The Dark Night Begins...Again
Now Playing: Batman Begins (Christopher Nolan, 2005)
Let me just say this: Batman Begins is a terrific film; a well-handled, mature treatment of a beloved hero that honors and assimilates elements not only of the comic book continuity, but the previous Batman films (well, the decent Tim Burton ones, anyway) as well. I have read a few negative reviews of the film, particularly David Denby’s pan in the New Yorker, and on most points I have to say: wrong, wrong, wrong! Everyone’s entitled to his or her opinion, but these reviews seem to have been based on a different film than the one I saw. To wit:

“The movie is too slow” – This from critics who have been banging the “Hollywood films are all big set pieces and no substance” drum for years? Yes, Batman Begins is paced more deliberately than your standard blockbuster. I liked the fact that it did not race from one outrageous set piece to the next. It gives the audience a chance to breathe, to get to know this film’s characters (as opposed to the ones we know from the books, movies, etc.) I never felt the movie dragging, or that a scene was unnecessary or went on too long. These are the hallmarks of a slow movie, not a dearth of giant explosions.

“Christian Bale is too wooden” – Perhaps years of mistaking overemoting by the likes of Al Pacino for acting has hardened some critics to a nuanced performance. It’s pretty difficult for anyone to convey emotion when concealed in a rubber bat suit. Bale does a better job than any of the previous incarnations (yes, Michael Keaton apologists, I include him) in the suit—-witness the barely controlled rage in his voice when interrogating criminals. Without the benefit of facial expression, we are made to understand the battle waged between the competing desires for revenge and justice within the character. In his scenes as alter-ego Bruce Wayne, Bale allows his seriousness to break in a few key moments that illuminate his character. Bale's Wayne has a mischievous side, which surfaces when he’s acting the part of the bad-boy billionaire. Diving into a decorative hotel water feature with his Eurotrash escorts or throwing guests out of his birthday party, we see that a part of him enjoys it. Might a tendency toward flaunting authority illuminate a person’s reasons for carrying out vigilante justice dressed in a freaky costume? And those who accuse Bale of humorlessness apparently missed the great moments between him and Michael Caine (as loyal butler Alfred) and Morgan Freeman (as Batman’s equipment outfitter, Lucius Fox). These are brief moments to be sure, but they go a long way in making the character sympathetic. Most of the time, Bale treads the line between driven and psychopathic that’s defined the character since Frank Miller’s seminal graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns, and he’s genuinely scary at times. Keaton’s portrayal was a typical Tim Burton freaky outsider, unable to fit in with regular society unless he’s wearing a costume. An interesting angle, but it ain’t Batman. Bruce Wayne’s cover is that of a wealthy socialite, for crying out loud. He can’t be too much of a loner.

“The production design is too drab” – This criticism is likely leveled by those who thought Warren Beatty’s Dick Tracy represents the nadir of comic book-based films. Burton brought his unique vision to his films, courtesy of the great Anton Furst. Cool as it was, those of us who grew up on Neal Adams’ elegantly stylized art (and followed it through that of the gritty work of Frank Miller, Tim Sale, and others) longed for a Gotham City that looked like a real city—-one whose sense of decay and menace came from dark alleys and abandoned buildings, not from a stagy-looking baroque amusement park (and lest you think I’m picking on Burton’s films, let it be noted that I enjoyed those films for what they were—-Tim Burton films that weren’t necessarily trying to be faithful to the comic books-—and that I can’t even bring myself to discuss the crimes against cinema perpetrated by Joel Schumacher in the name of the franchise). Nolan’s Gotham looks like Chicago or New York, with a few nice stylistic touches, like a now-decrepit monorail bisecting the skyscrapers at the heart of the city. In the aerial shots of the city, as in the rest of the effects work, CG is integrated seamlessly, calling as little attention to itself as possible. Nolan’s city doesn’t look like a soundstage; neither does it look like Vancouver. It’s its own city, recognizable and perfectly realized in the production design. Which brings us to…

“Chris Nolan doesn’t leave his mark on the film” – No offense to Nolan, whose work I have enjoyed since Memento, but I don’t think he’s quite the auteur Denby seems to think he is—-not yet, anyway. Stylistically, his remake of Insomnia couldn’t be different from the edgy puzzle-logic structure of his studio debut Memento. That film’s aesthetic was tense, gritty, unhinged; Insomnia produced a sense of increasing disorientation from the stillness and perpetual daylight of its setting. When it was released, I was disappointed that Insomnia looked like a Hollywood film; I felt that Nolan had not fulfilled the promise made by Memento’s indie-film sense of style. After seeing Batman Begins, I think that Nolan’s visual strengths lie in creating atmosphere rather than in a trademark visual style. A Batman film needs atmosphere; Nolan supplies it in spades.

“The action scenes suck.” Actually, I can’t argue with this too much. The action choreography is my biggest complaint about the film. Shot in the super-quick cut style foisted on the viewing public by the Bruckheimer School, it’s confusing to the point of incomprehensibility. It’s possible to use quick cuts to make an effective fight scene, as in the Bourne films, but here the editing just looks like it was meant to conceal poorly executed fights. In a way, I think Nolan was on the right track, in that the action in the previous incarnations was hurt by the fact that a guy in a big rubber suit just doesn’t look all that mobile. Nolan sidesteps the problem by having Batman lurking in the shadows, often swallowing up unsuspecting bad guys in a flash, like something from the Alien movies. It reinforces the horror-movie aspects of the film, as well as the theme (present from the genesis of the comic book, and emphasized nicely in the script by Nolan and David Goyer) that Batman’s biggest weapon is fear. I like the idea of Batman as a guy who uses stealth to help overcome larger numbers, but in a film like this, you just can’t avoid some on-screen fighting. As the principals have been secured for a three picture deal, I can only say to Mr. Nolan: please, please, please, get an action choreographer and second unit director that know what they’re doing and can produce an exciting, comprehensible fight scene. If you’re not sure who to use, give Tarantino a ring—-I’m sure he’ll have all kinds of suggestions.

I’m not going to bother synopsizing the plot here; I’ll just say it’s a good reboot of the origin story (why, oh why do the studios think there are people out there that don’t know the origin of superheroes that have been around more than 50 years?) that features some good second-tier villains (Cillian Murphy as the Scarecrow is especially creepy, seemingly taking a cue from David Cronenberg’s mask-wearing psychopathic psychologist in Night Breed). The supporting roles are perfectly cast, and in addition to great work by Caine and Freeman, there are nice turns from Rutger Hauer, Tom Wilkinson, Katie Holmes, and especially Gary Oldman as the decent cop Jim Gordon. Nice to see him perform so well in this part after playing so many corrupt evil psychos his name had almost become synonymous with “bad guy.” And for those of you given pause by the ubiquitous online photos of the new Batmobile (of which I was one): Don’t worry. In action, it’s really cool.