pres.umptuo.us

Batman is my favorite comic book hero, so saying that Batman Begins is my favorite of the comic book-based movies is probably showing a bit of favoritism.

But also know that by being a big fan, I’ve got a lot of expectations of the character and wouldn’t be happy if things were done wrong, so when I say that Batman Begins is my favorite film of the year so far, that’s saying quite a lot.

I was very surprised with how much was taken from Year One, the comic book retelling of Batman’s beginnings written by Frank Miller, (of recent cinema Sin City fame) after he wrote of Batman’s final hurrah in Dark Knight Returns. The character of detective Flass, Batman’s device that calls his bats to his side, and in a way his first foray into Gotham at night before he has his fully-assembled batsuit are all heavily influenced by Miller’s comic. A recommended read for people who are wanting to know more about Batman after seeing this movie.

Nolan spent a lot of time developing the character of Bruce Wayne / Batman, and for good reason. All of the motivation and drive behind him is fully explained, which helps the believability of the masked vigilante and allows the audience to relate. Batman does not appear in full garb until a good hour in, but everything before that is an excellent set up.

Batsuit looked good from what I saw, which leads to my one and only complaint of this movie: The stupid shakycam action scenes. After my second viewing I realized that it wasn’t really shakycam causing the problem, but the camera being way too close in on the action and making way too many cuts. I noticed that if I really concentrated I could actually see punches and kicks, but still nothing coherent. Real shame, but it wasn’t like this movie was about the action anyway.

The Batmobile is the sweetest thing ever. Katie Holmes is not believable as a District Attorney, mostly because I always see her as a 16 year-old (I bet Tom Cruise does too) and can’t take her as some serious adult. Liam Neeson, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, all excellent in their roles. I can’t wait for the sequels, and this has cleansed me of all that was Revenge of the Sith