Batman Begins

Year: 2005

Grade: A-

Country: USA

Director: Nolan

Review

i had only watched this once before and meryl hadn’t ever seen it so we decided to revisit it before watching the final installment. in my mind i had it as a b or b- movie, but my actual review was less kind – i gave it a c+. some of the points i make i still agree with. nolan, though a good director, doesn’t film fight scenes very well. i said he didn’t film action scenes well and that’s what i meant. he ratchets up tension very well with cross-cutting, but the actual action is sometimes muddled with too close shots and the fight choreography is lacking.

the character arc of the three films is seeing bruce wayne face his fears, be the scapegoat that gotham needs in a critical time, and (dark knight rises spoiler alert) then finally become what he wants. i enjoy seeing superheroes transform from ordinary to extraordinary. it was the only thing i liked about the first spider-man movie and i liked it in this one. even superman has some awkwardness about being a superhero in the first two superman films. in a lot of ways these stories are inspirations for what we desire to be in real life and seeing those struggles to become great is appealing to me.

the other story arc through the three films is that of gotham. gotham is a nickname for nyc and was named so after a uk town that was made fun of for its stupidity. so it follows that the people of gotham are largely fickle and stupid. in batman begins they are basically lawless and without a hope. batman enters and saves the day. but then the joker is the new threat so his work isn’t done…