It's not "another" batman movie. it's the real one - Batman Begins Reviews

And by REAL, I don't just mean it's more set in a REAL world, but it will EDUCATE all of you people who thought the Batman '89 movie was the real story. Batman/Bruce Wayne's parents murder is explained here just as Bob Kane (creator) intended. I was never a huge Batman fan, until I learned the previous Batman movies never got the real Batman story right. Batman Begins gets about 80% (I would say) from numerous, critically-acclaimed Batman graphic novels including Frank Miller's Batman: Year One, The Long Halloween, and The Dark Knight Returns. This will be the closest to the written pages we will see, and director Christopher Nolan of such psychological thrillers as Insomnia and Memento has earned his spot from a mere "indie" director, and into the big blockbuster class. Without spoiling anything, Nolan successfully delivers us a Batman that is explained, that is logical (but not at all boring), that toys with our own assumptions of what we see onscreen, while entertaining us in a more dramatic way that no other "comic book/superhero" movie has done before. Spider-Man 2 was a phenomenal film that seemed to raise the bar that Superman the movie (1978) and the original Batman (1989) had set. X-Men and its characters are so far off and miscast from the comic books, that it's hard to even call it by name. Spider-Man movies were great but they still felt like they were placed in a "comic book" world. There were cheesy lines and quips that simply "had" to be there in the film. And the use of modern nu-metal rock and/or hip hop songs of the MTV kind often take away from the integrity of the comic books themselves. It is worthy to note that Batman Begins doesn't suffer from the same fate as all these formulaic superhero movies we have seen recently. The entire film is set to an orchestral score from a collaboration of two of Hollywood's finest composers: Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard. Batman Begins is more righteously and deserving of being described as an "epic", "deeply dramatic" as opposed to melodramatic, and an "intelligent and complex" form of storytelling. This movie makes you think, and has so much substance. You're not just paying for special effects and cliche dialogue like the other movies. Batman Begins uses its high-caliber and Oscar-nominated cast with dialogue delivery that is convincing and not "forced". These actors are living their lines, and not just "reciting" them. Even Katie Holmes, who on paper seems like the odd cast choice, successfully convinces in her portrayal of Assistant D.A. Rachel Dawes and Bruce's childhood friend. Christian Bale is able to play 3 sides of himself: Bruce Wayne the vengeful son, Bruce Wayne the billionaire playboy, and Batman. His experience in "American Psycho" has lent to his portrayal of Bruce Wayne, and we cannot help but believe this young man's lifelong obsession for revenge. Bale deserves more recognition than most actors who appear in tabloids and headlines have(sadly, whom of which don't have half of Bale's acting talent). The best "new" device is that when Batman is taking out the criminals, we see it from their point of view, which follows the theme that recurs throughout the film, which is "fear", and if people are hearing rumours that the movie lacks CGI effects, then they have the wrong idea. Nolan uses only the amount of computer-generated imagery AS NECESSARY. The Scarecrow effects is probably the most disturbing and frightening than ANY OTHER superhero film to date. IT almost plays like a suspense/horror film at times. The visuals are simply superb. Everything else you see is real. The film was shot in several locations all over the world and does NOT RELY SOLELY on computers to create backgrounds. There is a sense of realism back to a decade ago when films were made the old-fashioned way, and where there was actually "something" in front of the camera lens. The best thing is that Batman is human, which is why it is not hard to empathize and to truly engage in this film. If you pass up this movie thinking it is just "another Batman" film, then you will sorely regret it. The intention of the movie was to "restart" the Batman franchise. And Nolan and Bale and the all-star cast has done exactly that. I walked out of the theater speechless...because it was so overwhelmingly good. Batman BEGINS....now.