 Recent Batman sequels, including "Batman Forever" and "Batman and Robin" seemed to be taking the Batman franchise into a watered-down, over-colored, Hollywood-style direction. Fortunately, the release of Batman Begins completely reverses this trend.
While other Batman movies gloss over the background of Bruce Wayne, this movie makes his background the plot (hence the name "Batman Begins"). We find out more about Bruce's childhood, including his feelings and fears that mold him into the caped crusader he becomes. We also learn more about Bruce's father and the influence he had on him. Flashbacks of his younger years are mixed with the present to show the correlation between Bruce Wayne's past and present life. While it is sometimes difficult to determine exactly what time period is being shown, the timeline of Batman's beginning is made complete by the end of the movie.
What makes Batman different than other superheroes is that he is an ordinary man. He is not some extraordinary being from another planet with the ability to shoot lasers or wield fire from his fingertips. He is just a plain human being with an unfortunate past and determination to make things right by bringing justice to society. "Batman Begins" does an excellent job of showing Bruce Wayne's human nature while still maintaining his superhero aura.
Though the plot alone carries this movie, there is plenty of action to go around as well. Most of the action scenes are well choreographed, though they are a bit lacking in creativity. I would have liked to have seen more panned-out shots to give the fighting scenes more context. Instead, most scenes contained the all too familiar zoomed-in footage where all you see is a fist hitting a stomach. At least, the lighting is dark throughout most of the movie, in typical Batman fashion. This adds a lot to the overall dark feeling of the movie, though I thought the yellowish-green filters were a bit overused.
Those small complaints aside, the cinematography was well done and appropriate for a Batman movie. "Batman Begins" has an overall tone that is more in line with the first two Batman movies, and that is a definite plus. The Batman in this movie is the masculine Batman many of us remember from the original movie and avoids the pretty boy stigma from the previous two Batman movies. We finally learn who Bruce Wayne really is and what made him become Batman. I highly recommend this movie to any action movie fan and it is a must for anyone who likes Batman. |
