Super-Cember Day #20: Batman Begins (2005)

(Originally posted December 20th, 2017)

Tonally, this is a very different movie than the bonus review I did today, and I don't mind that. Batman Begins (2005) is the first of the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy, and it sets things off on the right foot. A little shaky in places, but a significant return to form considering all the Batman films I've seen since Batman Returns. Starring Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth, Liam Neeson as Henri Ducard/Ra's al Ghul, Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes, Gary Oldman as James Gordon, Cillian Murphy as Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox.

The first 45 or so minutes of this movie are very slow paced, which works against the movie somewhat. We see Bruce in training at the League of Shadows interspersed with flashbacks to his childhood. I think it would have been far more interesting to show him returning to Gotham first, then slowly leak all this backstory into the narrative that way, as opposed to lumping it all into the start. The film, as a result, seems anchored down by the first act, and while it is important stuff, it would have been far more interesting had it been slowly sprinkled through. That said, this is basically what I've always wanted to see in a Batman movie: how he became Batman, and beyond just the dead parents thing. This is the first Batman film that actually shows the beginnings of Batman, which, to be fair, is exactly what they promised us.

Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne

The film also has a big issue that it's unfair of me to lump onto it, but I must: it's note-for-note to the TV show Arrow. And, I know, this movie came out several years before Arrow ever did, but I saw Arrow first, and many of these things were done better in the show: billionaire playboy goes missing for several years and returns to his city, having trained with the League of Shadows/Assassins, as a vigilante attempting to stop the corrupt people running his city into the ground; his love interest is a hard-working DA and he seeks the help of a detective on the force whilst all the other police officers see him as a criminal; also Ra's al Ghul shows up in his city and threatens to destroy it with an airborne contaminant. Hell, one of the first props in the movie is a stone arrowhead. Too many coincidences for me to ignore. And I don't hate the movie because of it; far from it, it's a great movie, but as I said, Arrow did it better, meaning there are problems here. I'm not going to go into all the little things now, as they contain spoilers for both this movie and for Arrow, so let's move on.

Liam Neeson as Henri Ducard

To say that this cast is amazing is, quite frankly, ridiculous, as they're almost all A-list actors: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman; they're all amazing as you'd expect them to be. Bale, particularly, does a great job at portraying all the different sides of Batman. This was the first Batman movie to actually devote a significant chunk of the story, if not most of the story, to Bruce Wayne's character, and it's most certainly welcome, as Bale manages to portray that struggle immensely well. Caine is expectedly perfect for the role of Alfred, while Oldman is practically perfect in just about everything he's in, including this movie. Liam Neeson's villain has a lot of the impact ruined when you initially consider why they get Liam Neeson in for such a small role, so the twist that comes later loses a lot of its power, but it's still an excellent performance. Morgan Freeman is also as good as he ever has been.

Gary Oldman as James Gordon

The one weak link here is Katie Holmes. She does fine in the role, but that's the problem: the role itself. I mentioned that her character has a lot of similarities with an Arrow character, and both characters are bland and a little annoying. I think I prefer Rachel to Laurel, but maybe that's because Laurel had several seasons to get under my skin, while Rachel really didn't irritate me outside of a couple of scenes. Otherwise, she really doesn't have much of a role here. She has A purpose, yes, but you don't really get the sense that purpose absolutely had to be carried out be Rachel herself; it could have been anybody. Have Gordon do it, the outcome's the same by the end and we get more Gary Oldman. It's a win-win. I don't know, you guys already know I have a real problem with a love interest just being there to be a love interest and to be rescued, and that seems to be Rachel's only purpose here.

Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes

All things considered, Batman Begins (2005) was far better than the majority of Batman films I've seen, but there wasn't much competition. It's got its flaws, but I enjoyed it, and I'd probably watch it again. Depends on how it stacks up to the rest of the trilogy, but for now it gets a thumbs up from me. 8/10.

Tomorrow: it's Watchmen.