Unlike most people to my knowledge, I didn't watch Batman Begins until I had already watched The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. I finally got around to watching it and I wasn't disappointed. However, I wasn't completely enthralled either. The story of the movie is basically Christopher Nolan's (the director) version of Batman's origin.
Liked: All of the acting was very good except for one role but we'll get to that later. There were epic action scenes and tension-filled moments. Scarecrow was a really cool character and the concept of him using hallucinogens as a weapon was really creative. The story all tied together very well and had a lot of really satisfying moments. You have to give this movie a lot of credit, as it introduced the sinister and dark take on traditionally children friendly comic book heroes.
Disliked: So this paragraph will probably be a lot longer than expected, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the film. Just a heads up. So first of all, the actor who played young Bruce Wayne was god-awful. They couldn't have found a kid that was maybe just a bit more talented? After he witnesses his parents get shot and killed firsthand, he cries like he just scraped his knee or something. It was a very underwhelming and uninspired performance. There were probably better child actors out there. I failed to see the relevance of the Flass, as he didn't really contribute anything to the story. I was disappointed that Victor Zsas basically got the shaft, and had little to no importance in the story. Speaking of the story, the beginning was ridiculously confusing. Everything goes south when Bruce speaks to Falcone (played by Tom Wilkinson) in that club underground. I interpreted it as Falcone told Bruce that the city is corrupt and only criminals make it here, so Bruce becomes a criminal, is trained to fight, then is caught stealing so he is sent to jail, then in jail Henri Ducarde (played by Liam Neeson) offers him training to join the League of Shadows. But why? Just because he's Bruce Wayne? And why is a plane waiting for Bruce beneath the mountain? Some other things were confusing too. Like why was it necessary to fire Earle (played by Rutger Haur)? Just because he fired Fox? But why did he fire Fox!? And why did Rachel (played by Katie Holmes) just out of no where find a love interest in Bruce? In The Dark Knight they talk about how they were in love for a while but in reality it was only the last 6 minutes of the film!? And speaking of The Dark Knight, why was Scarecrow not even an issue to arrest!? He was such a huge threat in Begins and in The Dark Knight he's taken out within the first 15 minutes.
Even though some plot points are just a little too confusing, I still liked this movie. It had strong acting, great action, and nail-biting tension. Christopher Nolan did a great job of introducing a new, edgy, and most importantly dark series of comic book hero movies.
- Eamon
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