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June 30th, 2005 by Shopping Bag Can a comic-based movie win an Academy Award?
While the first two films hinted at it – and I actually like those two movies – it’s not until now that we begin to see the depth and complexity we read about in the graphic novels come to the silver screen. “Batman Begins” is the first film in the Batman franchise to finally penetrate the dark and troubled depths of the Batman legend. And it does so by exploring the tortured path that led Bruce Wayne (played by Christian Bale) from a parentless childhood to a friendless adult existence. The story of why he identifies with bats (childhood trauma) and hates evildoers (he saw his parents killed by a mugger) has been referred to many times in the four previous films, but director Christopher Nolan (‘Memento’) skillfully gives the story weight and depth. Nolan armed himself with an amazing cast (Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson, Rutger Hauer, Ken Watanabe, and even Katie Holmes) but really the two biggest stars of this film are Bale and the screenplay. Veteran David S. Goyer and Nolan crafted a story that is smoothly shrouded in shadow and weaves through obscure developments in fog and smoke, reinforced by dynamic sound design and yet another excellent score by Hanz Zimmer. This is at last the Batman movie fans have been waiting for. The characters resonate deeply with the audience, the imagery and tone of the movie follows the same sort of darker and more grown-up look perfected by Miller, and some of the best story lines of the comic are shown / hinted at throughout the film. We get to see one of my favorite villains, the Dr. Phill on acid known as the Scarecrow. And the film eschews the gloss of the earlier films, opting instead for a more gritty and realistic look and feel (i.e. the Bat Cave is an actual cave and not some super computerized lair, and the Bat Signal is crude and out of focus like it would be in real life.) And Bale is just right for this newest, truest version of Batman. Bale superbly plays all of the characters beneath the dual masks of Batman and Bruce Wayne, from playboy irresponsibility to brutal determination in eradicating crime from the streets of Gotham. I guess the only thing I can say about this film is: ‘go see it.’ |
If you have read even some of the Batman comics and graphic novels over the past twenty years, you need to see this film. Never a fan of the campy fifties TV series, my romance with the Dark Knight began when