Batman Rebooted

Like an annoying PC, it was time for the Batman franchise to be rebooted. That last one with the Bat-nipples and the Governor of California as the villian was a travesty. Thousands of comic book fans bowed their heads in shame as Schumacher pissed all over the franchise with his directorial touches. Years have passed since that, and DC comics (owned by Warner Brothers) has finally put out the franchise saver - "Batman Begins".

Hiring on Christopher Nolan to direct was a relative stroke of genius. Coming from an "indie" background, he would seem like an unlikely choice. "Memento" was a sleeper hit, "Insomnia" might have been flawed, and I bet noone saw "Following", so taken this somewhat unproven entity must have made the studio nervous. What he crafted here was a deep origin story, with the non-action parts actually being much more interesting than the action sequences.

Now, it might seem that I am licking Warner Bro's balls right now, at the very least kissing their cheeks (the ones that the sun don't shine on), but this is the comic book movie of the year. It's so good that calling it a comic book movie might be a detriment to the film itself. With the current crop of these genre films coming out (I'm looking at you Fantastic Four) the future of this already exploited segment of filmed entertainment seems bleak. I really hope that they slow the production of them down and Hollywood can go back to mining a different source.

So, what's good? The writing by David Goyer is top notch when it's focusing on the characters. The stuff with Bruce Wayne and Ducard is golden. Goyer is a talented writer . . just keep him away from the director's chair (Blade Trinity ring any bells?). Christian Bale is the quintessential Bruce Wayne. The duality that the role demands for is serviced beyond what is necessary by his acting skills. Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox is fantastic. The man can't turn in a bad performance though. Gary Oldman's subdued Jim Gordon character is a departure of the characters that he usually plays (The Professional, The Fifth Element), and he nails the nuance that is needed to play the part. Also good is Liam Neeson. Here he plays a sage-like character, not much different than Qui-Gon Jin character he played in the Phantom Menace, but with a layer of misguided and sinister evil that can turn the most righteous of man into a follower of his clan.

The bad? Well, I've never been a fan of Katie Holmes, and her performance here does not make me change my mind. The only good thing I saw in her performance was the ever present NHO (nipple hard-on) her character prominently displayed. The Scarecrow, played by Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later), I think got the short end of the stick. He seemed like a goon, when he could have been used to truly be a terrifying character. Then, we come to the action. The movie was great up until the action set pieces came into play. You have to remember, that Nolan is no action director. He did wonderful work with the character development bits, but when it came to the action, too many quick cuts and hard to follow editing muddled what should have been great action scenes.

It can be argued that the hard to follow action scenes would be appropiate for a Batman movie. You're not supposed to be able to tell what Batman is up to. This is used effectively towards the beginning of the movie, when he takes out the thugs in the pier. And that Tumbler chase scene was just ass. I liked the concept of the Tumbler as a more realistic looking and acting vehicle, and I have no problem with the way it looks, it's just the chase scene was a little more reckless that what the ideal Batman chase scene should be. It really doesn't make sense that a concerned Batman would bust through walls and fly from rooftop to rooftop with a totally terrified passenger that could have a fear induced heart-attack at any second.

For the most part though, this is a very good re-start to the franchise. It was worth the free ticket, free soda, and free popcorn (thank you AMC rewards card) that I spent on it. And the reason this review is up so damn late, is because I was waiting for the movie to get out of that special engagement "no passes" thing. I'm a player on a budget, G-dawg home slice.