The opening of “Batman Begins” has a pre-adolescent Bruce Wayne falling into a well and being frightened by a flock of bats released from an underground cavern.
I admit, my heart sank. Was this movie going to continue in the rut that the last two 1990s Batman movies fell into?
No. That opening scene is just about the last sour note in the 140 minutes or so that follow. “Batman Begins” is a terrific slice of Hollywood fantasy, a wonderful example of what can happen when good people spend a lot of money in service of getting it right.
Director Christopher Nolan (the “Memento” guy) and his co-screenwriter David S. Goyer have returned to the comic-book character’s roots to show how millionaire orphan Bruce Wayne became the Caped Crusader of Gotham City.
They’ve kept the outline of Batman’s “origin story” – that young Bruce was traumatized when his parents were killed on the street one night. But Nolan and Goyer have fleshed out the transformation.
When we first meet Bruce Wayne (played here by Christian Bale), he’s in a hellhole prison somewhere in Asia. Turns out he’s on a deliberate quest, to learn fighting skills and toughen his body.
Freed from prison, he’s put under the rigorous tutelage of Ra’s al Ghul (Ken Watanabe) and Ducard (Liam Neeson), who train a wild-sounding vigilante organization called the League of Shadows. I grew a little impatient to get to Gotham during these sequences, but it all pays off.
Back in the big city, Bruce lets faithful manservant Alfred (Michael Caine) in on his secret plans to become a justice-seeking crime fighter. (Good thing there’s that cavern lying underneath stately Wayne manor, with lots of closet space for fear-instilling costumes and just right for parking a souped-up car – let’s call it a Batmobile.)
Other aspects of the saga are deftly woven in: a policeman named Gordon (Gary Oldman), who appears to be the only honest cop in a corrupt Gotham. A friend of Bruce’s father, now the overseer of the Applied Sciences department at Wayne Enterprises (a delicious role for Morgan Freeman, who does some lovely eyebrow-raising). An Enron-style CEO (Rutger Hauer) suspicious of Bruce’s return to his father’s corporation.
There’s a love story, with childhood sweetheart Rachel. She’s played by Katie Holmes, who used to be an actress but has recently been reclassified as Tom Cruise’s girlfriend. But don’t worry, this doesn’t get too much in the way of the story.
In his first big challenge, Batman must battle Dr. Jonathan Crane (the unsettling Cillian Murphy, from “28 Days”), a psychiatrist with a crackpot plan to poison the city. One of the problems with keeping a “Batman” movie from getting too silly is the flamboyance of the archvillains, who can be pretty out there. “Batman Begins” comes up with an ingenious and logical reason for Crane to morph into a masked character known as The Scarecrow.
The design of the film is dark, the tone serious. Although there’s a sense of play surrounding some of the Batman traditions – the suit, the car, the bat signal – it’s never campy. “Batman Begins” isn’t geared for kids, either, and a few of its images are terrifying.
Along with all the cool gizmos and cityscapes (the film relies more on sets than computer animation), the shrewd casting of deft actors such as Caine, Freeman and Neeson really is a pleasure. It’s a little hard to read Christian Bale at times – he doesn’t exude personality the way those actors do – but he’s an improvement over recent Batmans. Bale’s grim commitment to acting (remember, he lost 63 pounds to play his previous film, “The Machinist”) fits Bruce Wayne’s obsessive bat-related complex.
Perhaps Bale will stretch into the role for the sequel. And if you don’t think there will be a sequel after seeing the last 60 seconds of this film, you’ve got winged mammals in your belfry.
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