Armchair Pundits

At The Movies

Batman Begins

It's funny how things once taken for granted, change with the passage of time. Monday evening, the illustrious Mr. Squirrel and I presented at the Showplace 16 for a viewing of a film featuring America's favorite caped crusader. The really pathetic thing is that I was looking forward to the movie all day (I rarely, if ever go to the theater); however, the show started at 10pm, which posed an issue. What's the problem you ask? Well, being thirty-somethings with busy lives has much to do with it as both of us were looking a tad peeked, and were yawning before we even made it out of the parking lot. Reallly quite pathetic for someone who used to thrive on the all nighter. Oh well, growing up has it's consequences. Of course, being at a movie till nearly 1am during the work-week isn't all that responsible, but I really don't care. The consequences were worth it.

And so, Grisby grins and gives Batman Begins a thumbs up. The film concentrates on Batman's origin and spends considerable time developing the psychology of Bruce Wayne/Batman. Lest ye be negatively swayed by the back story, the pacing of the film is smart & synchronal. The score (by the prolific Hans Zimmer) is artfully mastered and kept the film moving. Eclectically composed, there is a little something for everyone in the score. From techno beats to Mozart, the music worked for this film. Needless to say, once the film started the yawns dissipated.

I liked director Christopher Nolan's vision for the film. Mr. Nolan was able to capture some stunning vistas while on location in Iceland (I once lived there for two years and it made me want to go back and visit), which served as the set for China/Tibet, and Bruce Wayne's formal indoctrination into the ninja arts. Additionally, Chicago served as particular segments of Gotham, and is readily discernible as such in the film. This is especially true, if you are at all familiar with The Blues Brothers.

On this note, I must give pause and attend to Mr. Nolan's idea of the city of Gotham. I liked what he did here as this was a notable departure from what Tim Burton attempted in the late 80's and early 90's. In this film Gotham is a bright, shining, city teeming with the hustle and bustle of commerce, and humanity. Transit is readily accesible and plays a key role in the plot development. This was much improved over previous films as the grit and grime of the city was contained to the slums of The Narrows and to mass transit underpasses. This gave Gotham a more realistic feel as a city-one that could actually exist as opposed to the more dark and fantasy based concept of earlier films. In a nutshell-less cartoonish.

Another dimension worth mentioning, is that this film is a little darker in regards to the inner machinations of Bruce Wayne's mind. I like this aspect as it shows a flawed hero, consistent with the rest of humanity. I think Christian Bale did a fine job in reprising the character of Batman, with one exception. There is a scene, where Batman is taunting a crooked police officer, and this scene is overplayed. Specifically, Bale tries to hard to be a menacing tough guy and this didn't work for me in this scene, as it felt a bit over the top. When taking a more subdued approach, Bale's performance smartly captures the character's internal struggle. Specifically, the character is more flawed- conflicted. At times he is terrorized and at others hie is terrorizing and that works well for me.

The costuming was intelligent and more muted than the original comic book, allowing for Batman to be more mysterious and disappear more readily. I liked the costume. Truth be told, I probably liked Bruce Wayne's tailor equally, for he exhibited some fine suits. Not sure as to the real world designer who supplied the wardrobe, but extremely fashionable.

Gadgets and effects were quite cool and reflected a more utilitarian military purpose, which also seemed more realistic as opposed to previous models of the Bat Mobile, etc. The supporting cast was notable featuring Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldham, and Katie Holmes, quite the ensemble.

The film sets itself up to become a serial and I eagerly anticipate the next installment.

posted by Grisby @ 5:44 PM