Bruce Wayne is a millionaire who lives in Gotham City, filled with crime, mobsters, and corrupt cops; and has a bad past of his parents being murdered by a criminal, and having a huge fear of Bats. Bruce joins a ninja vigilante group called "The League Of Shadows", who train Bruce to become a hero, and learn how to conquer his fears. However, after learning that the league's intentions are to destroy Gotham City, Bruce defeats "The League Of Shadows", and heads back to Gotham City, to fight crime, and dress up as a Bat, to strike fear into his enemies.
Christian Bale takes on the role of Batman, and while I don't find him as great as Keaton, or Conroy, I still think he's fine. First off, I love how Bruce Wayne's origin story is done in this film. Instead of just dressing up like a Bat because he can't cope with his parent's murder, and wants to fight off criminals as revenge; we actually get more to the story in this film. We see him bond with his parents when he was a kid, instead of just seeing them get murdered right away. When he becomes a college student, all he can think about is revenge for killing the man who killed his parents. When he leaves Gotham, we see him train with this Ninja league, that give him the skills that he will use as Batman, as well as conquering a fear that he had when he was a kid. On top of it, he becomes Batman not for vengeance for his parents death, but because it was the crime and corruption of the city that made this man kill his parents, and wants to change that. That's a really powerful, and well detailed origin story, on a famous hero. I even felt the characters pain and struggle throughout the film. I also like that when he's Bruce Wayne as a millionaire, he decides to act all rich and playboyish with his money and girls, so no one can suspect that he's Batman. I do like the idea, but I will admit, comparing his over the top behaviors to Keaton and Conroy's Bruce Wayne, you never suspected them; here you can pretty much tell that he's hiding something. I'm not saying that I don't enjoy the concept and idea, but did they have to go overboard with it? The scene when he jumps into a display pool with naked girls with his clothes on in a hotel restaurant, not only seems like he's hiding something, but seems like he's crazy and rich enough to dress up like a Bat.
When Bale becomes Batman people are very mixed about it, but I think he's decent. The design for his BatSuit, may not look as classy as Keaton's BatSuit, but I personally think it's cool. It's dark; it has a cool technical and modern look to it; some awesome gadgets; is so indestructible that it can save him from almost anything (Including bullets, fire, and able to stand falling off a building); and he does look intimidating. Some say his Mask looks goofy, and while I can see why, I don't know, there's still something freaky and unsettling about it. As for his intimidating voice, yeah, it doesn't sound as natural as Keaton or Conroy's voice, it really does sound very forced and goofy at times. However, (at least in this film) I personally don't find it annoying as many other people do, and there are times when he speaks in a soft spoken dark voice, that actually does sound legitimately natural and threatening. Now his Batmobile, while giving it cool action scenes, and from my understanding, most of its special effects are practical effects; the design sucks. The Batmobile in the 60s show, the Burton films, the animated series, and even the Schumacher films had a cool and creative look to it; this one is just a tumbler, that just carries the name "The BatMobile". As for the action scenes, it does get hard to see with the fast edits, and shaky came, but I personally didn't mind it as much as everyone else did. I thought it fit with the film's style by making the fight sequences just as mysterious as Batman is to the criminals. The film's theme, by the way is "Fear" and without giving too much away, the film does a solid job at executing that theme with its story, atmosphere, and visuals.
As for the supporting characters, they're all wonderful as well. Michael Caine as Alfred is just as marvelous as the previous actors who played him. You can feel how much he cares for Bruce by respecting his wishes and decisions, while not always agreeing with him; loving him like a son, while not trying to take his Father's place; and I love that he'll just never give up with helping and taking care of Bruce. They even give him a few funny moments and lines, which fit the film and his character extraordinary well. Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, is kind of like the Q of this movie, as if he were cool, and had a godly like voice. Freeman gives a very cool and fun performance; his relationship with Bruce never has a dull moment; and the gadgets that he gives Bruce, really take Batman to a whole new level. Gary Oldman as James Gordon definitely tops all the actors who played the character in the previous films. He looks and acts like the character; his relationship with Batman is the closest and most endearing comparing their relationship to previous installments in the live action films; and he even helps Batman out on occasions, as well as driving the BatMobile in the climax. Finally, we have Katie Holmes as Bruce's childhood friend and love interest Rachel, who many people seem to either love or hate. While I do prefer Viki Vale, and Catwoman from the Burton films, since I find them more interesting than her, I still think she's a good character. Her relationship with Bruce is delightful; I like how she gets as interested as Bruce is with the criminal underworld; and while being the typical damsel in distress at times, she does at times know how to take care of herself. I'm just glad that she's not like the bland, boring, and shallow woman that we got in the Schumacher films.
Now for the villains, instead of getting one or two, we get a whole rogues gallery of them, and with the exception of one, who's barely in the movie, they all have an important part in the film, and the film doesn't feel over crowded with the villains, nor are any of them forced into the plot. The main villain is Ra's Al Ghul played by Liam Neeson. Yeah, I am giving a big part of the twist away, but it seems that almost every single critic (Including James Rolfe) reveals this twist, and it's not because it's a bad twist, but it's worth talking about, and from what I understand is pretty much common knowledge to many Batman fans, including myself. I thought Neeson was going to be boring as this villain, but to my surprise, he actually did a fine job. He has a very engaging but sad relationship with Bruce; he's very smart; he's classy; he's skilled at fighting; his scheme of destroying Gotham is ingenious writing; and above all, he's pretty much like Batman, except that he uses his crime fighting ways by not only killing people, but also at the cost of innocents. He's a highly interesting and threatening villain, and Neeson is brilliant in the role.
The film's second major villain is the Scarecrow played by Cillian Murphy. When I saw the Scarecrow's mask in the photos (Especially this photo), I found it laughably silly and not creative. Also, when I found out that it was the same guy who couldn't act in "28 Days Later..." I thought he was going to suck. However, I was wrong. When he plays the corrupt Dr. Crane, who works at Arkham Asylum, he's classy while at the same time creepy and intimidating. When he's the Scarecrow, he not only stays creepy and intimidating, but the visuals for whenever he uses a drug on his patients, that make them see their fears, look really terrifying! My only issue is, I wish he was in the film as the Scarecrow more, or was the main the villain, and saved the twist of Liam Neeson being Ra's Al Ghul for another film. I also hate his anti-climatic defeat. However, it's still a great performance and a great villain.
The rest of the villains, aren't in the film that much, but they each play as a piece of the puzzle for Ra's Al Ghul's attack on Gotham. Tom Wilkinson as the crime lord Falcone, does a great job at playing this gangster. He's a fun villain, while at the same time really intimidating. Mark Boone Junior as the corrupt cop and Gordon's partner Flass, gives an outstanding performance as this dirty cop. Richard Brake as the guy who murdered Bruce's family, while we hate him and want to see Bruce get revenge on him, we do feel a bit of sympathy from him since he did it because of his poor lifestyle in Gotham. The only villain who plays no role in the film at all and is only there to make a cameo is Zsasz who's a crazy criminal who used to work for Falcone. I was really interested in seeing how psychotic he is and find out what his part of the plan is, but sadly, he's only in like two scenes, which are less than a minute long.
Going into this film, I knew it was going to be good, but I didn't think it was going to be that good! I was really impressed with this movie, and it is indeed a great live action Batman that no one has seen since the Burton film from 1989 (Though I personally enjoyed "Returns", but still have issues with it). The story is great and well detailed; Christian Bale makes a really good Batman (Not the best, but still good); the supporting characters are memorable, and well performed; the villains are awesome; and the action, while clunky at times, is still really neat and matches with the film's atmosphere. I think it's an excellent fresh new beginning for the live action Barman films, that does indeed wash away the wounds from the previous live action films that came after Burton's take on the films.
RATING 5/5
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