how are you doing today? I want to become a batman just like bruce wayne.

Sorasomary

It just goes to show that despite how crappy one’s taste is, we can all agree that Batman Begins is the balls.

This movie gets just about everything right. Batman’s a brooding loner the lurks in the dark, Bruce Wayne ISN’T a brooding loner the lurks in the dark (at least not in public), Batman doesn’t look like he’s constipated, he can move his neck in different directions, the Batmobile could actually function in a realistic urban environment or a monster truck rally, Batman doesn’t ONCE attempt to mutilate a villain with a machine-gun mounted on the wings of his jet…I could go on like this.

But I think what makes this movie stand apart from the 20 other comic book flims that came out recently is that, at first glance, one wouldn’t know it was a comic book adaptation. The first half focuses so squarely on the characters, mostly Bruce, that by the time he suits up with the cape and cowel the audience is left believing “Hey, this could actually happen”.

And for once a live-action Batman movie actually provides us with a Bruce Wayne that isn’t some stereotypical cardboard cut-out who has to battle the super villains more for screentime than for the sake of Gotham City. Instead, you become so wrapped-up in the tormented main character and his tragic childhood that when the time comes for his parents to eat the bullets you actually feel sorry for the young boy left all alone. You knew it was going to happen. Hell, every human being and their grandfather knew it was going to happen. But the character work was so good, so real, that it drew you in never-the-less and actually made you feel sympathy for someone who was once the second biggest comic book cliche’.

Then there are the villains. While the film focuses mostly on Bruce (this is BATMAN Begins, after all) it still manages to present 2 of Batman’s most notorious foes in a gritty, REALISTIC light. Ra’s Al Ghul isn’t portrayed as an immortal hippy-zombie, sure, but the appearance and so many staples of the character remain intact that you find yourself not needing Lazarus Pits, Ubu and Talia to believe they “did him right”. Then there’s my personal favorite Bat-Villain, the Scarecrow, embodied so perfectly by Cillian Murphy. They made the Scarecrow disturbing and threatening exactly as he should be, yet managed to slip in the fact that, deep down inside, he’s a sad, pathetic wimp.

And all the hardcore fans will dig the references to Year One and Long Halloween as well as appearances from lesser-known characters like Commisioner Loeb, Mr. Zasz and Carmine Falcone.

Now, the movie did have its faults. I KNOW that’s Michael Cain’s real accent, but it doesn’t help that he sounds identical to Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. “Yew Grate Gran-dad-day wuz inna unda-groun ray-rhode. Step in toyme! Step in toyme! Step in toyme!”

There was also the lack of a riveting Batman theme that you could immediately identify. I know, it’s impossible to out-do Danny Elfman’s theme from the Tim Burton film, but that’s no excuse to give us something so bland. I found the music to be alright and appropriate, but completely forgetable.

The camera-work in the fight scenes is probably the complaint you’ll hear from most people. It works at times, giving you that “What’s going on? Where’s Batman!?” feeling you’re supposed to get (because Batman fights like a ninja!). But at times the camera wobbles around way too much and for way too long, leaving you to think you rented Blair Witch 3 by accident.

And, for the ADD-troubled who are more familiar with the previous 4 Batman films than the source material, or the superior animated television series, the first Batman-less half of the movie will seem “boring” and “stupid”.

The movie is vey deserving of the Ninja’s A, as it’s easily one of the most accurate comic book adaptations of all-time and one of the deepest, most satisfying action movies to come out in years.