I saw Batman Begins this weekend as part of the massively huge “Larry Woo Stag Crawl”. It was, while slightly flawed, one of the best superhero films of all time (currently 4th in my list behind Spider-Man2, The Crow, and the first Superman). For those of you who haven't seen the movie, I'd suggest not going any further. If you've seen it, click through to the fully spoiler filled Chronicology review.
SPOILERS!!! If you're reading this far, you have now officially entered the spoiler space, and I can not be held libel. You clicked the little link, you came through. You're here. Click back quickly before I tell you that Bruce Wayne is Batman…oh damn, I spilled the big secret!
I loved this movie. I loved pretty much every moment of it. I loved the lighting, the sets, the wicked awesome look of Gotham. Loved Christian Bale, Michael Cain, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson, and yes, even Katie Holmes.
The story was awesome, with Bruce going underground and eventually getting caught up in the league of shadows. I loved the swerve with Ken Watanabe as Ras Al Ghul and Liam Neeson as Henri Ducard. The way that all of the weapons and gadgets came from defence contracts was awesome, and Katie's statement that Bruce Wayne is the mask, all rang true.
The cool little side-stories, like Zsaz (a serial killer who scars himself for each victim he takes), Arkham Asylum, and Scarecrow's manipulations were all awesome parts.
I have to admit, when we saw the police horses, I was sure that Batman would be riding a horse at some point…what a cool visual that would have been.
For those complaining about Katie Holmes…come now. Kim Bassinger, Michelle Pfeiffer, Nicole Kidman, Alicia Silverstone, Elle Macpherson…all have been Batman love interests, all were about as three dimensional as a piece of paper. Batman's not about the love interest. Batman's about the angst and anger. Katie did as well as could be expected in the role.
My only real problem with the whole thing was the microwave transmitter. It evaporates a city's water supply…great, but what about the water in our bodies?
Why crash the whole train rather than just destroy the device? That one really didn't make any sense.
However, all of that was forgiven with Gordon's last line in the film. When he tells Batman that escalation is the normal progress of events, and then flips over the playing card with a joker on it…the crowd went wild. The little kid in me jumped for joy, and I hoped against hope that Christopher Nolan would sign on for the sequel.