Review: Batman Begins (2005)

So, Batman Begins came on HBO and I was bored, and I hadn’t seen it in awhile, so I figured I’d watch it.

And while its certainly a good movie, I do feel it hasn’t aged quite as well as I’d hoped.

Now don’t get me wrong, its still a solid film, one with good direction, good acting and a great overall feel. Where the film seems to weaken is in the emotional center and character interactions. Let me try to explain:

Christopher Nolan is a good visual director. His films, and this one is no exception, always look very professional and well put together, keeping a consistent tone and feel throughout, and, more often then not, using their slightly long run times (usually 2 and a half hours) well in that they don’t lag or drag for the most part. Batman Begins has those strengths, but, the classic Nolan pitfall of a lack of a true, visceral emotional center raises its ugly head once more, making it feel like we’re watching something cool, but not feeling it like we should be. His screenwriting is probably the blame for this, as this screenplay is VERY exposition heavy, and the overall plot that we care about (that of Bruce being Batman) doesn’t really kick in overall until almost an hour into the movie if my memory serves me correctly. Now, I understand the need for a film titled ‘Batman Begins’ to go into the details of what ‘Begins’ means, but much of the backstory could be easily summarized either in the first ten to fifteen minutes via an economical montage (think Up), or sprinkled through the narrative in plot/character development relevant pieces, like the Animated Series or Tim Burton’s first film did. Here, it’s all kinda stuffed into an extended prologue that keeps us from the coolness of seeing Bruce be Batman, and since the film is very emotionally stale, I’m not quite invested enough to watch all the build up to Batman, and end up just wanting Bruce to get his outfit on already.

The exposition is rather clunky, with lots of it being given in info-dumps. This, coupled with lots of monologues from the characters about the film’s themes, often spelling them out for the audience and not letting them figure it out organically through the narrative, make the conversations feel awkward, and the characters feel less then real, which is a real shame. I’m not sure if this is strictly a Nolan thing, or if this is equally on the shoulders of David S. Goyer, who wrote the equally exposition heavy, thematically heavy handed screenplay to Man of Steel, which also had characters that felt strangely underdeveloped even in spite of their constant speech making. But I’m off topic, and this isn’t Man of Steel, so we’ll move onto the other aspects of the movie, both good and bad.

Christian Bale does a solid job as Bruce, but I feel he’s having trouble getting invested with the character, since this Bruce is rather dry and dour for the most part, spending most of the film with a frown or a generally sullen look on his face. Again, this is justified from a purely story based point of view, as this is a Bruce who’s finding himself and therefore probably feels dour and sullen, since he’s an angry man seeking someway to channel his anger and avenge his parents. I will say that the relationship with Bruce and his father is handled very well, helped mostly by Linus Roache’s great performance. The child who plays Bruce is rather stiff though, and when coupled with the emotional stale screenplay, again makes these scenes feel less emotive and poignant then they should be. Meanwhile, present-day Bruce steadily becomes less sullen as the movie as he finds himself, which is good. But really, Bruce doesn’t become fully realized until The Dark Knight, and this film serves mostly as set up for that superior film.

Katie Holmes is really annoying as Rachel Dawes, who was created for this film. I do wonder now why they simply didn’t just dig up one of Bruce’s dozen and a half comic-book girlfriends and just use her, but given that The Dark Knight really improves and fleshes Dawes out, I suppose it’s no skin off my nose from that stand point. But from an acting standpoint, Kaite Holmes doesn’t have the sweet nature and elegance that Maggie Gyllenhaal had, and instead comes across more as a trust-fund baby who became a DA then a genuinely erstwhile woman. This version of Rachel feels petulant and expendable, not really furthering the plot, and serving apparently as merely a damsel for Bruce to save which is a shame, since she had the makings of somebody who was really cool.

Michael Caine is great as Alfred, and his speech making isn’t overwhelming. It’s there for sure, but it’s not the same over-the-top feeling that The Dark Knight Rises had quite yet. It fits with the narrative is what I’m saying. It would make sense that early on on Bruce’s time as Batman, Alfred was his moral compass, and therefore the discussions and speeches make more sense coming from Alfred, who’s more or less always served this kind of role, then from the other characters.

Gary Oldman is awesome as James Gordon, who gets surprisingly little screen time now that I look at it. But he makes his screen time count, and he isn’t an idiot, and thankfully we avoid the protagonist centered morality syndrome his character was sorely hampered by in The Dark Knight Rises. I do really wish they did more with him in the film.

Liam Neeson is absolutely perfect as Ra’s, being both noble and formidable as Ra’s, while using his trademark gruff voice to his advantage to give Ra’s an equal dose of fatherly sage and malignant evil mastermind. Cillian Murphy really makes his relatively brief turn as Dr. Crane memorable, filling his screen time with fiendish glee, and it’s obvious he’s having a great time in the role.

The cinematography by Wally Pfister is understated and effective, giving Gotham a brownish, dark tone that feels right out of a comic book, while still feeling like a real place. The use of shadow and light is very good, especially in the second half of the film. The fight sequences are rather awkward though, with Nolan’s camera being very close to the action, and coupled with the hand-held, making it a tad difficult to make out exactly what is happening. However, the bigger action sequences, namely the iconic Batmobile chase across Gotham is positively epic and really shows what this film is great at, which is giving a sense of scale to the proceedings.

The score by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard is quite good, with Newton Howard’s contributions carrying the most emotional weight, while Zimmer’s action cues get the blood pumping. It’s well integrated, and it flows nicely.

In the end, my main gripe with this film is the lack of emotion, and the general feeling that this is set for something far more complex, emotional and grand, which we got in The Dark Knight. It’s still a damn good Batman film, certainly one of the better ones, but I still feel that as a first entry in a franchise, Tim Burton did an overall better job with his 1989 film, as that one felt more self-contained and atmospheric, and had the better, more human Bruce Wayne surprisingly. Not that Bruce Wayne isn’t human in Batman Begins, but the emotionally dry nature of Nolan’s film seems to sap from the rich wellspring of ideas, themes and character that the story obviously had to offer.

It is still a solid film, and serves an excellent set up film, if a frustratingly emotionally stale one. The real emotion and scope of Nolan’s Batman would be revealed in The Dark Knight, which is a stronger, tighter and overall better film then this. But this film did what it had to do, which was make Batman work for the overall public again, and help purge the horrible double-disaster that was Batman Forever and Batman and Robin of the public consciousness.

I’m giving 4 out of 5 stars.