Movie Retro: Batman Begins

Three things inspired me to post this:


a) I said sometime back I would try to dig up my old email to my friends where I wax poetic about how much I love this movie.

b) Marshall Rogers passing away, and you can see a lot of his influence in the character in this movie (along with of course, Neal Adams, Steve Engelhart, Bob Kane -- the man who created Batman -- Frank Miller, etc.)

c) The movie was on HBO tonight and I had to watch as much of it as I could.

Anyway, here is my old e-mail. And if I were to give it a rating today, I would give it 8 Nations.

From my e-mail dated 6/17/05:

It will probably come as no surprise to most here that I was a big Batman fan growing up --- I loved the comic books, I loved the character, the gadgets, etc. He was my favorite super hero growing up actually --- I thought Superman was too sunny and too powerful and Spiderman was great, but he had super powers. Batman on the other hand, was just a man underneath it all. He had cool gadgets and everything, but he was just as human as the rest of us.

I enjoyed the Tim Burton Batman films -- but that was all they were - enjoyable. They did not capture the essence of the Dark Knight, nor of Bruce Wayne. And they took too many liberties with the character -- especially Joker being the one that kills his parents. Ugh.

Anyway, Batman Begins was a pure joy for me to watch because it captured the essence of Batman perfectly. Why would a billionaire put on underwear over his pants, put on a mask and cape and start swinging on rooftops? I thought the filmmakers did a really good job of explaining why. And it also showed what Batman fans have always known--- he may not be the one wearing the mask, but Bruce Wayne is the facade, while Batman is the real persona.

A few more things I liked about the movie:

A) Did not really see the twist about Liam Neeson's Ducard being R'as Al Ghul. And honestly, it surprised me that bit of info wasn't leaked in any reviews at all. R'as Al Ghul might seem like a peripheral villain amongst casual fans (which would explain the lack of any leaks), but in the comic books, only the Joker can be considered as the villain who has influenced Batman's life more. R'as Al Ghul is called the Demon for a reason -- and in spite of that, he is the only villain in Bats' entire rogue gallery whom Bats respects, and to a certain point, agrees with. And add the fact that Talia, R'as'daughter, is Batman's one great love... it makes for a lot of drama.

B) Scarecrow --- the movie did what Batman: The Animated Series and the comic books - actually make him intimidating.

C) Gary Oldman as Lt. Gordon --- great acting job. I'm glad they played up the Batman-Gordon alliance, as that is an essential part of the mythos.

D) As my friend Sean said, it always bugged him in the comic book how Lucius Fox could never figure out Bats and Bruce were one and the same --- he's always complaining about stuff missing. Glad they addressed that.

E) Michael Caine was so great as Alfred. People tend to forget that it was Alfred who raised Bruce after being orphaned, so he's as much a father figure to him as anybody, and they really showed that well.

F) I liked the fact that Bats wasn't seen by a lot of Gothamites, as he is an urban legend for a lot of these people. I also liked the fact that children were not afraid of Bats, as it is only criminals who fear him, not the innocent. Yeah, both points were straight out of the comic book.

G) Joker's calling card at the end. Perfect. I hope they go with the homicidal Joker from such classics as The Killing Joke, and not with Jack's over the top ham fest.

H) The movie just covered everything --- from Bat's no killing policy,to his no-guns policy, to his takeover of Wayne Enterprises, the disappearing from social functions under the guise that he's a fop when he\'s really being Batman.. just so well done...

All in all, I rank this as the top super hero movie I have ever seen, along with Spider Man 1.