Last night I stayed up late and finally watched Batman Begins. I ended up watching the DVD on Casey’s Powerbook since I tend to like my movies nice and loud. Anyway, I absolutely awesome – one of the best comic book movies to date and the best Batman movie ever, hands down. I rank it right up there with the two recent Spider-Man films.
I like how the makers of this Batman completely ignore the previous movies and instead start over from scratch, effectively banishing Clooney and company from our memories. Christopher Nolan focuses his energy on an actual story with character development instead of peddling a neon version of Gotham City and cartoonish action scenes. Just like Spider-Man, it’s fascinating to watch a super hero being born, from the quest for justice that motivates them to the demons that haunt them. They’re so much more human, so much easier to relate to.
In Batman’s case, we get to spend a huge part of the movie learning how Bruce Wayne became the Dark Knight, including the death of his parents, his ninja training in Asia, and where he gets all of those wonderful toys. It’s dark and often serious, but it’s all a lot of fun too, especially the scenes with the first version of the Batmobile!
This one comes highly recommended from me, even if you’re not a comic book fan. I have no reservations about recommending this, with the warning that it’s not really for kids (rated PG-13). There are a few scary scenes with the Scarecrow that could easily lead to bad dreams.
I wish all super hero movies were like this one. It’ll be tough waiting three years for the sequel!