Batman Begins (DVD)

...the complete screw up with Batman and Robin and the fundamental failure of the George Clooney as Batman at the box office, some serious rethinking had to be done. Not only did the fans of the Caped Crusader turn there backs on the film but also kept away in there droves making the film itself one of the biggest disasters since Raise the Titanic or Ishtar.

Warner Brothers were somewhat understandably concerned, but also very reluctant ...
...with the success of the Batman Animated series and talk of a new Superman film in the works this was to bring about a decision from Warner's that a new Batman film was to be green lit for production. This was in 2003, just 6 years after the 1997 release of Batman and Robin. The cinema had become a different place as well, as DC's competitors Marvel already had showed DC how superheroes can successfully be transferred from paper to screen with Spider ... more

Hello and welcome to my 51st review on Ciao.

After the complete screw up with Batman and Robin and the fundamental failure of the George Clooney as Batman at the box office, some serious rethinking had to be done. Not only did the fans of the Caped Crusader turn there backs on the film but also kept away in there droves making the film itself one of the biggest disasters since Raise the Titanic or Ishtar.

Warner Brothers were somewhat understandably concerned, but also very reluctant to go ahead with a fifth Batman film and decided to can the franchise for the time being, this was quite a sensible decision as this allowed new fans to become accustomed to the more traditional medium of Batman, the comics, due to the damage that this film had done.

All was not quiet for long, with the success of the Batman Animated series and talk of a new Superman film in the works this was to bring about a decision from Warner's that a new Batman film was to be green lit for production. This was in 2003, just 6 years after the 1997 release of Batman and Robin. The cinema had become a different place as well, as DC's competitors Marvel already had showed DC how superheroes can successfully be transferred from paper to screen with Spider Man and it was strongly felt that the DC Universe would not only compete but also thrash Marvel on the grounds that their catalogue of characters such as Superman, Batman were more familiar and less complex than some of Marvels catalogue.

The film was titled Batman Begins ands tells the story of how Bruce Wayne becomes Batman, in a very dark manner with quite a number of sinister characters. This concept had never been fully explored to this scale before and unlike other visualisations it was felt that it really was time that this approach was done, in fact not even the previous four Batman films had taken this much of a stance in telling the story as they had all been relatively short flashbacks. The Adam West version from the late 60's never touched the subject of the murder of Brice Wayne's parents and no origin story had ever been told.

Batman Begins also shows the story of Wayne lost his parents after a night in Gotham City visiting the Opera, this is the pivotal part of the film and from this the rest of the story plays. You do genuinely feel for the child when this happens as it is played out in a powerful manner that does impact. From this day Wayne feels helpless but has to overcome this guilt and undertakes a seven year journey to find out exactly who he is and who he encounters along that journey changes his life in ways that he didn't expect. Another first for any Batman film is that you get to see the rest of Bruce Wayne's family; his Mother and Father play an important part not only to the plot but also to the film itself as you see them throughout the film as their roles don't come to a complete end when they are murdered. You also see what an impact the Wayne Foundation have on Gotham as the business, as it is referred to, does a lot of charitable work as well as strive to improve the quality of life in Gotham, evident when you are told that the Wayne Foundation is responsible for the monorail transit system that runs throughout the city, it is things like this that make the film reach an entire new level.

The rest of the story involves Wayne wanting revenge for the murder of his parents and in some cases, before he dons the Batman costume, finding this out in a painful manner that he can be hurt as well as trying to hurt those responsible. What is very cleverly done throughout the film is that the level of corruption in the city is tackled in a way that Batman only has to deal with the smallest number of people to get the best results, therefore he just goes for the people at he top. After discovering who it was who set a contract for the murder of the Wayne's, Bruce decides that there is only one way to get this issue sorted as Gotham has changed and become a dangerous place. Wayne utilises the cover of the Wayne Enterprises and upon arrival at the family business immediately requests a job in the company. He is given a minor role that allows him access to the Research and Development department working alongside an old family friend, Lucious Fox played by Morgan Freeman. From here Bruce decides that as most of the hardware here is gathering dust that he has a much better use to it. With help from Alfred Pennyworth, played by Michael Caine, a vast cavern beneath Wayne Manor is slowly converted into the Batcave. You see Bruce and Alfred effectively starting from scratch on the creation of a solution to address the balance in Gotham. It is very interesting to see how this is done and nothing is held back and not explained, in fact the methods used are fully explainable and justified throughout.

With the new Batmobile acquired and weapons such as ninja throwing stars made the last thing to come together is the costume, this is a complete departure from the rubber costume from previous films and the cloth tights and cape of the 60's as this is full on body armour, not only does this look frightening but also intimidating. Being a fan of the Batman legend anyway it was very satisfying that a better approach had been taken as the costume represents everything that Batman and this incarnation is absolutely spot on. So much so to the extent that the actor playing Bruce Wayne/ Batman is totally perfect for the role, he is played by Christian Bale.

The cast is also well known and when watching the credits at the end reads like a Who's Who as surprisingly a lot of the cast is actually British.

Bale for me is probably the best choice in a long while to play the main character although previous versions of Bruce Wayne that have been played by Val Kilmer, George Clooney and Michael Keaton have been good this portrayal is far deeper and goes far beyond any boundaries set before, in fact the story starts off with Wayne having absolutely nothing and building his fighting skills in a Tibetan prison, and later you see him building back his family empire step by step. Bale plays the character with a lot of passion as he not only resembles what he character should look like from the comics but puts a lot of effort into making him his own character and unlike the others who have played the main role before him, gives a substantial amount of depth in the role allowing the character to breathe and actually live on screen, When he is Batman you see him as a menacing man who has an agenda and is only focussed on this. Some say that Bale plays two characters in the film as an additional identity is taken on by Wayne, but he way the film is shown you see that Wayne's persona is just presented in a different way to get results.

Wayne is helped out by a number of people, most notably Caine as trusted Butler Alfred Pennyworth, an English butler who has been part of the Wayne household for years, he gets to know Bruce inside out and is aware of the Wayne legacy that Bruce must uphold and protect. Caine plays the role of confident with the style and class that you would expect, he has a big part ion the film, which I didn't expect, and is also utilised as some comedy relief in some areas of the film. I think with him in the film he has made the part of Alfred memorable with screen time used wisely and not wasted.

Katie Holmes plays District Attorney Rachel Dawes, also known as Mrs Tom Cruise. Bruce knows very well as they grew up together as children, she was there with Bruce when he fell through a well at the back of Wayne Manor. For me she was used well in the role and made the romance and chemistry between the Bruce and Rachel believable, she does play an important part in the film as she is drugged by one of the two villains. Acting wise she is good in the part and you can believe that she is who she is. Unfortunately she has declined to appear in the second instalment. Shame, but she is being replaced by the upcoming Maggie Gyllenhaal. In fact the character of Rachel Dawes is the only original character created for the film as all others originate in the Batman universe.

As mentioned earlier Morgan Freeman plays Lucious Fox, a veteran employee of Wayne Enterprises and an ex board member who has been sidelined. He is now overseeing the Research and Development Department that effectively bank rolls Batman as most of his equipment has been "borrowed" from here. Freeman seems to have a ball in this film as he gets screen time with Bale and Caine, by the end of the film he becomes a trusted associate of Bruce and re-enters the circle of friendship again. As I said before the casting really does make the difference here and casting Freeman in this role again is true to the Batman legacy and an inspired choice as he adds another dimension to the back story and the character is heavily involved in a number of the sub plots of the story.

You can't have a Batman story without the character of Commissioner Gordon, only in this story he has not yet reached that high rank. I agree with this as it allows the story to grow and expand and you see Gordon rising from the lower ranks. Here Jim Gordon is just a Detective in the GCPD. The character is played by yet another British actor, Gary Oldman. Oldman uses an American accent and has his hair styled that actually again resembles the character from the comics. A great choice for the part knowing what we will see him rise to, but the fun will be getting there. Oldman takes the part and makes it his own and carves out the character to how it should be.

There are two main villains in the film, The Scarecrow played by Irish actor and Cillian Murphy who is disturbingly frightening in the film and Ra's Al Ghul, who I won't go into too much; if you watch the film you'll know why!!!

Other actors who appear in the film and complete the all star are Liam Neeson who plays the character of Henri Ducard, a freedom fighter who recruits Wayne in Tibet when Wayne is released from prison. Bottom line is that the character is training an army in the mountains and this is where Bruce learns his fighting skills from. Neeson plays the character well and is a formidable opponent for Wayne. He wants to destroy everything that the world has accomplished and take the world back to basics to rebuild in his image which nicely leads me to discuss the set pieces in the film.

There are a number of set pieces in the film that links the story together and piece the storylines together; the best one for me was the car chase with Batman being followed by what seems like half of the GCPD! This not only introduced us to what the new vehicle could do but also gave us an insight to how it had been upgraded and converted to the needs of a super hero. Pimp my Ride? More like (bleep) my Ride!

Music wise you don't hear the Batman theme at all, which is a relief, but what you do get is a full orchestral soundtrack that ups tempo in the right places to build a crescendo of tense, nail biting situations that we encounter over the length of the film. Thankfully there is no sign of Prince with regards to the soundtrack at all. Having listened to the CD of the soundtrack it is interesting to note that you are able to pick out the various points of what is where in the film itself so you can quite easily identify any particular areas.

I feel I must mention Direction here, the Director of the film is Christopher Nolan who has taken the script based on the graphic novel 'Batman: Year one' has effectively transferred an origin story and made it into a very smooth and stylish film that really has kicked life into the Batman franchise without actually being linked to the previous films in any way. Nolan also part wrote the film with David S Goyer. Nolan refused to have a Second Unit Director and completed the entire shoot by himself, a total of 129 days worth of filming was completed, every one with Nolan present on set. I think that this shows the dedication that Nolan had, it is well known that he is a fan of Batman and that he wanted to stay true to the story itself. I think what he wanted to avoid was the continue recasting of the main character which was a previous problem.

Location wise it is truly global. The film was based at Shepperton Studios, but locations used include Chicago which doubled for Gotham City and various London based locations such as Canary Wharf , a Hospital in Mill Hill which doubled for Arkham Asylum and Tilbury Docks. The fight between Wayne and Ducard was filmed in Iceland, with the aid of CGI this easily doubled as Tibet. The location of Wayne Manor was actually Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire.

After watching the film I thought that Nolan does manage to successfully pull this off as the film is not only exciting to watch but is also works on a number of levels, you have excitement for the kids to enjoy, but there is also an adult storyline that gives the film a different level of ambience to the audience. The fact that everything is explained to the audience and that it is based in a real world where corruption and poverty is near enough everywhere gives the film a grounding in reality, thankfully it is not a case of a mad man with a weapon attempting to hold the world to ransom, the story in this film is about corruption and what the people who are corrupting society are trying to do. Batman primary role is to tackle this and deliver justice.

For a film that is 140 minutes in length it sure goes quick, this is by far the longest running Batman film ever and the time is justified throughout as there is never a moment wasted in the film. Not only is it close to the source material of the book that it was based on but is also true to the legacy of Batman. The end scene while opening up avenues for the sequel also shows us how much the character is trusted by the Police and this will not only set the agenda for the next film but will also mean that there is a high level of continuity. In fact if the next film titled The Dark Knight is as good as this one then I as a fan will have nothing to worry about at all. This film was released in 2005 and the sequel will be out later this year. I thoroughly enjoyed this and cannot wait for the next one.

When this was released it sold itself not as the fifth film in the franchise but as a new start of something new and revitalised, well I sincerely hope that this carries on as Nolan and all the strong cast have signed a three deal contract so hopefully this will go the distance and not run out of steam like the Spider Man franchise did with the last film, which I didn't really agree with. It will not be interesting to see how the character of Robin is introduced but also interesting to see how different the character of Batman will be in the next film, as it is widely known that his will be The Joker as the villain.

The film comes in a standard one disk package for around £5 to £7. The two disc set is available from about £10. Again as I always say, look on line as you can probably get it a bit cheaper. It seems that every time that HMV or Zavvi have a sale that this is always there, but that is not to say that this is a load of rubbish, it isn't and is a very good film, a film that has seemed to have started a trend as further reboots of well known franchise have taken place, some good examples are James Bond, Star Trek, The Hulk and even St Trinians!!

Thanks for reading and until next time, take care. 

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