FanUnity B(uzz)log

Sometimes not being a die hard fan of something pays off. It lets you accept minor glitches in continuity, because you don’t know any better. It’s that way for me with “Batman Begins.” I loved the film, and I think you would be hard pressed to find anyone other than Joel Schumacher, Tim Burton and their immediate families that would argue that it isn’t the best “Batman” movie ever made.The press hype said that “Batman Begins” doesn’t disregard the previous movies that Schumacher and Burton made, but acts as a prequel to it. That’s a bunch of bunk. “Batman Begins” is a fresh start to the series and washes that very flithy slate clean from all the feces Schumacher dumped on it. Any question about this is erased in the flashback scene where Bruce Wayne’s parents are killed. It goes down differently from the one seen in Burton’s “Batman”, with no Jack Napier in sight. This is all for the best.

The beginning of the movie cuts through different time periods to show the genesis of both Bruce Wayne and Batman. The scenes from Wayne’s life that are shown are precisely those that drive him to become the Dark Knight bent on saving Gotham City from the dregs of society. Thomas Wayne and the mysterious Ducard really give the genesis sequence its power. In many ways, both of these men are the father of Batman. Thomas Wayne provides the heart, and Ducard the black means through which to achieve the end the heart desires. Obviously, the film culminates with a showdown between Batman and the bad father that validates the legacy of the good father.

“Batman Begins” is peppered with so many good performances. In fact, there’s not a bad performance in the film. Christian Bale is perfect casting as Bruce Wayne. Bale carries a natural air of aristocracy in any role he plays, which works perfectly with Bruce Wayne. Bale hits every note. Liam Neeson as Ducard is phenomenal. He is the dark version of Batman. He’s what Batman would be with no moral center, the ultimate ends-justify-the-means warrior. Linus Roache conveys the essence of Thomas Wayne not with any words, but with the wise glances and internal strength he projects to the young Bruce Wayne. You get the measure of the man in his scenes, and even by the end of the film feel that his presence still towers over anything Bruce has yet to accomplish. Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine are simply perfect in their roles as Lucius Fox, Batman’s Q, and Alfred. Katie Holmes is excellent as Rachel, Wayne’s childhood friend whose grown up into a lucious young woman and an idealistic Assistant D.A. who is one of the few willing to stand up for good in Gotham. One of the others is Jim Gordon, played against type wonderfully by Gary Oldman. Rutger Hauer and Cillian Murphy are also wonderful in their parts as lesser bad guys in the film, Wayne Enterprises’s backstabbing CEO Earle and the Scarecrow, respectively.

As far as origin stories go, “Batman Begins” beats the pants off of Tim Burton’s “Batman.” The film succeeds in breathing new life into a franchise that had been completely run into the ground, and then set on fire just to make sure it was dead. Director Christopher Nolan and his co-screenwriter David Goyer deserve all the credit the world for what they have accomplished. The film ends promising a sequel that will right the biggest wrong that Burton’s “Batman” made. I look forward to it.

4.5/5 Stars.