The fifth Batman movie goes back to the beginning to show how Batman arrived on the scene. As a child, he sees his wealthy parents murdered, planting the seeds for a lifelong hate of crime. Years later, while in a Chinese labour camp, he meets a mysterious stranger who guides him into the martial arts. Later, back in his home city, he adopts the famous bat persona as he begins the fight against crime.
139 minutes, No persons under 10 (Violence) Action, Adventure, Crime, Fantasy, Thriller.
Ian Douglas: It took me a long time to make up my mind about this movie...
Batman Begins is part of the new breed of comic-book adaptations, a breed that takes effort
with the plot and character development and is not just mindless explosions and special effects.
On the positive side, the script is pretty good. Chris Nolan did the mind-game dramas ''Memento'' and ''Insomnia'',
while David Goyer has a string of dark action movies behind him, including all three ''Blade'' movies.
Influences from both writers come through in Batman. There's plenty of quips and several 'foretellings' — you know,
those innocuous comments early in the movie which return with power later on. Some reviewers have noted that the film
is a bit long, I didn't find it so. It does take a while before Batman makes his appearance, but it's not wasted time.
Actually the only real problem I had with this movie was the production design... it seems to have been set
in several time periods simultaneously... ranging from the 1940s through present day and possibly the future
as well. I'm not sure if this was deliberate or an oversight, but I found it a bit confusing :-)
And yeah, that Batmobile sucks compared to original comic-book version... :-) The reason I didn't give this film a higher
rating was because I felt something was missing, but I don't know what. The general ''guideline for when you don't
know what rating to give a movie'' is to give it an Average Rating, but Batman is way better than that.
Philip van Rooyen: The best Batman movie by far. Excellent storyline and phenomenal dialogue.
Best Batman actor ever. Definitely a must-see movie. I didn't give it more than 8/10 because of four negligible reasons. Firstly,
the change in time (around 20 years) is not properly illustrated. Secondly, although Batman is proficient in many fighting
techniques, he mainly attacks people with his fists. This somewhat reminds me of the futuristic Riddick, who only fights with a
knife.Thirdly, in some of the fighting scenes you can't clearly see what is going on. Finally Batman doesn't injure people, he just
knocks people unconscious. Although noble, it does take away some of the realism. Batman and the bad guys are mainly active at night time,
and he has a tendency to show up at just the right time without being seen. Except for these few minor flaws, it is
an overall exceptionally good movie.
