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MOVIES BATMAN BEGINS
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Rating: *** This movie marks the Caped Crusader's trimuphant return to the big screen. After the 90's film series took a huge noise-dive, it looked like the end of Batman movies. But, after the wave of blockbuster comic book adaptations in the last few years, it was time to reimagine Batman. And Batman fans will not be disappointed with this film. The film focuses mostly on Bruce Wayne, which is a pleasant change from the previous films which either focused on Batman or on the villains. We see the origins of Batman. How Wayne's parents die. Bale is fantastic as the billionaire playboy. We feel his loss. We feel his anger and his confusion. And we feel his determination. He wants to do what's right. He wants to save the city that his father had tried to. And it's no easy task. Gotham is somewhat futuristic, but not over-the-top, as in the previous films. The underbelly of Gotham is where most of the action takes place, and it is a grimy, crime-invested place. You feel dirty just watching the scenes in those locations. By the time Batman suits up, there are villains to fight. And these villains have big plans. And unlike the other films, they are not flamboyant spandex-wearing goofballs bent on world domination. The Scarecrow was done very well, as was Ra's Al Ghul. I thought the story was very good, and I thought the actors did a great job. How could the acting not be good with all the names they had for this film? My big issue with the movie was that not enough time was spent with each of the characters. Besides Bruce Wayne, did any other character have more than 10 minutes of screen time? It seemed like they just put too much into the movie and didn't spend the time to develop the characters, or to expand on the drama or the plot. My other issue was the fight scenes. And this is a common complaint I have with movies of recent years. The action is shot so close and with so much motion that you can't tell what the hell is happening. You hear the sound effects of a punch, but you see no fist, no swing. You don't even know who's getting hit. Now, for some scenes, I could understand why you'd film a fight like that. But every fight scene was a blurred mess of movement. Could they not find a fight coordinater? But these are nitpicks. Overall, the movie does a great job of telling the story of this misunderstood hero. I would rank this as the 2nd best Batman movie, just behind Tim Burton's 1989 flick. Quality: 7.0 Visuals:
7.0 Intensity: 7.0 reviewed
2005
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