|
|
 |
|
 | As a young boy, Bruce Wayne watched in horror as his millionaire parents were slain in front of him--a trauma that leads him to become obsessed with revenge. But the opportunity to avenge his parent's deaths is cruelly taken away from him by fate. Fleeing to the East, where he seeks counsel with the dangerous but honorable ninja cult leader known as Ra's Al-Ghul, Bruce returns to his now decaying Gotham City, which is overrun by organized crime and other dangerous individuals manipulating the system.
Meanwhile, Bruce is slowly being swindled out of Wayne Industries, the company he inherited. The discovery of a cave under his mansion, along with a prototype armored suit, leads him to assume a new persona, one which will strike fear into the hearts of men who do wrong; he becomes Batman!!! In the new guise, and with the help of rising cop Jim Gordon, Batman sets out to take down the various nefarious schemes in motion by individuals such as mafia don Falcone, the twisted doctor/drug dealer Jonathan 'The Scarecrow' Crane, and a mysterious third party that is quite familiar with Wayne and waiting to strike when the time is right.
Click here to visit the official site.
|
|   | | 36.1%
| | | 37.1%
| | | 19.4%
| | | 5.7%
| | | 1.8%
|
|
 |  | "As a man I'm flesh and blood. I can be ignored. I can be destroyed. But as a symbol I can be incorruptible. I can be everlasting..."
The first great Batman movie has finally arrived. What came before barely scratched the surface. In fact, if you've never read a Batman comic and know him solely from his previous big screen adventures, really you don't know him at all. For years now, comicbook fans have thrilled to the depth, darkness, smartness of plotting and richness of characterisation present in every single issue of Dark Knight adventure. Yet precious little of it ever made it to the big screen. For Batman purists in particular, who knew all along how much better those films could and should have been, they were painful years. Fingers crossed, they're over now. Thanks to director Christopher Nolan and an amazing cast headed by Christian Bale, the Caped Crusader's epic live action losing streak has finally come to an end. Batman Begins is here. Happy, happy days.
Blessed with an uncommonly smart screenplay, no surprise considering it was co-written by Memento's Nolan and Blade scribe David S. Goyer, Batman Begins is a serious and entirely successful attempt to finally get inside Batman's head. To explore his obsessions and the demons that drive him. For the very first time in film, Bruce Wayne is a fully realised, well-rounded person. Not just a supporting character in flashy blockbusters more interested in the superstar baddies than the tortured hero they're supposed to be about. Also for the first time, Batman is a truly terrifying piece of work. Not just some guy in a suit. As played by Christian Bale with an intensity befitting the character, all burning eyes and gruff tones, he's the scariest man in Gotham.
Largely inspired by Frank Miller's classic comic book Batman: Year One, which lifted the lid on Bruce Wayne's earliest Batman adventures, Batman Begins presents the origin, training and earliest trials of the ultimate superhero. We also get to meet many of the supporting characters, good and bad, who contribute large to Batman's incredible mythology. Fighting for the angels we have butler Alfred (Michael Caine), honest cop James Gordon (Gary Oldman) and gadget man Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman). On the side of the devil, meanwhile, fights gangster Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson), evil genius Ra's Al Ghul (Ken Watanabe) and, armed with hallucinogenic fear gas and an appropriately spooky mask, fledgling super villain Jonathan Crane, a.k.a. The Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy). Hovering somewhere between light and dark stands Bruce Wayne's mysterious mentor Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson), an amalgam, really, of the many people who contributed to Bruce's training in the comics. Finally there's a dash of romantic interest in the form of Katie Holmes, but really she's in the film to act as Bruce's conscience, and in that capacity, she really gets him thinking about his life and purpose. Which is a good thing. Not a bad cast, eh? And all of them in the movie because they're the best actors for the roles. No one's in this just because they're famous. No one's in this because it serves their ego to strut about and ham it up.
It's serious, yes. We've established that. A grown up treatment of an incredible story. But it's also amazing fun. Really intense and exciting, not as flashy as what came before, but somehow more epic and certainly more credible. And though this is a big film with lots going on, you never feel less than intimately involved with Bruce and his freaky alter ego, not to mention the many dramas and thrills experienced by those around him. It's all you could want from a superhero movie, with some added surprises you'd never anticipate.
If you're a fan you've probably seen it already and have it on your list. If you're new to Batman then this is the movie that will make you a fan. And if you felt you'd had enough of Batman after the last four movies, let us assure you that this is a whole new ball game. An entirely different treatment that will grip you then blow you away.
And boy, wait until you see the new Batmobile...
BATMAN and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and (C) DC Comics. (C) 2005 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved.
|
|
|
|