SECOND HELPINGS: Batman Begins (2005)

Like a fair number of people, I went nuts for this movie when it first came out. Here was a Batman that is at least somewhat plausible, unlike the Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher films of the 80s and 90s. The characters have depth and struggle with heavy-hitting themes without being paraded around as pure spectacle and an excuse for overacting supporting characters. I watched this film again before seeing The Dark Knight Rises and some of its flaws became more apparent.

Maybe it is a direct result of seeing its successors so soon after taking this film in, but Batman Begins feels the most out of place of Christopher Nolan’s trilogy. It feels the most like a comic book movie of the three and the layout, look, and feel of parts of Gotham City give off a slight comic book vibe. The other two do not. Gotham feels more like a real city. I don’t want to let a criticism of continuity for the whole trilogy affect my rating for this film, so I am hoping that my initial enthusiasm was a matter of me being dazzled by the breath of fresh air that was Batman Begins.

I am fine with the League of Shadows. In fact, it makes for a very worthy foe. Batman is forced to go head to head with the forces that trained him. Their motive for destroying Gotham is fascinating but their intended means of accomplishing their goal lacks some believability. The water-vaporizing weapon goes just a little far out there, considering how realistic much of the rest of the film is.

Batman Begins marked an exciting new direction for not only Batman but for superhero movies in general. It showed that you can tone down the flamboyant elements of the comic book genre and still create something exciting. To make it a powerful emotional and intellectual draw is an added bonus. The framework of these pros can easily be attributed to the X-Men franchise but Batman Begins benefits from a better balance of flair and fun, while also focusing on far fewer characters. For this, I still hold it to be an excellent film but I feel I have to drop it ever so slightly from the ranks ‘great’ films.

Original Rating: 4 out of 5 (Click here for the original review)

New Rating: 3.75 out of 5