Batman Begins Movie Review

I love Batman. I always have. If you didn?t know, I was a comic book geek as a kid. I would send money away to mail order companies, I would frequent local shops, I could tell you the book-by-book details of popular artists like Todd MacFarlane (who truly transcended his artist roots) and Jim Lee and how they broke off to form Image Comics.

I collected the first issue of each new Image Comics brand (Savage Dragon, WildC.A.T.S, etc) and eagerly (and happily) sent away the coupons in each comic to get the special Image Comics #0 issue. I did this in hopes of getting a true collector?s item, perhaps even making real money with this hobby.

It turned out that the original comics were worth more if you left the coupon for Image Comics #0 in them.

?Ah, shit.? ? Evan, age 11.

Interestingly enough, apart from the Bane storyline (The Man Who Broke The Bat!), I never read Batman. I loved Spider-Man, and I read X-Men religiously, but just about everything from DC Comics at the time (the indie Dark Horse notwithstanding) was a little over the top. Goofy. Ridiculous, even by comic book standards.

I tried to get into Batman, I really did. I read The Killing Joke, I picked up The Dark Night Returns. I loved them both, but I was wary of reading it issue-to-issue. I was running a $40/week habit there for awhile, my mother accomidating me to until the need became too great, until my folder at the comic book shop was cleaned out and denied future use, until my mother lost her job and I lost my expensive comic habit.

I guess that whole story explains what happened to Batman as a film icon after the first movie.

The first movie was shocking brilliance, its sleek lines and its crazy characters. Its excellent music (Danny Elfman is a God) and its superb acting. Who would?ve thought at the time Mr. Mom would knock it out of the park as Bruce Wayne?

Then came the sequel. The inevitable, the overhyped, the rushed mess that was Batman Returns. Returning to what, we may never know. But there it was, little animatic penguins with cute missiles on their back and Michelle Phieffer in black leather.

I guess even as a kid, the glitz of a Hollywood blockbuster is too much to put down. I proclaimed its brilliance as I left the theater, happy and satisfied another Batman adventure took me to the depths of Gotham, where I remained happy for two hours.

But the next two films, oh boy. Batman Forever was not quite the toxic dump that was Batman and Robin. They took the incredible sets, the incredible characters, the incredible mood that must be prevalent in the Batman universe and killed it.

Thank your chosen diety for both Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale. They pulled it off, they really did. The grit, the grime, the true-to-the-comics story.

Here?s a quick comic book geek trivia moment: Who shot Bruce Wayne?s parents?

If you answered the Joker, then you don?t know the whole story. While the latter of his origin story was muddled and mixed for the movie?s purpose, it is, for the most part, the original and the best origin story for Batman to ever grace film. It shows him making mistakes, it shows him developing as a crimefighter, it shows how Batman is heroic: Precisely because he doesn?t have inherent super powers.

I could continue, but I won?t. You will not be disappointed in this film. Everything from his relationship to his father, to the excellent if albeit small roles of Alfred and Lucious Fox played by Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman respectively, contribute to an excellent superhero film. One of my favorite sequences is when Christian Bale must go from the Rough And Aged Bruce Wayne to the Early Twenties Bruce Wayne. Remarkable isn?t really the word, I think.

Is it perfect? Nah. But it?s the best superhero movie to see the theaters since Spider-Man 2 and as close to cinematic perfection as Batman has ever come.

On the surface simplicity
But the darkest pit in me, it?s pagan poetry

Tags: Batman Begins Movie Review Comics Tood MacFarlane Jim Lee Image X-Men Danny Elfman Christian Bale Christopher Nolan Joker Crimefighter