conflict between being a vigilante and a justice fighter. Being an origin story, I look forward to seeing where they go wiht this. One of the greatest things about Batman is that the more crime he stops, the more relentless he gets in stopping it. And the more he thinks he's avenging the death of his parents, the more he finds himself distant from their memories. Can't wait to see what Nolan does with this.

On the subject of the Batmobile, this is the car that Batman should drive. I mean, when you're escaping from the villains and the cops, do you want a hot rod, or do you want a tank that can roll right over both the crook's and cop's cars on the way back to the Batcave? Do you want a grappling hook that attaches to a lightpost to swing around corners, or do you want a car that could roll right over the corner? And the Stealth option was freaking brilliant. But with that being said, this movie is an origin story. Expect to see some modifications made to the car in future movies.

What really surprised me about "Batman Begins" was how characters that were at one time one dimensional take on new dimensions. Commissioner Gordon and Alfred are actual people now, and not just cardboard cutout characters. One thing all the Batman movies have done well with is Alfred, but Michael Caine really nails it. I liked that Alfred didn't seem to "just be the aloof butler," but was instead almost fatherly in his attitude towards Bruce.

Gary Oldman played the impossibly earnest Commissioner Gordon (only a Sgt. and Lt. in this movie) without making him seem cartoony. Only an actor playing against type, as Oldman is definitely doing, could pull off a character that is earnest without having them seem fake.

Morgan Freeman is great as the "Q" of the Batman world. You've always wanted to see where Batman gets all those "wonderful toys." Well, here's your opportunity. Freeman's "Lucious Fox", like Oldman's Gordon, was played just perfect so as to not seem cartoony. Oldman, Freeman, and Michael Caine really gave the movie the warmth that it needed to keep it from taking itself too seriously.

Liam Neeson was good as well, but he basically played the same role that he's been playing since Qui Gonn. If there's ever going to be an Oscar for "The Best Mentor," Liam Neeson has this one in the bag. I liked his little shadow organization that he had set up. There probably is no better villain for an origin story than these villains because these villains deal with the very nature of fear and how it runs some people. Much like Batman's dilemna.

Katie Holmes and Cillian Murphy seemed miscast at times, but they weren't distracting enough to take anything away from the movie. I mean, they both look all of 20 years old. There may not be a more unconvincing assistant D.A and mental psychologist in all of cinema than these two, but then again, this is a Batman movie after all. Sometimes with these movies, you have to just completely suspend disbelief or else fall pray to the nitpicky bug.

The music was fantastic. The common complaint with most people is that there isn't a hummable theme. I feel that may be a strong point of the music itself. I've alway felt that some heroes need a theme. When Spiderman soars through New York City, or when Superman saves a woman and her baby from a falling building, that's when you need the theme. But Batman patrolling through the shadows of Gotham doesn't really lend itself to theme material. I don't mind the lack of the theme as long as the music is atmospheric enough to carry it throughout. But with that being said, I would expect the music to improve from movie to movie.

This is also the first time that Gotham seemed like a real place, instead of a Gothic representation of someone's comic book wet dream. Gotham is supposed to be just a total cesspool when Batman starts his crusading, and we finally get to see that as well. I look forward to seeing how Gotham changes from movie to movie.

The special effects were great as well. It's great to see a movie that still uses physical effects and not overt amounts of CGI. Physical effects and stunts will always be more believable for the audience, because they're seeing stuff as it actually happens on the screen, instead of some CGI specialist's vision of what should happen.

I liked how everyone looked when they were under the influence of the fear toxin. It looked trully frightening to see what everyone most feared about the person that they were seeing right in front of them.

This was also one of the greatest comic book origin stories ever put to screen. Spiderman and Superman get about an hour of origin stories, but are then on their way. In it's entirety, Batman Begins is an origin story. It really isn't until the last few frames of film, that Batman is finally the Batman that we all know and love.

The ending set up a sequel better than any other comic book movie that's come before it. And as good as "Batman Begins" is, I expect the sequel to be even better. I equate this movie to being like the first "X-Men." The first one is great, but the second one's going to be even better.

matt out