I'm a bit tired and I have to wake up and graduate tommorrow morning, so this is going to be short and sweet:

"Batman Begins" is the best comic book film ever made.

I am respectfully taking "Spider-Man 2" down from the first rank and replacing it.  Sam Raimi's Spider-Man sequel was fast, fun, touching, and action-packed.  It was damn near perfect.  Well, Nolan's Batman is perfect.  Forget George Clooney, forget Schwartzeneggar (sic?), and forget about those awful, awful nipples.  As the title implies, Batman had begun anew, and it is entirely clear that WB and DC have taken a page from Marvel and has officially gained some cred.

From the opening with Bruce Wayne as a child to the closing involving a certain, breath-taking playing card, "Batman Begins" is a true winner.  Bale as the Dark Knight is absolutely perfect, and easily surpasses former best Bats actor Michael Keaton.  Humble butler Alfred has also been promoted to an actual character in this film through the very touching and very funny Michael Caine.

And then there are the villains.  Ken Watanabe really has no more than a glorified cameo, but he does the best with his role.  The real star here is Cillian Murphy.  In 2002, Murphy starred in my favorite film of that year, "28 days later..."  Now, Murphy has produced what is easily the best Batman baddie ever put onto celluoid.  Dr. Jonathan Crane is a real creep, and as The Scarecrow, this guy is just plain scary.  And while Batman's first official appearance in the film is truly breath taking, the introduction of Crane's mask and whacky gas is utterly terrifying.

Which brings me to a quick warning.  My seven year old cousin desperately wants to see this.  I was all set to take him this weekend.  Unfortunately, I highly reccommend to any parent that they leave the young ones at home.  People say that "Batman Returns" is dark; they haven't seen anything.  When Crane's gas is unleased upon the entire city of Gotham, there are some truly horrific images thrown around and anyone under 12 or so may be a bit disturbed by them (hell, I was a little bit freaked out myself).

I can't say enough.  "Begins" is utterly-fucking-fantastic.  God damn, I can't wait to see this again!  I haven't felt this way since, well, "Spider-Man 2."  Thanks go out to WB, DC, Christopher Nolan, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, David S. Goyer, and especially Cillian Murphy.  And with such a sweet setup at the end, I cannot wait to see the sequel.

Man, this was supposed to be short.  Now I'm getting roughly four hours of sleep...

...whatever, it was completely fucking worth it.  SEE THIS MOVIE!

**** out of ****  

No, won't.

I'm yet to see the flick...and I'm pissing my pants over it. However, I read the script awhile back -- and was, very simply, amazed by it. I can't wait.

However, you say you can't wait for a sequel...don't you think the end sets up for Burton's Batman to follow?

I suppose so.  But still, after seeing The Scarecrow, I would like to see Nolan and Goyer create a Joker that is less of a one-liner spouting prankster and more of a maniac psycho murderer that I know he could be.  As far as who should play him, I would have to say either Crispin Glover or Adrien Brody.  Mark Hammill has the perfect voice, but I can't picture him looking the part.  And after hearing that laugh that Brody has in "The Village," I think he would be the best bet.

for those that don't know, this film was a restart of the Batman franchise.  it has nothing to do with any of the past four batman films.  so a sequel is possible.

with that said, Batman Begins is the greatest comic movie ever made.  i'm so glad that someone finally got him right.

**** out of ****

That sounds lame...

[Spoilers]


















Anyways... I saw this today and thought it wasn't so good. It wasn't so bad, though, either. I jsut didn't think Bale fit as Batman, he had a weired thing with his mouth that didn't jive with me and his voice wasn't right, it was too mad or agitated at times it didn't need to be... or so I believed it to be.

I didn't get who was really Raz Ghoul, wasn't it Liam Neason or Ken???? That was really hit and miss and I didn't like how it took Batman and made a new origin for him... I liked the fact that it stands on its own from the comics that created him and works as a movie and a movie only... that much can be said I guess.

The villians, Liam Neason, aside were crap to me... I thought the ScareCrow was a waste of a villian and it just didn't come off right. I thought Batmans learning and building process took too long to get off the ground and when it did it was less than stellar... I liked the suit, sometimes, but Bale didn't fit the bill as Batman... not in the face.

All in all... I thought it was Average... it was better than Spiderman 2 and 90% of all other superhero movies, but not better than some out there... I still think the MADE FOR TV FLASH movie was better than this.

BATMAN BEGINS: good by design... bad by too many flawed actors and bad bad bad one liners and quipps.

2 stars is all I can give this... I look forward to seeing the follow up, but hate to think of what they will do with the villians and the story of how the JOKER will come about...

It is the best BATMAN movie in 10 years... if that is saying anything at all.

BALT

I thought This new BAtman Begins rocked. The only thing that let me down was there wasnt a really powerful musical score. Afer the wonderful score by Danny Eflman in the first two I was really hoping that Hans Zimmer would whip out something amazing.

For Balt, there are reasons for Bale's voice being like that. Bruce disguised his voice so that he could keep his identity secret. That's why he has that mad agitated voice when he plays batman.

Also, they set Scarecrow up for the sequel so I dont think we've seen the last of him.


To answer your question about Ra's, it was ( SPOILERS)


Liam Neeson. Ken Watanabe's character was more of a decoy. Liam Neeson is the real Ra's.


Im starting to agree with Mark Hamill as the joker, he would do an awesome job.


But I definately give this movie a 4.9 out of 5. If only it had a cool score then it would've got a 5.

The night before I went to watch Batman Begins, I watched Batman forever on TBS. It almost scarred me off, but I’m glade I gave Nolan’s take on the franchise a chance. In my opinion it’s far superior than Tim Burtons Batman and in fact the greatest comic book movie to date.  Christian Bale really nailed Batman, his anger was perfect.

Both my thumbs are way up.  

I just saw Batman Begins and I was in awe. I couldn't stop thinking about it. Everything about it was so much better - in a different category - than the other Batman flicks. To me, the movie is in the same rank as Spider-man 2. Nolan pulled it off. I never thought anybody could restore Batman after the other movies.

The greatest BaTman and Comic book movie ever. It got the character exactly right, and Bale was damn near perfect. IF he just toned down his voice slightly and made it a little more low-key pissed off he'd be 100% perfect.

The action is an area I've heard complaints about, but IMO it was the most realistic fighting I've seen in film in a long time. The way Nolan filmed a lot of the action from the thug's perspective giving it a horror/suspense feel was brilliant. Batman wans't out in the open, he was using the shadows and the element of surprise and msotly FEAR to take 'em down.

Cillian Murphy was downright creepy as Crane and I expect we'll see a more villainous Scarecrow in a sequel. Caine and Freeman we're good and added some humour in the right spots. Holmes just didn't look or act like a ADA...glad she isn't back for a sequel. Neeson played the same part from Ep. I, and he fit it well. Oldman didn't have a ton to do but he said so much with his mannerisms and looks. He was just perfect as Jim Gordon and I'm hoping he has a bigger part in the next film.

Overall, an outstanding film!

I totally agree with this review, I seen it the day it opened.  I loved it more than Spideman 2, and I am a huge Spiderman fan.  The movie is so what Batman needed, its as dark as the Dark Knight himself!  Scarecrow is as perfect as said!  The movie is awesome, I agree fully.

***********Here is my Rejected Comment From IMDb**************


“I expected the Crape, But not that much !!!!!”

First of all am not from America, am a viewer of age 23, outside from the Hi-Tech Western world. It’s nearly about one year now I joined IMDb, I usually comment on movies which I liked or hated the most. Before going to my review please note that after seeing a particular movie, I normally indite its comment less than one day or one week depending its overall assessment. But for this particular movie I had to wait around two months, not for judging its moral/creative content, but for forgiving myself for not using any harsh words.

I have seen all Batman adaptations including the first Batman TV-series, Hanna Barbara 70’s cartoons shows, up to 90’s Batman Beyond cartoon series. I liked Tim Burton’s Batman movie but don’t fully agree with it, I liked it only because it paved the way to ‘Batman Animated Series’ the only artistic work that revised Bob Kane’s original concept. I rather consider it as the only Bible for Bob Kane’s great character Batman. But for commenting this movie, I am stepping out from the die-hard fan point of view and speaking from a normal viewer’s mind.

When this movie was announced I knew it is going to be a disaster; I even started a thread in IMDb posting that it’s going to be as dreadful as Ang Lee’s Hulk but no one agreed with my idea. After the release everyone, including me was shocked by its visual violation.

Batman Begins (Spoilers******)

After the failure of “Batman and Robin” the production company Warner Bros. was in a confused state whether to continue the vitiate franchise further or not. With new executives they tried to negotiate with the franchise with edged spin-offs like “Batman Vs. Superman”, “Batman Year One” but nothing went production wise. So they choose another path, restarting the whole franchise and it clicked but the problem is, the director. Warner Bros. early approached Clint Eastwood, but then they left to Wolfgang Petersen also Darren Aronofsky and then to my favorite David Fincher. They even approached Wachowski Brothers, the hot Warner products at that time but nothing happened.

Finally after every noted Hollywood directors walked away from the picture Warner Bros. were forced to give the franchise to a foreign hand. It was the British art film director Christopher Nolan; who done his debut Hollywood movie few years back. The moment he touched the project, every thing went up side down. To make things even worse, writer David S. Goyer who worked as generator operator on Nolan’s “Insomnia” teamed up with him to make a new milestone. Finally, the story retold and it happens to be the first restarted-franchise movie I ever witnessed in my life time (apart from the original James Bond and classical Superman movies).

The movie begins with a young Bruce Wayne who discovers the fear of Bats for the first time. This fear made him to loose his beloved parents; and the guilty in him leads the adult Bruce (Christian Bale) to leave the country. In the path to salvation Bruce travels across the world as an ordinary man until he was jailed by the Himalayan guards. It was then he meets Ducard (Liam Neeson) who make him to be a member of ‘League of Shadows’, a secret dark organization owned by Ra's al Ghul (Ken Watanabe). But things went wrong when Bruce violated the rules of the Shadows and was forced to end his quest, making a decision to go back to his home town Gotham.

Only one problem arise; Will the new Bruce finally identify with the Gotham city he once left off, or can the Gotham city recognize the new Bruce Wayne.

Written by David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan tells the reinventing story of Batman as well as the young Bruce Wayne. Screenplay wise it’s good and I can’t believe it was written from the sucking David S. Goyer who done the Wesley Snipes' Blade franchise. But dialogue wise it sucks because of corny, misused, one sided character placement lines. The treatment was set to be well paced but the director’s interpretation made it a dreadful one.

Nolan is the director, so I don’t want to speak about the visualization of this movie, it’s an art film, sucking camera works of Wally Pfister and inimical editing of Lee Smith was really from Christopher Nolan’s idea. Nolan changed everything; ok it’s a restarting franchise everything has to be changed, but change into a what - a dead cake. Batman’s appearance were changed, his Batmobile beefs up, Gotham city got elevated trains and above all, the new Batman is Bisexual. I am talking about Christian Bale; who cast him as Batman. He looked like a born Gay person, with his thin blade lips, droopy eyes, vulgar smiles, all made Bruce Wayne, as well as Batman to a chicken level man. He failed both in Bruce Wayne and Batman, he remembered me of the first sucking Batman Adam West. Speaking in a whispering voice when the body was covered in a rubber suite didn’t make a good Batman; even in representing the two separate aspects of the same person, at least in the vocals (which was done brilliantly by the voice-over actor Kevin Conroy in Animated Series).

The rest of the cast sucked, firstly Michael Caine, I am not telling he was bad, he is good, a great actor, when ever he came to frame all attention goes to only on him, such a great actor reduced to a side kick role, only because of miscasting. His on-screen presence reduces Bale’s heroic role, both in acting and in appearance; Bale seems to be a dwarf in-front of Caine! Morgan Freeman admitted that he did the movie only for money. Katie Holmes must always act off-screen; poor in dialogue delivery with undead emotions, while babbling her crooking lips resembled to those of Drew Barrymore’s. Anything good was from Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon; also Mark Boone Junior done a great performance as the frustrated officer Flass, when considering with original characters. Cillian Murphy misguided viewers as the new villain of Batman, but it was Liam Neeson who did the job of villain as an unheard character named Ducard. Ken Watanabe also failed to create a good impression because of his little screen time and ridicules makeup appearance which doesn’t resembles to Ra's Al Ghul in the original titles.

O.K if these all things went wrong, there was one probability that would have saved this movie and that was its soul, the music. I was spellbound when I heard Hans Zimmer was going to score for the new franchise. I really wanted to see how his version going to clash with classical Elfman's theme. My excitement increased when I found he is teaming for the first time, with his good friend and versatile composer James Newton Howard. All my expectation shattered when I heard the musical score of the movie, it really sucked, a terribly frustrating failure from these two giants. Till now I can’t figure it out, what was Batman's new theme score? Nolan would have stick with his usual collaborator David Julyan, at least for bringing a taint look in Wayne's duality.

All in all it’s truly a dreadful experience to watch the entire movie. We can clearly see the failed attempt from an art film maker to bring an action film, with his own twisted visions. With lots of mistakes coming from screenplay, dialogues, photography, editing, casting, scoring, this is a mixture of real dark awful movie experience. With the shades of Chinese Ninja movies blundered with classical James Bond movies, Nolan failed to deliver what the non/true-fans really waited for; Warner Bros would have given this movie at least to some kid from MTV for directing the most anticipated franchise. “I gave this movie 0 out of 100!”

Batman Begins = Batman Sucking

People have such a narrow vision when it comes to film, you guys made this sound like it was special when in fact it's the same old stuff.

"Batman: Why Bother?" Should be the title of the second film. The reason to restart is if you can do something new and groundbreaking, this is more of the same with a little more back story which isn't that exciting for an action adventure film you'd expect from Batman.

I like it and all but it's nothing new or special.

So what is the real truth here did Two Face (Or someone like that from the first film, haven't seen it in so long) or just a bum on the street kill Bruce's parents in the comics?

It was revealed to be Joe Chill in the comics, as it was in "Batman Begins."  Burton decided to make it The Joker so Batman would have a better reason for wanting to take him down.

Although Burton is an idiot because he knew less about batman when he made it I still think his change was better than the killer being a bum and a bum who doesn't even do anything... In the film when Bruce's parents die it's quick cuts boom boom you don't even know his mother is shot, it's a cheap PG-13 trick that... Hey wasn't this supposed to be a dark Batman series?

Is the new Batmobile also from the comics or did they just pull that out of their asses as well?