Batman Begins

My rating: ***

For lack of time, here are some of the +ves and -ves

+Ves:

~ Bale’s performance is top notch. He’s as sizzling as Batman as he’s real as Bruce Wayne. Even otherwise, acting throughout is top-notch.
~There’s awesome flow in the screenplay. And the casual way of unfolding every page of it by the director makes it more realistic.
~The acoustics–both background score and mixing are the most terrific ever. Esp the background score–absolutely haunting.
~The works–Batmobile, Batman costume and the larger than life stunts–bring to life this superhero in the most powerful way.
~The action sequences in the 2nd half… especially the train sequence, however predictable, is one thrill ride.
~The Scarecrow is fantastic. Everything–the actor, the hallucinogen–its just novel (atleast for me since neither have I followed Tim Burton’s adaptations or the comics)
~The humour is fantastic. Michael Caine and his one-liners like “What’s the use of all those push-ups when you can’t lift a log” simply bring the house down (more so as they are in situations where you least expect people to be humorous)
~The movie is dark and shadowy. Makes no pretensions on being so… the darkest and the most disturbing edifices of Bruce’s life are churned out to convey the conflict in a blockbuster format. Works bigtime. The “fear” and the “anger” angle is evoked brilliantly, and Bruce’s desperation for redemption is never questionable.

-ves:

~Granted, this is one fantastic character study of Bruce Wayne and how he becomes driven enough to be the “Batman” but the buildup, it has to be said, could be snappier. Atleast by 15 minutes. More so because this is a comic book adventure, I doubt if I’ll ever be sitting through the whole of first 60-70 minutes just to “not” get a glimpse of Batman. 35-45 mins could have been just fine. I remember being irritated by this fact on first-time viewing and not surprisingly enough, everyone in the family also were shifting anxiously in their couches to get to the real stuff. Liam Neeson’s dialogue is a tad too repetitive and monologue-ic.

~The action sequences in the first half–Bruce’s training etc, are way too flashy and cut-n-paste to have much effect. The lack in punch and flow makes the whole training of Batman etc even more un-watchable 2nd time around. And yes, Neeson doesn’t look as fit in the sequences as a cult leader that he’s projected to be should be. Thankfully, Bale makes up for that with his agility and you forget Neeson’s slipping and tripping.

~I have little clue if the actual Batman found his stuff the way he does in the movie… coz him finding exactly what’s required is kind of convenient and lame. But I guess that comes with every superhero movie… capes and swanky automobiles just won’t drop from the sky.

~Again, this is a birth defect of this genre… but the good winning over evil is kind of yawny.

~Even though the production values seem functional, they could have been more grander. Especially with a villian like Scarecrow, there could have been more sinister action/chase/destruction sequences than there are or anything else where we see more of Batman flying. Air-view shots of Gotham are a bit of a laugh really… it looks very plastic. Hopefully, this’d be taken care of in the next Batman.

Look beyond the somewhat clunky and talk-heavy first half and what we have is, IMHO, one of the better comic book adaptations.

Certainly one of the more realistic, character-driven, identifiable, entertaining, continuously rivetting and not to forget–DARK comic adventures-cum-popcorn blockbusters ever. Spider-man finally has competition. Kudos to Nolan, Bale and Warner Bros!