Unsolicited Reviews

Batman Begins

At last, DC turns out a really good superhero movie, right up there with the excellent Marvel adaptations like X-Men and Spider-Man. Since The Batman is my favourite hero, this makes a very welcome change from some earlier efforts.

This Batman comes over as a real person. We know the basic story very well: the young Bruce Wayne sees his parents murdered before his eyes and vows to become a scourge to crime. Here, however the premise is taken a lot further by showing how Wayne gains both his fighting skills and his highly focussed passion for justice. But first, he has a to deal with a lot of unfocussed rage and hard knocks, which gradually turn to inspiration and purpose.

To me, the really interesting part was making Ra’s Al Guhl instrumental in the creation of The Batman. In the comics / graphic novels, Batman and Ra’s Al Guhl have an uneasy and ever-changing relationship which oscillates between enmity and partnership, so weaving Al Guhl into Batman’s very beginning is an unexpected yet fitting turn. One of Ra’s Al Guhl tricks doesn’t turn up in the movie—I wonder if it will later?

Christian Bale is good though perhaps a touch wooden. He looks uncomfortably like Michael O’Hare in the first series of Babylon 5, and he really is wooden. I kept expecting Zathras to turn up. Michael Caine is great, of course, but I’m not sure his Cockney shtick really fits Alfred’s character. Completely failed to recognise Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon. And Morgan Freeman—what can you say? He’s always great.

The story draws heavily on Frank Miller and Miller-inspired stories of the late 80’s and early 90’s, particularly Batman: Year One. They even kept a lot of the characters, though the story is quite different. It was Miller who really got the dark, obsessed Batman going and his influence continues in stories of the current day.

The effects and stunts and fight-work are great—best seen on the big screen. And it’s fascinating to watch Bruce Wayne put together his arsenal, his costume and his Batmobile using real-seeming technology; it adds immeasurably to the verisimilitude of the whole.

A really great superhero adaptation. I look forward to the next in the series, but I really hope they keep Christopher Nolan as the helmer. Boy, can that guy direct!

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