Holy lack of onomatopoeia, Batman!

I can describe Batman Begins in two words...

Geek porn.

And for those of you who don't consider yourselves geeks, you'll love it, too.  Just ask my wife who went with me yesterday as we finally got around to seeing a movie I have been drooling over for two years now.

Was it worth the hype and buildup of anticipation?  You're damn skippy it was!

It was dark, it was twisted, it was evil, it was everything that Batman is supposed to be.  Finally.

Christian Bale owns this movie.  He IS Batman with no uncertainty whatsoever.  He was born to play this role.  I was stoked when I found out some time ago that he was cast as the Bat.  After seeing how dark a character he could play in movies such as American Psycho and Shaft, I knew he would be good.  Yet, he has this charm and debonair quality to him that you just can't help but love.  No wonder he can do films like those and still be liked by the movie-viewing public.  I think as far as many people are concerned, he is always going to be that wide-eyed kid from Empire of the Sun, although he is doing his damnedest to shed that image.

But what surprised me entirely was that there was nary a character in the movie that wasn't good.  Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy, Liam Neeson, Tom Wilkinson... you name it.  In past Bat flicks, the supporting characters really got the script shaft.  They were just in it so the producers could say that they included such and such important character from the original storylines.

The villains were decent in the original films, but they got worse as the franchise continued.  In Batman, Jack Nicholson was spectacular as the Joker.  In Batman Returns, both Danny DeVito and Michelle Pfeiffer were enjoyable as the Penguin and Catwoman, respectively (duh). However, the Riddler (Jim Carrey) and Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones) were merely tolerable in Joel Schumacher's first outing in Batman Forever.  By Batman & Robin, forget about it.  Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman) were terrible.  Heck that whole movie was so bad I could never finish it. 

This film, however, brings the franchise back to life and brings it as close to Frank Miller's Dark Knight comics as has ever been achieved on celluloid.  You are left wanting more and they dangle the bait right in front of you at the end of the film like a rabbit on a greyhound track.  And I know so many of us that will be continually racing around that track until that sequel finally comes out.

Thankfully, they've already locked up Bale, Freeman, and Caine for a second, and, as has been rumored, a third movie, too. 

Will I be there for the opening weekend of the next Batman movie (instead of the second weekend)?  If they cast who rumors say they want to cast for the next baddie (read only if you can handle spoilers; personally I want to see either PB or MH), I sure as hell will be. 

What am I saying?  I'll be there opening weekend regardless of who they cast. 

This is what summer movie going is all about.

Comments

[kazza]

I agree, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie (except the microwave weapon which was just silly and would have vaporised humans as well). I loved seeing the whole practical aspect of becoming a batman and acquiring all the cool toys.

[Kevin]

You know, I never thought about that with the microwave emitter. What are humans, something like 65% or more water? Talk about instant weight loss tool. Wayne Enterprises should market that thing to L.A. Weight Loss or Weight Watchers. Granted we all might look like raisins as a result...

But, you're right, seeing his transformation more than made up for it. And explaining away the unbelievability of his toys was great, too.

Thanks for dropping by, Kazza. I'm a fan of your site. Found it from Dave's.

[Carol]

Hi Kevin... nice site change, this is the first time I've dropped by since you changed it. As for Batman Begins - I enjoyed it. I wasn't blown away by it like everyone else seems to have been (still like Spiderman and X2 better - so shoot me). But it was fun. I still like Michael Keaton best as Batman, but I liked Christian Bale better as Bruce Wayne. I hated Christian's voice when he was Batman, it really took me out of the experience because I kept giggling everytime he talked in that ludicrous deep voice! Oh, and I really really liked Scarecrow.. that whole psychotic drug thing was just a really cool idea.

Saw Land of the Dead Friday and really enjoyed it. But I'm really looking forward to Serenity in September out of all the summer movies to come...

[Kevin]

Serenity is the Firefly movie, right? Sorry, never saw the show. I'm assuming some previous knowledge would help. But, then again, I liked the X Files movies and hadn't seen the show before that.

Maybe I'm just an ubergeek, but I liked Bale in pretty much every facet of that film. Oh well. I fell in for it hook, line, and sinker.

Soy un perdedor.

As for the rest of the summer films, I'm not sure what I'm really looking forward to. I already saw Star Wars and Batman and those were the big two for me. As we've talked about before, I want to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but I'm not holding out too much hope.

Other than that, there's not much until November when Harry Potter and Rent come out. Sorry, I'm a junkie for Rent. I've seen it twice in Chicago theaters.

[kazza]

I *loved* Michael Keaton as Batman also. Had a huge crush on him at the time.. and that shot where he looks up and his face is all black, then he opens his eyes and they're this bright green .... mmmmm one of the best pieces of film ever ;)

Yes I came to your site through Dave's also. Dave attracts a cool readership, have started reading lots of new blogs attached to his :)

[Kevin]

It would seem that Dave is a blogger hub. Was reading about the concept of "hubs" in one of my MBA classes. They are simply a centralized location where all kinds of useful information becomes disseminated. Dave definitely qualifies. It seems as numerous bloggers have met through him.

The first time I saw the original Batman, I had a huge problem with Michael Keaton as Bruce/Bat. Up to that point, I had only ever seen him in comedies. And one of my favorite movies up till then was Johnny Dangerously. Classic Keaton comedy. So I just had trouble seeing him in such a dark, twisted, serious role. I've grown to appreciate it over the years and especially since I've seen him in more suspenseful and dramatic roles. But it took me quite a long time.