Batman Begins

[devilchicken]

This is actually pretty good. The best Batman movie by quite a long way - and surprisingly scary too. A comic adaptation that relies on strong characterisation rather than the usual SFX theatrics.

Liam Neeson actually makes a better Jedi master here than he was in Star Wars.

[Lord Doom]

A serious take on a great character equals a superior "comic book adaptation." This freaking rocked! Not a bad thing in it. And we finally received a real character that looked and acted like James Gordon. Even the "love interest" was handled with an adultness.

One of the things that really, really annoyed me about Tim Burton's Batman film was the moment Alfred brought Vickie Vale down into the Batcave. This would never happen. Period.

In Batman Begins, The Batman keeps his distance from everyone, except for Alfred, and plays it very cool with both Lucius Fox and Katie Holmes' character, as the comic version would.

There was an actual emotional level to the movie as well, something we haven't had in any of the last Batman films. This raises the bar for super-hero flicks, since it took the material seriously, wasn't afraid to play it dark and scary and dealt with the psychological aspects of fear, society, and emotional scars quite well.

Spider-man still had winks and nods to other material (like Superman and past Spider-man cartoon show themes, etc), but Batman Begins was it's own creation, taking the best of the book material (with a few sly winks such as Scarecrow on Horseback during the seige was a nice homage to Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns, with Batman leading the mutant gang), but one not familiar with the actual comic books wouldn't get. Otherwise It was just good film making.

Jeff

[Yisselda]

It looks ace. I saw the cartoon film Batman of the future return of the joker yesterday. I think batman has huge potenial for popularity. If only there hadnt been the silly series and the silly films. It is obviously a serious cool intelligent comic etc.

Batman of the future return of the joker had the most surprising and horrid twist to a plot ive seen yet. It was a surprise and im hard to surprise.


The new film looks like it could put ther right image out for batman. Christian bale is a hunk. The whole film looks ace.

Who is the baddie in the film? A business person or a baddie like Mr freeze. or more nuts like the penguin.

[Typhoid_Mary]

Who is the baddie in the film?

Ra's al Ghul and The Scarecrow.

[Bob]

I reviewed Batman Begins on my website. If anyone cares to have a gander, the link is: http://www.ph-uk.co.uk/post/EEEApAyAlEaInuxtsQ.shtml

For the record, I'm a massive Batman fan, and I was so relieved to see that he had been treated with respect. The casting, and acting, was brilliant.

The movie should date pretty well, too, I think, as it didn't rely on flashy effects - everything always looked weighty, and when Batman hit someone, you really felt it. :)

[L'Etranger]

There is one comic hero I used to like a lot during my childhood: "The Phantom" - who gave many a crook a hard time. Does anybody know if his stories were ever made into a movie (worth mentioning)?

[DeeCrowSeer]

From the review:

"Joel Schumacher’s two aren’t even worth a mention."

Very true. Although I thought John Glover was funny in the one he was in... whichever one that was.

There is one comic hero I used to like a lot during my childhood: "The Phantom" - who gave many a crook a hard time. Does anybody know if his stories were ever made into a movie (worth mentioning)?

If you mean the chap in purple who hangs around the jungle, there was a movie made in 1996 with Billy Zane:

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0117331/maindetails

I saw it when it was released, as a reviewer for my student magazine, and I recall being very rude about it indeed... but, in my youthful arrogance, I was rude about everything I had to review (you always get to use more interesting words when you're being mean). It's got Catherine Zeta-Jones in, and I know some people consider that a good thing. Sadly I can't see Billy Zane now without remembering Zoolander and chuckling at him.

[DeeCrowSeer]

...with a few sly winks such as Scarecrow on Horseback during the seige was a nice homage to Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns...

Thank you Doom! I knew it rang a bell, and then I read this thread again, and there's my answer.

Just saw this film today, and throughly enjoyed it. I was chuckling all the way through, which would have been annoying, but there were only three of us in the place... and my friend was being far more annoying, asking questions like, "Is that Rutger Hauer?" But Caine was very funny, in an understated sort of way, as was Freeman. For some reason, the words "gritty" and "realistic" had stuck in my brain from the reviews, and I was expecting it to be far gloomier than it was. There were some great jokes in there, and I thought The Scarecrow was great. Not his kosher "secret origin" of course, but a great character to have around nevertheless... and the trippy fear-drug scenes were fantastic! I got a little bored of everyone running the Fear theme in to the ground, but that's a petty complaint considering how much care was put in to the film as a whole.

I would certainly agree that this is a best Bat-film to date, although Burton's version will always be very fondly remembered... if only for the quotes! ("Where does he get those wonderful toys?")

Great stuff though. Now we must patiently await the Blue Beetle movie... no?

PS. Cillian "Crane" Murphy has great screen presence... he certainly has to be an Elric contender.

[devilchicken]

PS. Cillian "Crane" Murphy has great screen presence... he certainly has to be an Elric contender.

My thoughts exactly :D

[devilchicken]

Well I thought he was a poor man's Ewan McGregor bearing in mind that he was cast in 28 Days Later after McGregor cut all ties with Danny Boyle.

Still he did come across fairly well as the Scarecrow, and I'm sure that any actor they cast as Elric would need to undergo some fairly serious makeup. He does have a bit of a 'milk-face'

[Grey Mouser]

I thought they did a great job with this one. Probably one of the best superhero origin movies to date.

[manmiles]

It was a great film, possibly the best Batman film if only for loyalty to what the charecter is about.

[Typhoid_Mary]

I still hate the costume though. I would have preferred something a little more like the one in the comics.

[Grey Mouser]

I guess it's a problem with origin stories that the hero doesn't get all the cool stuff 'till later.

I liked their rationalisation for why the Batmobile comes to inherit the speed booster as part of the history of the prototype armoured bridge jumping vehicle from which it was developed.

[DeeCrowSeer]

Ooooh! Just read on IMDb that Maggie Gyllenhaal is in final talks to replace Katie Holmes in the Batman Begins sequel. Yes, I had to cut and paste that sentence, because I love Gyllenhaal to death but can never remember how to spell her name. So cute in Cecil B. DeMented... and it takes a very special lady to look cute while drinking goat urine, lemme tell ya! Really enjoyed the first BB film, and if the sequel does have the mighty Ms. G in it, then I'll be even happier to hand over my money for a ticket. Hurrah!

http://imdb.com/news/wenn/2007-03-12