Batman Begins
Rated: PG-13
As The Dark Knight will dawn in two weeks, I thought it wise to revisit the first film, Batman Begins. My opinions on Christopher Nolan's re-launch of the series have varied in the three years since I saw it on opening night back in 2005. I remember after I saw the film the first time, I excitedly called my friend Carl to tell him that Begins blew away the previous four films and that this is where the series truly begins. I was most excited about the tweaking of the Batman origin story because Nolan and co-writer David Goyer introduced a thematic element: fear. Everyone knows (or anyone that even remotely knows Batman) that Batman's alter-ego Bruce Wayne witnesses his parents' death at the hands of a mugger and paired with falling into a cave of bats or in the comics, seeing a bat outside his window, Bruce Wayne transforms into the crime-fighting vigilante of Gotham City known as The Batman. The genius of this adaptation is that the reason Bruce's parents are murdered is because he was scared by the opera they were seeing because it reminded him of his recent encounter of being attacked by bats. Bruce's fear caused his parents murder and so fear becomes a major element of his character and motivations. This also has its origins in the comics, as the reason he dresses as a bat is because "Criminals are a cowardly and superstitious lot," This gets fleshed out more in the film as a matter of Bruce making himself more than a man and a symbol against injustice. After seeing the film the first time, the only problems I had with it were the wasting of Ken Watanabe as Ra's Al Ghul and the casting of Katie Holmes because she has the voice of a little girl and not a woman. The fact that she could probably still play her original role on Dawson's Creek a decade after the show debuted is troubling. I also didn't care much for Christian Bale's "Batman-voice" but that was nit-picking. But my enthusiasm on the film has waned as others convinced me to take a closer look at the film's third act where it goes completely off the rails. Taking that closer look, I find that Batman Begins' only real competition for being the best Batman movie is Batman Returns, a film that also warrants revisiting. Bale is a good Batman and a fantastic Bruce Wayne; Michael Caine is iconic as Alfred; Tom Wilkinson sneaks in a wonderful performance as crime boss Carmine Falcone; the film puts a lot of effort into the characters and portraying them as existing in a real world. It's that setting that makes or breaks the film for a lot of people. With Burton and Schumacher's films, their visions left a strong imprint on the city of Gotham and its inhabitants. Nolan went for a realistic world…that just happens to revolve around a man dressed as a bat who fights crime. I think Nolan sells it because he makes sure the characters sell it. And because the film is willing to entertain themes of fear and justice, it feels like a real film and not just superhero fluff. The direction doesn't falter in the film but the script does. If you still haven't seen Batman Begins, stop reading because it's gonna get awful spoilery. 
There are a few reasons why I don't like Begins as much as I did when I first saw it and those reasons all have to do with the film's third act, which begins once Rachel (Holmes), gets sprayed with fear toxin by The Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy as one of the film's many strong points). This initiates the car chase and not only is it a fairly unexciting chase, led by the worst Batmobile (it's clunky, ugly, and I've never liked it) but one that seems motivated by the need for a car chase rather than the logic of the plot. Batman is racing to get Rachel back to the Batcave so he can administer the antidote except we're never informed that the antidote will be ready by the time he gets back. That's not a big problem as he has no other alternative but to hope that the antidote is there when he gets back. The big problem is that he's going to take a woman who's been hit with a concentrated dose of weaponized fear toxin and put her into a car driven by a man dressed like a bat who then takes her on a high-speed chase across the roads and rooftops of Gotham. Afterwards, there's a brief argument with Alfred afterwards as if to apologize for this admitted mayhem by saying it was for Rachel. Alfred makes the strong point that Batman has to be beyond personal loyalty and must consider the greater good. But Bruce and the film has no time to contemplate the issue. It avoids a similar debate earlier in the film where Ducard is telling Bruce how criminals pray on society's compassion and he must be merciless. But Batman Begins doesn't trust its audience with ambiguity and doesn't leave these issues hanging in the air as much as it shuts the door on them and hopes nobody notices (I sure didn't the first time I saw the film). But the film's biggest problem is in dealing with Ducard who is revealed to be Ra's Al Ghul (and it's pronounced Ray-esh, not Rahs; another nitpick with the film) and the final showdown aboard the train. Batman breaks with Ra's over the issue of killing criminals. "I'm no executioner" Bruce says and not killing is what makes Batman a hero and not The Punisher. But Batman kills Ra's Al Ghul. He puts him into a situation from which he cannot escape and then leaves him to die. It's basically the difference between 1st degree murder and 2nd degree murder. And it's a frustratingly easy problem to fix. Batman could offer to save Ra's with Ra's rejecting Batman's help. Or even better, Batman could leave Ra's to die and Ra's could die with a little smile on his face knowing that he's finally pushed Bruce "to do what is necessary," Neither happens and it's just sloppy writing where they decided it would be cooler if Batman threw the whole "Mind your surroundings" line back in Ra's face before he finished him off. Batman Begins is a great film albeit one more flawed than I originally thought. However, what it adds to the Batman mythos is far greater than what's undone in the third act. There's room for improvement in The Dark Knight and if what I'm hearing from those who have already seen the film is true (read: if I agree with them), then the sequel has gone above and beyond. Three years later, beyond the hype and the desire to forget Batman & Robin, Batman Begins holds up well and remains the re-launch the series needed and the origin story the character deserves. Words by
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