Batman Begins

Director Christopher Nolan has done the impossible. He has taken the Batman-franchise, which was buried by Joel Schumacher's horrible Batman and Robin, and given it new life. Not just that, but with Batman Begings he has crafted the ultimate superhero movie. It's true to the origins and tone of the comic, but is not just for Batfans. By going back to the beginning and telling Batman's origin, Nolan has kickstarted a franchise that will hopefully have a long and successful life.

I have been a fan of Batman for as long as I can remember. I've always liked superheroes, but from the moment I laid eyes on a Batman-comic, I knew he was different from the rest. Batman is a superhero, but without the superpowers. He is a normal human being (well, normal...), who uses his wits and dexterity to become the ultimate nightmare for bad guys. In the previous Batman-movies, this has never really been brought to the forefront. Baddies like The Joker and The Penguin were more wild and excentric than Bats himself, stealing the show from under his nose and relegating him to support status. Not so with this movie. Sure, there are some evil people running around, who you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley, but it is clear from the moment Bruce Wayne first puts on the batsuit, that this is his movie. In Batman Forever and Batman and Robin, the bad guys were peeing their pants laughing about those freaking nipples on those ridiculous Batsuits, in Batman Begins they are pissing their pants out of fear for him. Christopher Nolan understands that you cannot respect a superhero if he just goofs around and is being made fun of. Would you want to be protected by a superhero who seems more concerned with how big his codpiece is? No, you want to be protected by somebody whose mere presence in the same room makes criminals become weak in the knees.

And Gotham City is in need of protection like this. The city is in complete disaray. Poverty is a big issue and criminals are getting a bigger grip on the city. Bruce Wayne (Bale), son of murdered multimillionaire couple Thomas and Martha Wayne, doesn't like what is becoming of the city that his father loved and tried to make more liveable. But how do you stop this crime spree? Wayne sets out to try and understand the criminal mind, a search which in the end lands him in a heavily guarded Chinese prison. Life there is a hell, but one day Bruce gets an unexpected visitor. A man named Henri Ducard (Neeson) suddenly appears in his cell and offers Bruce to teach him how to use his anger in a different way, and how to put a stop to crime. Reluctantly, Bruce accepts and ends up at the temple of The League of Shadows. This is an organisation that is run by Ra's Al-Ghul, mastermind and fearless warrior, and it specializes in burning down cities where evil has taken the upper hand. This is their way to fight crime, but Bruce cannot accept this. He parts ways with the League (under, let's say, less amicable circumstances) and moves back to Gotham to fight crime in his own way.

Being the son of Thomas Wayne, one of the richest men on the planet, means Bruce can spend his time crafting a persona that will strike fear in the hearts of evil men. His recurring childhood nightmares about the time he fell down a cave filled with bats give him the clue as to what image to use, while the high tech (and very secret) gadgets of Wayne Enterprises employee Lucius Fox (Freeman) help him with making it possible to appear and disappear whenever he pleases. Family butler Alfred (Caine) is not too sure about all this crime-fighting that his young master wants to get involved in, but loyal as he is, he decides to support Bruce all the way anyway.

And so the fight begins. Bruce points his arrows at Carmine Falcone, the biggest crime lord in the city, and a man that is virtually untouchable by the district attorneys. Most of these DA's have given up, except for one, Rachel Dawes (Holmes), an old friend of Bruce, from back in the days when his parents were still alive and his life was more simple and happy. Being so active in her fight against Falcone has made her a target of his organisation, which gives Bruce the extra task of making sure nothing bad happens to her. He's got his hands full anyway, because it soon becomes clear Falcone is not the biggest threat to the city...

Halfway through watching Batman Begins (at the IMAX in Amsterdam), my thoughts drifted away from the movie for a mere second. At that moment, I realised that what I was watching was the perfect superhero movie. I love superhero movies like Spider-Man 2, X-Men 2 and Tim Burton's first Batman, but I had never before seen a movie that so well embodied the emotions of watching an ordinary man do extra-ordinary things; fighting crime, scaring villains and rescuing 'the girl'. When I realised this, a chill ran down my spine and for one second I had that perfect feeling of happiness that only the very best movies can make you feel. This may sound a bit over dramatic, but when you are a movie geek like me it's this type of moment that you hope for, every time you go inside a cinema.

So what is so perfect about this movie? It all starts with the cast. Christian Bale is absolutely perfect as Bruce Wayne/Batman. When it was announced that he would be playing the part, I was excited. I have always seen Bale as a great actor, and I was very interested to see what he would with this role. I wasn't disappointed! He has no trouble switching from millionaire playboy Bruce to hardcore crime fighter Batman, and is able to fill both roles without any troubles. He switches from suave to scary with total ease and is able to make it believable that grown men would start whimpering when they see him. Michael Keaton was great as Batman in 1989, but he was never this good. And comparing him to other recent superheroes is also almost pointless. Yes, Hugh Jackman's Wolverine could probably go a few rounds with him, but even his ferocity cannot match the intensity of Bale.

But Nolan has crowded his movie with a host of other great actors who put forward some of their best performances. Both Freeman and Caine are brilliant as characters with a lighter look on life than Batman. They help him with their wisdom and necessary comic relief. If you are up for a battle like this one, you would want people like them in your camp. Same goes for Gary Oldman's police lieutenant Jim Gordon. In a corrupt city, he is one of the few cops who is not corrupt, and also one of the few ones (if not the only one) who can butt heads with Batman. Oldman is perfect for this role, and it will be great to see what he will do with the character in coming movies. And hey, it's always great to see Rutger Hauer back in a big movie like this!

On the other side of the line, we also have some pretty mean characters. Liam Neeson is his usual, reliable self as Henri Ducard, a man who seems like a friend to Bruce, but who doesn't take too kindly to Bruce's different opinions on the fight against crime. Cillian Murphy is very good as the creepy Dr. Jonathan Crane, who can manipulate people's fears in his own way. And Ken Watanabe is suitably menacing as Ra's Al Ghul.

Then there's Katie Holmes. She has been critisized for her performance in this movie, but she makes the most of what is essentially a quite thankless role. She is the token girlfriend, like Kirsten Dunst in Spider-Man, and although she is a stronger character than Dunst, she misses the sex appeal and the real sparks between her character and Bale's. Still, she did not annoy me at all and when she gets a chance to kick some butt of her own, at the end of the movie, I started liking her character more and more.

The movie feels like a Batmovie should. Gotham City does not look as stylised as Burton's version, but in it's own way is very imposing and menacing. Gotham City is a place you would love to visit, but it would be a nightmare to live there. Crime has the upper hand here, and that is exactly the way the city feels. If Batman wants to clean up this city, he will need an awfully big broom. And the score, while not as memorable as Danny Elfman's, fits the movie very well. It's all dark and brooding and hits the right tones at the right moments.

Thanks to all of these elements, Batman feels completely right. And thanks to the great screenplay, the experience of watching this flick is an unforgettable one. Batman Begins stays true to the origins of the character, adding it's own twists and turns whenever necessary. Sure, there are some things which are kinda illogical (like the big weapon at the end), but then again, superhero stories are all about suspension of disbelief anyway.

*****