The Fire Rises

★★★ out of ★★★★

Batman Begins (2005)

Runtime: 140 minutes

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for intense action violence, disturbing images and some thematic elements.

Batman Begins is enjoyable, but far from great. At its best, Batman Begins a deep, dark psychological superhero movie that establishes the important story before getting into action sequences and mind challenges. However, the main flaw of "Begins" is that it builds up quite a few interesting narrative developments and characters, but alas, not all of them arrive.

A re-boot of the Batman series, preceded by the depressing and torturing Batman & Robin from director Joel Schumacher, Nolan's Batman Begins explores the billionaire Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale), whom after his parents death, relocated to Asia to be mentored by Henry Ducard (Liam Neeson) and Ra's Al Ghul (Ken Watanabe). However, Bruce learns that Ducard has been planning to wipe out Gotham, so he leaves Asia and heads back home. Back home, Bruce faces and overcomes his fear of bats, and adopts the image of a bat to free the crime-ridden Gotham City. He's "Batman".

Where do I even start? The first thirty to forty minutes of the film showed Bruce under training and his numerous flashbacks - the time before his parents were killed and the time after that. There is such an amazing build-up you feel absorbed into the screen. Then it ends suddenly, with an explosion at the training place, because Bruce was forced to kill someone. However, doesn't the explosion kill more people instead? It ends so abruptly that the build-up is wasted and this affects every following second of the movie, probably until a missus introduces Mr. Ra's Al Ghul to Bruce during his birthday party.

Still, the casting and performances are quite impressive. Christian Bale is able to pull off many alter-egos of himself, Batman - his disguise, Bruce Wayne in public, and Bruce Wayne. He is accompanied by his butler Alfred (Michael Caine) who is deeply concerned for him, his friend Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes), wonderful assistant Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), the villains and many other more.

Batman Begins dives into psychological study, like fear and falling, and a profound story, but not too excessive like The Dark Knight. We get to know who Bruce Wayne is, his motive to fight injustice and why he returned to Gotham. It does not waste too much time on unnecessary events, and besides, I wasn't expecting comedic lines (on rare occasions) and Jim Gordon shooting train platforms with the Batmobile.

On the other hand, Scarecrow (other Dr. Crane, played by Cillian Murphy), feels like a wasted potential. He's this initially menacing figure who is able to use a gas to drive people insane, but once he is revealed to be just a pawn in a larger scheme, his character frustratingly goes to waste. We do not see him again, nor truly understand his motive.

In the end, I wasn't substantially stricken by the movie, but I can agree that it's some summer blockbuster meaningful fun. Of course, this is Nolan's first take on a superhero re-boot, the whole movie is orange-tinted, and it can't seem to get off this superhero comic-y feel. Fortunately, the sequels feel more comfortable, as it possesses a more realistic atmosphere and mood of Gotham City.