Batman Begins
Jun. 18th, 2005 11:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
moonwiseHusband and I went out to see Batman Begins last night. We'd heard it was a tremendous improvement on the franchise, especially after Joel Schumacher made such a pathetic wreck out of it.
After seeing it, I would definitely agree. The movie is loosely based on "Batman: Year One" and details how Batman got to be Batman. It details the fundamentals of the Dark Knight through exposition:
1. Bruce Wayne/Batman is driven by the death of his parents.
2. Batman is the greatest martial artist ever.
3. Batman does not kill.
Before I start talking about the movie:
You know you're an irrevocable science nerd when Lucius Fox is sitting at one of his instruments at Wayne Enterprises and you notice that 1. the instrument is a gas chromatograph with an autosampler 2. it's an old model, probably an Agilent because of the autosampler design, but might be an HP because of its age 3. the instrument details well that Lucius has been packed away in the back basement because if his department was worth anything, he wouldn't have a shitty old HP to work with.
"Batman Begins" has an interesting sense of realism that I liked. The beginning of the movie attempts to answer the Joker's question of "Where does he get those wonderful toys?" It shows that Bruce Wayne had to train, build the Batcave, put together his outfit, find his car, and assemble his arsenal before he could be the Batman we know and love. Most of the time, the Joker's question gets shuffled off into a wave of the hand and a dismissal of "He gets his stuff from the Bat-supply House," but "Batman Begins" shows Bruce Wayne machining one of his signature throwing stars.
With the attention to realism, I was wondering whether one of the Dark Knight's nemeses was going to show up, not knowing beforehand who Crane was. When the Scarecrow made his appearance, I just about jumped out of my seat. Of course, it's stated openly that Ra's al-Ghul is in the movie, and he's always an interesting character. I know him only from the animated series, where he's presented as a figure who shares some of Batman's ways and means, but al-Ghul's ends are to destroy and Batman's to let the law take its course. This was heavily echoed in the movie. Still don't know where he shows up in the canon, tho, and husband doesn't know either.
I had to giggle while Bruce Wayne was putting together Batman's outfit, thinking of Edna Mode in "The Incredibles." No capes!
At the end of the movie, there is a terrific nod to Tim Burton's first Batman film that sits "Batman Begins" squarely into movie continuity. It would be great to see this most recent bunch take on Schumacher's travesty, though Schumacher packed so many supervillains into his movies that there aren't any left. I'd love to see the Riddler redone, as he's supposed to be super-intelligent, witty, and urbane - not the mincing freak that was Jim Carrey's character.
Christian Bale is as good if not a better Batman as any of the rest who have taken on the role. Michael Keaton acquitted himself well despite being miscast, George Clooney could have been good if he hadn't had such a terrible director, and Val Kilmer was an abject failure. Bale's "growly Batman" voice is a bit overdone, though I'm so used to Kevin Conroy's voice perfection that it's hard to listen to anyone else.
This is definitely inspiring me to go out and get the third animated Batman series today. "Batman Begins" is absolutely the equal of the animated series and of Burton's films in the non-comic hierarchy, and anyone who's reading this is hereby encouraged to go out and watch this movie instead of going to see Revenge of theSnotnose Sith again.
After seeing it, I would definitely agree. The movie is loosely based on "Batman: Year One" and details how Batman got to be Batman. It details the fundamentals of the Dark Knight through exposition:
1. Bruce Wayne/Batman is driven by the death of his parents.
2. Batman is the greatest martial artist ever.
3. Batman does not kill.
Before I start talking about the movie:
You know you're an irrevocable science nerd when Lucius Fox is sitting at one of his instruments at Wayne Enterprises and you notice that 1. the instrument is a gas chromatograph with an autosampler 2. it's an old model, probably an Agilent because of the autosampler design, but might be an HP because of its age 3. the instrument details well that Lucius has been packed away in the back basement because if his department was worth anything, he wouldn't have a shitty old HP to work with.
"Batman Begins" has an interesting sense of realism that I liked. The beginning of the movie attempts to answer the Joker's question of "Where does he get those wonderful toys?" It shows that Bruce Wayne had to train, build the Batcave, put together his outfit, find his car, and assemble his arsenal before he could be the Batman we know and love. Most of the time, the Joker's question gets shuffled off into a wave of the hand and a dismissal of "He gets his stuff from the Bat-supply House," but "Batman Begins" shows Bruce Wayne machining one of his signature throwing stars.
With the attention to realism, I was wondering whether one of the Dark Knight's nemeses was going to show up, not knowing beforehand who Crane was. When the Scarecrow made his appearance, I just about jumped out of my seat. Of course, it's stated openly that Ra's al-Ghul is in the movie, and he's always an interesting character. I know him only from the animated series, where he's presented as a figure who shares some of Batman's ways and means, but al-Ghul's ends are to destroy and Batman's to let the law take its course. This was heavily echoed in the movie. Still don't know where he shows up in the canon, tho, and husband doesn't know either.
I had to giggle while Bruce Wayne was putting together Batman's outfit, thinking of Edna Mode in "The Incredibles." No capes!
At the end of the movie, there is a terrific nod to Tim Burton's first Batman film that sits "Batman Begins" squarely into movie continuity. It would be great to see this most recent bunch take on Schumacher's travesty, though Schumacher packed so many supervillains into his movies that there aren't any left. I'd love to see the Riddler redone, as he's supposed to be super-intelligent, witty, and urbane - not the mincing freak that was Jim Carrey's character.
Christian Bale is as good if not a better Batman as any of the rest who have taken on the role. Michael Keaton acquitted himself well despite being miscast, George Clooney could have been good if he hadn't had such a terrible director, and Val Kilmer was an abject failure. Bale's "growly Batman" voice is a bit overdone, though I'm so used to Kevin Conroy's voice perfection that it's hard to listen to anyone else.
This is definitely inspiring me to go out and get the third animated Batman series today. "Batman Begins" is absolutely the equal of the animated series and of Burton's films in the non-comic hierarchy, and anyone who's reading this is hereby encouraged to go out and watch this movie instead of going to see Revenge of the
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Date: 2005-06-18 03:55 pm (UTC)Also- in relation to you being a nerd and making comments about scientific apparatus: When I saw The Nutty Professor for the first time I about died laughing when I saw his "laboratory". They had a rotovap hooked up so that the "liquid" of the prof experiment went through the water chamber. I was like "Holy crap ahahahhahahahahhahaa".
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Date: 2005-06-18 04:06 pm (UTC)Apparently, we've now turned around completely- I believe that Cartoon network has a "new batman" cartoon series, the primary use of which is to induce uncontrollable vomiting after 5 minutes. Haven't seen the movie yet, but heard it's quite good.
That said: I've seen many entertaining film reviews in my day, but yours takes the cake.
"You know you're an irrevocable science nerd when ... you notice that the instrument is a gas chromatograph with an autosampler... details well that Lucius has been packed away... because if his department was worth anything..."
Yep!
Date: 2005-06-18 04:30 pm (UTC)And yeah, pretty much the only thing that bugged me even slightly was the growly voice. Conroy's voice from the animated series' IS batman's voice. (Maybe they should explore the idea of dubbing him into the next movie? ^_^)
Loved seeing Batguy start from nothing, and have to work his way (with a little trial and error) up to full speed.
I also loved the new car; not only the coolness factor, but that there's a reasonable explanation for it having been built.
If I can find the time in the next few weeks I'll definitely go and see it again, and I've not done multiple viewings at the theater in a long while.
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Date: 2005-06-18 05:00 pm (UTC)I want to see Bane redeemed from the travesty of a Batman movie he was stuck in for ABSOLUTELY NO REASON. Bane was probably one of the greatest villains from the comic book series; I mean, the man planned from prison since he was a child how to systematically wear Bruce Wayne down to the point where he could be broken like a twig....literally. And Joel Schumacher managed to reduce one of Batman's most intelligent, menacing villains into a mentally-challenged brute.
ARGH, I STILL DEMAND JUSTICE FOR THAT!
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Date: 2005-06-18 07:42 pm (UTC)*HUGS*
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Gooooooo Science Nerds!