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Batman Begins (SPOILERS)

Marketing or mistake?

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Re: Batman Begins

The new Batman comes out tomorrow and I am psyched! I don't know when I'll be going (I would order a ticket for tomorrow but I may have to work late).

Why it might rock:
- Has nothing in common with the previous crappy Batman movies.
- Awesome cast: Christian Bale is the perfect choice for Batman. And the following actors are no slouches:
Gary Oldman- Gordon (I think it's before he's a comissioner)
Morgan Freeman- the guy that arms and equips Batman (Fox or something?)
Michael Caine- Alfred
Liam Neeson- the guy that trains him
Katie Holmes- the requisite girly role

- This flick is all about Batman/Bruce Wayne the man, the character, the vigilante and his origins.

- It looks totally Dark Knight-ish, not the fantastic dreamscapes of Tim Burton (which are often quite nice, just not for Batman) or cheesy camp or homoerotic fetish look of the Schumacker films.

- None of the following actors will appear: Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey, Arnold Schwarzeneggar

- Neither of the following character will appear: Bat Girl, Robin

- While the Batmobile in the Burton film looked pretty righteous, it was absurd to believe a car like that could be used for what Batman needs. The new one is an ugly, all-terrain monster.

I just hope this film is very violent.

I haven't read a negative review of Batman Begins yet. All the reviews seem very positive. I want to see this film! While I liked Burton's approach (hated Schumacher's), no one has done a psychological study of Batman yet. I want to know what makes this guy tick. Supposedly, the new Batman film is going to do just that. *Finally*! :D

Tammy
 
Re: Batman Begins

Well mine won't be the first negative review.

It's great, especially if you're a fan of the "dark knight" style Batman.

SPOILERS

The entire first hour is spent on creating the emotional and psychological makeup of Bruce Wayne and how he evolves into The Batman. Pretty ballsy for a flick in which most would expect just wiz-bang action and FX.

And speaking of FX, the whole thing was kept pretty low-key. Ok, the car chase was pretty outlandish, but the flow of the film was very restrained and therefore watchable.

Nolan just needs to learn how to do hardcore action or hire someone who can for the sequels. There are two scenes where Bruce/Batman is in an all-out brawl: the opening prison sequence and later as Batman surrounded by thugs. And I couldn't tell what was happening and it was annoying. That style of editing also ruined the flashback fo Bruce's parents getting killed. However, it works marvelously in the stalker/horror scenes. Batman, like his enemies, creates and exploits fear (something that is, thankfully, dealt with quite heavily throughout the film), so there's this one sequence where he's preying on some thugs and it's filmed in classic horror style- brilliant! Maybe my favorite part of the film.

The most surprising thing about the movie is that the drama works better than the action.

The guy that played Scarecrow did an awesome job. I hope they find an equally appropriate actor of Joker in the sequel.

Gary Oldman is remarkably restrained and putsy-like as Gordon and it worked. I loved how Batman just liberates him to act on his good nature. Cain and Freeman added the humor and elegance that they always do.
(I read an interview with Freeman and he has such a good attitude about his job- he doesn't play up the artsy-farstsy shit like others of his stature often do, he treats it like a profressional, which is why he's equally great and appropriate in Batman as he is in Glory, which is probably his finest performance ever IMO).

Katie Holmes is getting a lot of flack and I don't know why. Ok, she wasn't brilliant, but was fine as "the girl."

What accent was that mob boss guy trying to effect? Really annoying. But I loved Batman tying him up to the spotlight, inspiring Gordon to create the "bat signal"- "I couldn't find a mafia boss" :LOL:

I also love that the events in this film explain why Gotham ends up full of literally insane criminals. The "Narrows" area is now a breeding ground for Jokers, Riddlers, Penguins, Catwomen, etc. Just like the X-Men franchise has one quick explanation for all its characters (genetic mutation), so too does Batman. This means sequels don't have to spend a lot of time on villain origin stories but can if they want, giving them a lot of leeway for sequels.

One plot element I didn't like was this Shadow group who apparently is responsible for sacking Rome and burning London and such for some weird philosophy of justice via genocide. Um... okay, whatever. :rolleyes:

Oh, and Ra's Al Gul is nothing like the character we were speculating on from the animated series.

The most important thing about this movie is that it gives us a cinematic Batman character we can dig and, if all goes well, Christian Bale will be to Batman what Christopher Reeve is to Superman.
 
Re: Batman Begins

...

...

And it was brilliant! Everything about it...script, direction, acting; especially the acting. Bale was good but Murphy, Caine, Neeson and Oldman were all fantastic.

Loved it to bits.

:)

VB
 
Re: Batman Begins

Damn!!! The local IMAX is not showing it. :mad: I'll probably see it this weekend or next. I really liked the first two "Batman" movies with Keaton, and have no problem with a new interprtation (tho 3&4 were pretty bad). From all I've read, it looks good. The advantage of not rushing in :D is later you can pretty much sit where you want, put your feet up :cool: and move around to get different views if so desired. It's generally cheaper too. As an old timer comic book fan I have to say I'm gratified that that this ( and the upcoming Fantastic Four) justifies my geekdom! :D
 
Re: Batman Begins

Really liked it. The only problem I had was some of the action was too blurred. This one was really about the Batman/Wayne character not the villains.


Spoiler.

Since the major villains were part of the same group it didn't seem overloaded.
 
Re: Batman Begins

Really liked it. The only problem I had was some of the action was too blurred. This one was really about the Batman/Wayne character not the villains.

I thought the blurred action made Batman seem like a scarier guy. In the previous films Batman wasn't as scary as he should have been. This Batman was scary! And I thought they explained the origins of things pretty well. I really hope they do a sequel to this film.

Tammy
 
Re: Batman Begins

For those of us that have seen the movie I'm going to put a poll on here to see exactly what everyone thought of it, seeing as how we've all given it positive reviews. I will base it on a five star scale, with five stars being the highest.
 
Re: Batman Begins

Sorry, I only do ratings out of 4 stars.

3/4 stars. ;)
 
Re: Batman Begins

I think the "blurred" action being referred to is the overuse of extreme close-ups during fight scenes. This can work for you and against you, depending on what you're trying to convey as a director.

In this case, it was the only thing I believe really hurt the film. We were shown the great fighting skills Wayne and Raz both were supposed to possess, but when their big fight scene arrived, we couldn't see the wonderful moves or techniques they both had. Some wider shots would've helped to sell a fight between two men who were supposedly equally matched.

On a side note, this technique has been done more and more in films lately, and I feel it's a bad trend. It saves the production from having to choreograph fights in as much detail, as well as some other advantages, but the action is so frantic, you can't tell what's happening very well.

As I said, this works in some cases, like when Batman was attacking the drug smugglers, where it made him feel more like a phantom and more scary as was mentioned before. But in the case of the fight with Al Goul (sp?), it hurt the film.

Given that that was my only complaint, I have to say I loved this film. It was a great, visionary reboot to Batman.

spoilers....

























There will be another, no doubt, and given who they've set up to be the villian...I find myself very curious as to who they will cast. Nicholson was the quintessential Joker. They will need to take a completely different approach to the character.

And I was very glad they let the Scarecrow get away. They're not making the mistake of killing off all the villians in each film.

CE
 
Re: Batman Begins

CE: totally agree about the fight scene style. Hurts in the long brawling scenes, helps in the Batman-as-shadow-strking-fear scenes. To me, the latter are much more important because they're what define the hero.

I do disagree that Nicholson was the "quintissential" Joker. He was fun, but that's not how I think Joker should be portrayed. Nicholson was cool and funny. I think Joker should be shit out of his mind crazy. A complete and utter sociopath to the worst degree. Cackling madly like a loon. And the way things were left off here, that is at least a possibility.

I didn't care if they kept Scarecrow alive or not, but I was hoping Al Ghul would be around later.
 
Re: Batman Begins

I should have known: people aren't giving spoiler warnings (at least not everyone).

Could someone add spoilers to the title? I should get used to this, the same thing will happen when the Harry Potter book comes out. :LOL:

I'll just have to avoid all threads that don't specify "SPOILER-FREE ZONE!!!" :rolleyes:
 
Re: Batman Begins

This was just great, probably better than Burtons' first, which i loved. This was more subtle, less fanciful and each character came across as being only human, not over the top. Even the more fanciful parts, such as the batmobile were still plausable. A lot of elements were taken from Batman: Year One (including the bat attack, the Mafia elements and others.) The League of Shadows was very well done, with the mystical side os Ras Ah Ghul only hinted at.

I loved the look, and thought the dialogue was great. My comics/ sci-fi hating girlfriend conffered.

Really really great, could well be the summers best flick. The Ninjas also rocked.
 
Re: Batman Begins

Best Batman flick ever. They got the storylines RIGHT for a change. The Joker was NOT Bruce's parents' murderer, it was a gangster stooge named Joe Chill. The end gives a credible reason as to why all these psychotic arch-enemies of Batman's will be running around Gotham for future movies (of which I hope there will be many, and all done right, like this one).

Scarecrow was done well, although I think the actor was a bit young to be playing the senior psychologist at Arkham Asylum.

I'm SO glad they made the bat signal more realistic. No spotlight has sharp edges like in Burton's movies. The thing that always confused me about the bat signal, though, is what do you do if the night sky isn't overcast? :)

I loved the scene in the shipyard where Batman was picking off the smugglers, one by one... especially when the 2 smugglers were slowly creeping toward the dark crate where their buddy disappeared. I found myself clutching the arms of my seat and I jumped when something finally happened. THAT is how Batman should be done, and I loved it.
 
Re: Batman Begins

1 good possible Joker would be the chap who played him in that Fan Film from a year or two ago...(Dead End)

Indeed, on checking up that was Andrew Koenig; Bester's boy! :)

VB
 
Re: Batman Begins

I've just seen it. Wow!
Good story, great acting - even Katie Holmes was not too bad. I know that some people have complained about the action sequences, but I liked them - although they did leave me a little dizzy at times.
I did not think that the idea of a guy wearing a potato sack for a mask was all that scary - it did not sound frightening. But, the way they showed it in the film, it was extremely creepy. And I jumped more than a few times during the film - it's been a while since I did that.

It is pretty clear that this version of "Batman" is nothing to do with the versions that were made in the late 80s and 90s. That the film departed from the story in the other films about who murders Burce's parents made that obvious.

I look forward to more.
 
Re: Batman Begins

1 good possible Joker would be the chap who played him in that Fan Film from a year or two ago...(Dead End)

Indeed, on checking up that was Andrew Koenig; Bester's boy! :)

VB

That was really great. Did you see the Batman/ Superman 'worlds finest' trailer by the same guy??
 

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