TNMC

Okay geeks, I'm here to shine a ray of sunshine up your bitter asses. I obviously haven't been making a lot of friends around here with my commentary. All I can say is, I call it like I see it. And right now, I see greatness.

Batman Begins is a wonderful testament to what stands as possibly the most deranged of all superheroes, the Batman. Any guy who goes out into the night, dressed as a bat and with the intention of beating up crooks, is not right in the head. When that same guy is insanely rich and handsome enough to have any woman he wants, the insanity level jumps. Nobody with that much to lose has any business engaging in such dangerous activity so wildly out of the customs of civilization. And yet Bruce Wayne does just that and we have loved him for it for decades.

They let pretentious fop Tim Burton have his way with the Batman and he lost a lot of menace and came off almost normal. Then they let Schumacher molest the caped crusader with rubber nipples and made me think fondly of that campy nightmare TV show. But now Christopher Nolan has been called in to rescue the Dark Knight and give him a movie that matches up to the legend. Have you ever seen Nolan's first film Following? The guy shot it over years with no budget and came away with this taut little mind fuck of a thriller. It is the calling card of a director who is very on the mark with his work, no matter the circumstances. Armed with David Goyer's solid script, Nolan sets about getting to the heart of two important ingredients of the Batman myth that previous filmings have missed completely. One, the movie is scary. Two, it lets us into what makes Batman tick.

This movie really delves into the heart of Bruce Wayne. It starts with the very familiar murder of his parents but then really sticks with that element, following Bruce as he tries to move on, tries to find justice for his parents. The script really takes the time to build all of this up as it gives us the first movie Batman as a fully developed character. You can really understand why he takes the steps he does, no matter that they are insane. Burton treated him like a monster and that kept the character distant. Nolan treats him as a real person, just one in very strange circumstances.

Liam Neeson turns up as a crime world figure who mentors the young Wayne, teaching him much of what will become the basis of Batman. Neeson does a fabulous job of being both paternal and vicious. He gives Bruce everything he needs but isn't afraid to beat the snot out of him to make sure the lesson is learned.

Christian Bale plays Bruce Wayne and he wears the role like a second skin. He gives us a grieving son, a vengeful vigilante and the mercurial playboy. If you've watched his earlier work, none of this should surprise you but what makes it notable is that all of these are the same character. Watching him transition from one to another and back again is very satisfying. Plus he has a wonderfully evil voice that he plays for maximum effect when wearing the Bat suit. It's one of the elements that makes this a scary movie.

An element I truly love is the way Batman's gadgets are explained and brought into the story. Morgan Freeman plays Lucius Fox, an engineer toiling in obscurity for Wayne's company. His work becomes the basis of Batman's arsenal and it all feels grounded in a real world. This is the least attractive, least stylized Batman we've had to date and that is a very good thing. He has a job to do and these are tools, not toys. From the suit itself to the Tumbler, a strange new Batmobile, these are believable things for someone to have and use to fight crime.

Also grounded in reality for the first time is Gotham City. I loathed the way it appeared in the last Batman movie as some nightmarish Gothic amusement park. It was completely unbelievable as an actual city. This time around we have a city that is different enough to not feel like a real city you might know but none the less familiar enough to feel like a real city. Coupled with the cinematography that takes a much different tack than previous Bat-films, we get something believable.

I keep emphasizing realism because that helps the audience buy into this world and when that happens, the events can really grip the audience. Bruce Wayne makes Batman as much a vigilante as a marketing scheme. He really sells that bat image as something frightening. When Batman nabs a crook and interrogates them, they are frightened out of their wits. That pit of hell voice coming out of this black mask does not in any way say sane individual. The crooks fear for their lives, as if they find themselves in the grip of a serial killer. Nolan shoots the action to treat Batman like he belongs in Alien. Unseen much of the time, he skulks about toying with prey until finally swooping in from the darkness to snatch his victim. For the criminals it plays like a horror movie even more than the viewers.

Adding to the scary element is the Scarecrow. Armed with his fear toxin, he causes hallucinations in his victims that turn everything into a nightmare. No little kid will sleep after getting a look at the Scarecrow through the eyes of someone dealing with that toxin. Similarly, Batman magnifies into an even more frightening demonic figure to victims of the toxin.

The acting is for the most part superb. Michael Caine is just about perfect as the butler Alfred. Neeson and Bale I've already spoken highly about. Gary Oldman plays a straight character for once and that makes for an odd fit. This is the man who will become Commissioner Gordon but for now is just a detective who develops a rapport with Batman. Morgan Freeman comes and goes quickly but you will love him. Cillian Murphy makes for a great villain. Rutger Hauer and Tom Wilkinson both add some great texture to the crime world. My only real complaint is for Katie Holmes. Her role is terrible and she struggles to make anything of it. To be fair, no one could do much with it. But she is very easy on the eyes so I never griped too much about her presence.

The best thing about this movie is that it doesn't try to be like other superhero movies. It dares to play the material straight and in so doing gives us a story with more depth and texture than just about any previous entry in this genre. It just about makes you want plant a big wet one on Nolan in thanks.

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