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Kam
06-16-2005, 04:39 AM
They've finally got it right! Or, almost entirely right. This isn't your typical action movie, or a typical batman movie, but given the series history, from adam west to joel schumacker, there hasnt been much 'typical.' Easily the best of the batman franchise created to date for the same reason i thought spiderman was successfull. they didnt treat this as a comic book movie, they treated the material seriously. sure, the circumstances are all rather unbelievable, and no matter the trama to someone, its tough to imagine they'd resort to wearing a bat costume and running around, but here... you believe it entirely (or at least i did). they really focus on bruce wayne's journey from spoiled, scared lil kid to batman, what made him make those choices, how he travelled the path, his guilt, his fears, they really paid solid attention to the drama and psyche and thankfully, pulled it off.

Story pretty much follows the basics of Frank Miller's Year One (for those comic fans out there) with some story additions and changes, but the structure is that of year one, with a great ending!!! (for those who know Year One). Christian Bale is the easily the best batman (i thought michael keaton was the best batman before him, kilmer the worst). he brings a weight and darkness to the character that keaton had, but completely pulls off the 'mask' of being the playboy, billionaire bruce wayne far better than keaton. keaton i thought showed how weird a dude is that does this, even in social life, whereas bale shows how driven he is by 'performing' as bruce wayne and hiding that darkness.

supporting performances are all tremendous, but that's what happens when you toss a bunch of solid british actors in there. gary oldman, liam neeson, , michael caine (sir?), tom wilkinson and cillian murphy are all great, morgan freeman just lends such gravitasse to anything he does. with all the fanfare, not sure if i was prejudiced against her, but katie holmes was wholly unbelievably in her role. i didnt, for a second, believe her to be a assitant DA.

the batmobile - awesome. they better start production on these things, so damn cool. all the toys and gadgets were explained (which i love) and had a reason behind them, they even showed how he began to experiment with them and fine tuned and realized what he would need to fight crime, and (being a billionaire) get what he needed.

saw this on the imax screen and loved it. not quite as crisp as the spiderman2 print i saw at the same place, but still the best screen to watch a movie on. very intense. if you can check it out on one imax showings, highly reccomended.

definitely loved the movie, one of the best summer movies have seen in a looooong time and refreshing to watch a 'thinking mans action movie.'

ok, now for the typical kamrant nitpicky section (remember, loved the movie 5 out of 5, thumbs up, BUT this is the 'kamrant' section)....

Same "Braveheart" problem - two kids, approximately the same age, if not the exact same age in this case, grow up, apart, and age in vastly different ways. not quite as bad as the mel gibson/ catherin mccormack age jump, but still obvious. albeit bruce wayne tried to find hell, and so would age a lot from that, but he's still looking WAY older than katie holmes, who still looks like she's in her late teens. i think she was just miscast. she seemed a lil overshadowed by the other performances.

For an action movie, the fight scenes sucked. Well the last half sucked, early on, it made sense to have the in-close shots, quick edits, darkness everywhere, because the confusion added to the intensity of the scene, you (just like the thugs) had no idea what was going on or where batman would emerge from, very well done here.... but then it got old and at the end, i wanted to see batman kick ass in nice wide angle shots. didnt happen. never once do you really see everything go down with clarity. the rest of the action was very cool, and had some amazingly effective effects. would go back again JUST for the scarecrow effects sequences. probably the best use of effects to completely enhance a story, rather than draw away from it.

so... highly reccomended!! check it out, lots of great story development, character development and great entertainment. and funny too.

peace
k2

(ps Q for the batman afficionados: in arkham asylum, they make a point to show a dude with his neck sowed on, or at least with rope sewn into his neck. didnt show him after this and wasnt sure if this was just to show a freaky dude in the asylum, or if this was one of the batman villains setup for a future installment?)

Worf101
06-16-2005, 06:25 AM
For the review Kam da Man. And thanks to the Cinematic gods for a good movie to run go see and NOT another cinematic superhero turd. Whew.... I was avoiding reviews untill I'd heard from one of the "resident experts". Thanks.... I'll trundle off to see it this weekend..

Da Worfster :D

20to20K
06-20-2005, 04:26 AM
First the good:

Acting was good and I love the storyline...particulary the first half where we see what drives Wayne to become Batman. That is, in more detail than just his parents being murdered. I thought the atmosphere and settings were very nice...very detailed. I enjoyed watching Batman settle into his super hero role. He wasn't perfect, or invincible. He needed help at times and he was learning the ropes (sometimes literally!) and I thought that added an element of realism. The ending was "OK"...I mean it had to end someway and we knew the bad guy had to go down and Gotham be saved...but a just a tad formulic for my taste. I thought the "Scarecrow" villian was very interesting. I wish we knew more about him and his past.

Now the bad:

The sound was terrible (at least in my theatre). I live in the B'more area and we didn't have a local IMAX playing it so I was force to go to the local Mega-plex...one of the Muvico
jobs that are prevelent in Florida. I don't know if it was the mix or the theatre but many of the fight scenes were grating to my ears. Particularly when swords were involved. I thought the fight scenes (in Gotham) were too dark and shadowy. Couldn't tell who was kickin who's butt most of the time. It was cool when Batman was pickin' guys off in the dark...but on the one on one scenes you wanted to see what was going on...and you couldn't. The batmobile...while cool looking...sounded terrible. Again...this could have
been my theatre so take that for what it's worth.

My favorite Batman movie remains the first Keaton flick...it was just more fun to me.
Having Jack helped as well. This one is a close second...I may actually enjoy it more the
second time I see it. The other 2 or 3 you can just burn as far as I'm concerned.

Overall ranking: 8.0/10.0

markw
06-20-2005, 02:24 PM
I'm a sucka for these kind of movies. It's really, really gonna have to auck for me to not enjoy it but I kinda doundt that's gonna happen from what I've read.

There seels to be a "curse of twos" in these movies. The first two Batman movies rocked and the last two simply blew chunks. Likewise for the Superman movies.

I like it whenthey keep to the script and don't go for the cheap laughs.

FWIW, I think THIS would make a great movie. Close to the script and probably the closest to what I always imagined Superman and Batman to look and act like.

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2645491

So, I gotta ask, why can't these guys get the funding and approvals?