Batman week Part 5

After 8 whole years of Batman not appearing on screen in theaters, along comes one of the greatest directors of all time, Christopher Nolan, to restart the Batman series. In 2005, he did just that with the best Batman film by far at the time, "Batman Begins." People who didn't like this film or thought it was alright, I seriously think nit-picked this film a lot. Now, in all honesty, this was my first Batman film I ever saw the whole way through (the past I had only seen parts of on TV or from the VHS copies we owned), and I actually enjoyed it fully. The best part about it was we saw it in the theater, which was a great experience.

It starts off with a back-story of Bruce as a small child (Gus Lewis) playing with Rachel Dawes (Emma Lockhart). When he falls down a hole and discovers a bat cave, we get a first glimpse at his fear, but he’s saved from that hole. His parents, played by Linus Roache and Sara Stewart, and Bruce go out to an opera house, where Bruce asks to leave because of his fear of bats. Once they leave, he witnesses his parents getting shot by a robber named Joe Chill, played by Richard Brake. The police inform Bruce that they are going to find the man, leaving him to be raised by his butler Alfred Pennyworth, now played by the great Michael Caine. I do say I prefer him as Alfred because he makes him so loveable and the loyal butler that he is, that he pulls this role off well. You have to love him when he always tells Bruce, "Why do we fall, sir? So we can always learn to pick ourselves up again." Whether you like it or not, this whole backstory is necessary here, hence the reason why it is called a "reboot." This is for the new school Batman fans so they can understand how Bruce becomes Batman. 14 years later, Chill is being granted parole in exchange for Carmine Falcone, played by Tom Wilkinson. Bruce (now played by Christian Bale) goes to the trial to kill Chill, but one of Falcone's men instead kill him, while Rachel (now played by Katie Holmes) is ashamed of Bruce taking the law into his own hands. Bruce goes to Tibet, where he is locked up in a prison, until Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson) comes in, breaks him out, and trains him in the art of the League of Shadows, led by Ra's Al Ghul (Ken Watanabe).

This part is really great because you get to see how Bruce learns how to face his fears and why he goes out into the dark to fight crime as opposed to going out during the daytime. It's also powerful when Bruce learns of the true secret behind the group, that he instead burns the temple down, but saves Ducard and leaves him with the local villagers. Bruce goes back to Gotham and he sees that Wayne Enterprises is now being run by William Earle, played by Rutger Hauer. We then meet the weapons expert that Bruce goes to and gets all of his fancy gadgets and everything from: Lucius Fox, played by the great Morgan Freeman, one of the greatest actors of his time. Freeman plays Lucius's role as the friendly person that wants to help Bruce out, since he and Alfred both know about Bruce being Batman. I'm not really familiar with Lucius Fox being one of the main characters of the comics or him making an appearance in the animated series, but he sure knows everything that Bruce wants. With all of these gadgets together, Bruce makes the Bat Cave, building up to the moment we've been waiting for this whole time, him becoming Batman. Though I don't understand why Bale has to speak in that raspy, growling tone. Was he trying to pull off a realistic thought that if he spoke like he normally would, everyone would recognize who he is? How possible is that? But I digress; he is the best Batman ever!

In the role of Sgt. James Gordon, we have another great actor of all time, Gary Oldman, who I have to say is perfect in this role. Unlike Pat Hingle, Gary Oldman does the role of a police officer like he should be doing. He goes out after getting the information from Batman and tries to get the criminals. Even though he may not be successful in doing so himself, Batman is always there to help Gordon out, which is something that Oldman does perfectly as Gordon. I didn't mention this before, but I will now: Katie Holmes is not only hot as Rachel, but she really plays a powerful role in this. Rachel was never a character in the comics or anywhere, she is just a character that Nolan made up for this film. However, Dawes did alright and portrayed a good role model for kids.

Now who could be the villain in this film? Well rumor was going around that the Scarecrow was going to be the main villain, and that he was going to be played by Howard Stern. Guess what? He's in this film, but Cillian Murphy plays Dr. Jonathan Crane aka the Scarecrow. His job is to spray his victims with a gas that will make them see their own personal fears. When Murphy speaks in that low voice, you know that he is planning something, and you can read him easily, which makes him a scary villain. Crane tells Bruce that he is doing work for Ra's Al Ghul, but Bruce refuses to believe him, telling Crane that Ra's Al Ghul is dead. He actually does use his gas on Batman, which makes him see his fear of bats, that he pages Alfred to come and get him. From here, he is given an antidote that is made by Fox. He even uses his gas on Rachel, which causes Batman to save her. He injects her with that same antidote, and gives her two antidotes: one for Gordon and the other for mass production. Scarecrow comes into full form when he appears on a fire-breathing horse, and is coming to get Rachel and the kid she is with, until she zaps him in the face with the taser, and he rides off into the fog. Who knew that Scarecrow could be such a wuss? Here, you can see that Rachel and Bruce have an on-off relationship with one another. She even tells him at one point, "It's not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you." Later on, Batman rescues her and the kid from the mass damage that Ra's Al Ghul and Scarecrow have done. On the rooftop, Dawes asks him, "Wait! You could die. At least tell me your name." Little did she know that the same advice she gave Bruce would bounce right back at her when Batman turns and says, "It's not who I am underneath, but what I *do* that defines me." Here, she realizes it's Bruce, but before he says another word, he jumps off the rooftop. Now that's a way to keep the suspense.

Who could be the real Ra's Al Ghul? Well a decoy, played by Jay Buozzi, appears briefly, but he is not the real one. Henri Ducard is the real Ra's Al Ghul. Talk about a dark, sudden twist! First, he is such a good mentor and friend to Bruce, next thing you know, he is the central villain in this film. Neeson does a brilliant job as the villain in this film, like he does in every one of his roles. Ra's Al Ghul is known to be a powerful villain, and is one of the main villains that made Bruce become Batman, which is shown in this film. Neeson brings the character to life and he knows how to play Ra's Al Ghul as the villain who is responsible for the creation of Batman, and is one of the villains that Batman always is after. Ra's Al Ghul almost succeeds in taking over Gotham because he comes to Bruce's birthday party, and burns the house down, almost killing Bruce. Then, he goes on a train to spread the toxin-riddled water supply using the Microwave Emitter he stole, and turn the people of Gotham into violent, animal-like people, raising the city into unbridled anarchy. This is just great.

Falcone is a great character in this, especially with the line that he delivers, "Ignorance is bliss, my friend. Don't burden yourself with the secrets of scary people." He turns out to be one of the men that Crane has working for him, and is the one who has been shipping the toxin water-supply. Flass, played by Mark Boone Junior, is Gordon’s corrupt partner, who is a character that you just hate and want Gordon to report and get off the force. Finch, played by Larry Holden, is the district attorney.

The action scenes in here are hard to see because of the up-close shaky cameras, which are annoying, since they can probably make your head spin and you won't know what's going on. However, they are still great. Now, the Tumbler seems to be not appropriate for this film since I believe it didn't look right to be the Batmobile. Though, I have to admit it's funny to see Gordon drive it because it's something you would never expect Batman to do: ask someone else to drive his car. This is a very story-driven Batman film, which is what makes it so enjoyable to watch. Which is why I would consider this one of my all time favorite comic book adaptations. This is an origin story about Batman, and Christopher Nolan treated this film the way it should be. I would even dare to say that it's far more enjoyable to watch than the Tim Burton films. They are "that" good.

In the end, Gordon is promoted to Lieutenant, and he gives Batman a Joker card, which at first I thought was supposed to seg-way into the '89 Batman. Was that what Christopher Nolan was trying to do? Tune in next episode! Same Bat Time! Same Bat Channel!