Noah's Batman Report Card

After eight l-o-o-o-ng years from being extinct from the big screen, Director Christopher Nolan and Screenwriter David Goyer have resurrected "The Batman" franchise! Nolan and Goyer re-introduces a truly remarkable tale of the Dark Knight by digging into his origin. Batman Begins explores Bruce Wayne's biggest fears; his anger is brought out because of the criminals that have invaded the once beloved and safe Gotham City. Now that crime lord Carmine Falcone has taken over, corruption lies everywhere. After a five year length of absence in which Bruce must find himself, he returns to fight injustice. Revenge and Justice are two different things, but to him they are somewhat similar. With the help of trustworthy Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) and family confident/butler Alfred (Michael Caine), Bruce is able to turn himself into more than a man. He has become a symbol.  

Starting with the storyline, I was very impressed. I knew this would be a lot better than the previous two Batman flops. Those stories were terrible. This one however, captured my attention. There wasn't a moment throughout this film that I was not bored. I felt the story was amazing and it flowed very smoothly. Everything made sense which was good because I don't like complicated stories with plot holes and things that make you go "Huh"? 

As far as the characters go, this film's casting was remarkable. I was initially worried that the amount of star faces would crowd the storyline and make it overplayed but I was wrong. Morgan Freeman's Fox character was a nice touch and I was glad to see Katie Holme's Dawes character was alright as well. The chemistry between Bale and Dawes seemed real enough for me and I would like to see more of her in the sequels. Michael Caine was fantastic as Alfred! He didn't really display the butler qualities but I was actually glad that it didn't happen because I would have compared him to the previous Alfred in the 4 Batman films. Bruce Wayne's parents were also portrayed nicely as well. Linus Roache did a good job of being young Bruce's father. Speaking of which, I liked Gus Lewis because he had this innocence to him that made me believe in the character.

Now onto the baddies! Liam Neeson as "Ducard", an original character, of the League of Shadows, was impressive. I expected to think oh look there’s Qui-gon, but I didn't, which is good! I especially enjoyed Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later) as The Scarecrow aka Jonathan Crane. He was certifiably creepy and I definitely loved how the character was done using fear as a weapon. Way Cool! Tom Wilkinson had a very sinister tone to his Carmine Falcone character; this was a good thing too considering he was the first villain that Batman beat the crap out of! Gary Oldman shined as Sgt. James Gordon, the only respectable cop left in the force. Everyone else seemed to be bought out or just gave up hope.

This was interesting. I loved how he was initially skeptical and wary of Batman but soon began to trust him and form a bond. It was very comic book like. Rutger Hauer (Earle, temporary trustee of Wayne Corporation) is always a good villain, even though he was presumably "good" for most of the film. Finally, we move to Christian Bale. The BEST BATMAN and BRUCE WAYNE!!! I always thought Michael Keaton did the best job...well he did...till now. Bale put on a hundred pounds of muscle to assume this role and he deserved it. He was cunning and stylish as playboy Wayne and freakishly scary, intimidating and kick-ass as Batman. There was several times my jaw just dropped for real. I couldn't believe it! IT was terrific! In the previous films I would gag as I watched Clooney and Kilmer while thinking to myself "that’s George Clooney, not Batman/Bruce Wayne. Bale, however, change my perception. I have seen his other movies, American Psycho for example, and knew he would be good for this role. I watched and thought, "This IS Bruce Wayne! This is Batman!" He is our man for years to come, so sit back and enjoy it!

A fantastic origin story is finally told and is jam packed with great action sequences, amazing characters, and a great plotline, Batman Begins is terrific! The Dark Knight begins here!

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