| BATMAN BEGINS (2005) : C.Nolan : 7/10 |
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 Having fallen into disgraced abeyance in the aftermath of Joel Schumacher's near-universally derided Batman and Robin (1997), a moneyspinning franchise is refreshed, rebooted, reimagined, reset and redeemed with Batman Begins. Sensibly operating on a clean-slate basis as though the last four Batman movies never existed, director Christopher Nolan and his co-writer David S Goyer (of Blade fame) - doing to this superhero what Sam Raimi pulled off with Spiderman - are instead inspired by the 'classic' comic-strip/graphic-novel Batman figure, as originated in 1939 by Bob Kane and refined in 1986 by Frank Miller. We see how Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) was inspired to fight injustice after his parents were killed during a botched street-theft, and overcame his life-long fear of bats to use the creature as a symbol to strike fear into his opponents. After honing his skills in a remote corner of east Asia under mystical, mysterious tutor Ducard (Liam Neeson), Bruce returns home to Gotham City - which looks like a retro-futuristic cross between New York and Chicago - to fight those who would corrupt and destroy it. With seemingly limitless wealth at his disposal as the heir to a vast fortune, he gradually develops a 'Batman' costume and persona - on the basis that a bit of 'theatricality' can transform a single man into a powerful "idea." Batman Begins is nothing if not exhaustive in its detailing how and why Bruce Wayne chooses to become a masked, caped avenger - and the rationale behind his elaborate dress-up antics isn't too implausible. But by the end of the movie we're not really very much the wiser about what actually makes him tick - this despite numerous (repetitive) flashbacks to the various traumas that shaped his character. As someone remarks late on, even without his costume Wayne is always wearing some kind of mask - and this will surely have to slip later on during the sequels. Another notable deficiency relates to Gotham City. Because while it's a terrific, nocturnal-neon 'creation' flawlessly rendered via seamless CGI, we aren't given enough evidence to decide whether it's a Gomorrah which deserves annihilation (as the chief 'villain' eloquently argues), or whether Bruce Wayne is correct in his belief that it's not yet gone beyond the point of redemption. As the entire plot pretty much pivots on this particular issue, it would have been handy to learn about the social and moral fabric of the city - especially as the lengthy running-time gives Nolan and company plenty of breathing room. They choose, however, to dwell on the Kung Fu style Himalayan training-camp material of the first act - material which we've seen countless times before, and which could have been judiciously elided into a series of montages. Nolan is on safer ground with the rousing, inventive action sequences which dominate the latter stretches, though the cast is sufficiently high-calibre that the character-based dialogue scenes are much more than mere punctuation. Michael Caine provides an invaluable and classy kind of comic relief as Bruce's butler-cum-guardian Alfred, while Cillian Murphy does his best to steal the show as a subsidiary baddie whose 'costume' is amusingly minimalistic and threadbare (it doesn't sound like much on paper, but his "would you like to see my mask?" is the picture's most effective, offbeat line). Americans are conspicuously thin on the ground - even in the cameo roles, such as the wordless psycho played by (of all people) James frontman Tim Booth - but they aren't entirely absent. No surprises that Morgan Freeman provides solid value as resourceful engineering-whizz Lucius Fox (the 'Q' to Wayne's 007) but Katie Holmes far exceeds expectations as Wayne's gutsy love-interest, assistant D.A. Rachel Dawes. Indeed, there are no weak links in the chain - typical of what is a professional, confident and bold example of mainstream entertainment, even if there's ultimately a sense that Nolan and company are really only setting the scene for the real drama that's to follow. Neil Young 21.July 2008 -------------------------------------------------------------------- USA 134m (BBFC timing of DVD) director : Christopher Nolan (The Prestige [2006], Insomnia, Memento, etc) editor : Lee Smith (The Prestige [2006], Master and Commander - The Far Side of the World, The Rage In Placid Lake, etc) seen 20/21.July.08 on DVD in Sunderland |
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