Batman Begins

Year: 2005

Grade: C+

Country: USA

Director: Nolan

Review

it’s a fine film overall, but it really isn’t as good as the hype it’s gotten.

bale is a very good actor and he does all the bruce wayne scenes quite well. he captures the embattled, conflicted batman that we don’t see in the other films. his anger is visible, but not completely out of control. his depression is known, but not pathetic. unfortunately he doesn’t wear the batman suit well. there was just something about his voice and mouth that didn’t quite sit right with me when he was batman. the anger and “badass” elements in these scenes weren’t as believable as they were supposed to be. i like still bale for the role, he just didn’t quite pull it off.

christopher nolan (following, memento, insomnia) is a good director, but is a bit out of his depth here. it’s good of him to try something new, and i think the film’s success will be good for him in the long run, but he’s not an action director and the action sequences suffer a bit as a result. action is difficult to direct (tarantino even says it’s the hardest genre for a director to be really good in) and nolan just doesn’t have whatever it takes to put together a great action sequence. the action sequences in this film are better than those in star wars episode III, but they’re just just not up to the level of something like spiderman or kill bill or even mr. and mrs. smith.

i liked the training sequences and the early part of the film which focused on bruce wayne becoming batman, but once he became batman i grew less interested. i felt the same way about the first spiderman, so perhaps it’s just a preference of mine to see superheroes becoming superheroes.

Watched in theater