Batman Begins!

[Uriel]

I saw this tonight and have to say that I thought it was great. Acting was spot on, it was well shot, exciting and even funny in a few places. As with Sin City it went a long way to putting paid to the idea that comic book movies are invariably going to be teenage rubbish.

It was nice to have the slate wiped clean of the dreck which passed for the previous batman films (especially the later sequels) although I hope that with the inevitable sequels they do more than just square up Bruce against an interchangeable roster of masked villains...

 

[Gray]

I certainly wouldnt mind seeing an addition of Batman of the Future

No doubt its already in the pipelines

 

[PLightstar]

Saw it on Saturday Night, very good, you can see where they have taken ideas from the Comics and Animated series.

Love the Bat Tank so cool.

At last a Batman film thats great, the Tim Burton ones were good but this is great.

(Batman Forever and Batman and Robin are ignored for being so crap)

 

[Vae]

Probably the best of the decent (certain others are ignored from ever having existed) Batman films. It is dark, even darker than Tim Burtons films as it lacks the sometimes cartoonish edge of his films.

The acting is spot on (although I'm not too enamoured of Michael Caine as Alfred. His accent doesn't seem quite appropriate). The villains are believable as are most aspects of the film. The Dark Hero is appropriately dark and lacking in super powers as he should be.

I suppose in short this film is everything Batman should be - well maybe except for the bat tank depending on your view of it vs the more traditional batmobile.

They have laid very good groundwork for a potential series of films which I hope live up to this initial offering.

Only one plot element doesn't seem quite right:

Spoiler

The Microwave emitter seems a slightly ludicrous idea. In theory if a beam of microwaves could be focused on a body of water then it could cause the atoms to vibrate, heat up and thus vaporize. The way it seemed to work in the film was slightly more dubious. I suppose you could claim that it was being focused downwards and thus as it followed the train line it boiled the water int he mains but this wasn't consistent with the whole island's water system vaporizing at once.

 

[PLightstar]

Actually the Bat Tank is in the comics, can't remember which series it is in.

are you are right about that plot element, seems very strange, but works within a film.

 

[Gef]

I dont think there will be sequels to be honest..

Spoiler

The fact that at the end he got handed the Jokers calling card suggests that its simply a prequel to the original Tim Burton film..

 

[PLightstar]

The Idea of these new films is great because they are not associating at all with the old films at all.

The Batman Begins films and new and actually taken from the comic books, which is great and not made up.

And will make sense with any luck, I never understood why Harvey Dent was played by Billy Dee Williams in the first film, then was played by Tommy Lee Jones in the third. Those films were just a mess, so the new films have already and will continue to knock the socks off the old films.

 

[FuzzyLogic]

Gef

Spoiler

It's been announced as a restart to the franchise, and damn good one at that imo, the Joker card was simply a way of telling Batman that what Gordon was saying (Cops use guns, crooks get semi automatics, cops get kevlar and semis, crooks use automatics w/ armour piercing rounds) was that with Batman now the new law enforcement in town, that the crooks will up the theatrics also, starting in this iteration with (Scarecrow aside) some guy who's dressing up in a Joker costume that has appeared, Ying/Yang and all that.


Anyhow, in the Burton movie, it was Jack Napier/ the Joker who killed Bruce Waynes parents, in B:B, it was Joe Chill so any direct relation to the previous series of movies can't really be made, which, thank the Lord, isn't going to happen

I'm actually quite interested in how the Riddler would be introduced if at all in this new franchise, I heard that in the new animation he was really quite dark too.

edit: Oh, and a sequel's already been announced anyhow, All the principle cast has signed onto it, minus Katie Holmes (the studio was/is mighty pissed off that her relationship with Tom Cruise stole the movies thunder), so yey, more Batman goodness

 

[JingleBells]

Quite a Major Spoiler -

Spoiler

What I've heard for the sequel(s) is that the main enemy is the Joker. Somehow he's caught and a lawyer called Harvey Dent is brought into prosecute (this must replace Katie Holmes' character as the good prosecutor, esp as Bruce Wayne is always a batchelor). During a trial of some sort Dent is splashed with some chemical/acid, becoming Two-Face. So in the third film it is Two-Face batman is battling, and possibly the Joker too.

 

[FuzzyLogic]

Spoiler

Looks like it makes sense since apparently the Katie Holmes character held Dents position instead for this movie (for the love interest I suppose), and with her being gone and her boss killed, there's a vacuum there to be filled. Rock. I wouldn't be surprised if Dent's introduced as having some mental problems already and the whole acid trip (teehee) sends him over the edge.

 

[Gef]

Ohh, right, cheers for clearing that up guys, although I did really like the film its quite depressing they have to start re-doing the old characters having run out of superheroes to make films about

*Awaits the new Superman films with anticipation*

 

[Frizz]

Myself and the missus thought this was a bit shit really.

Slow, uninteresting and underwhelming.

 

[MYstIC G]

I'd 50/50 on this. I think it works as a prequil to the originals but i'm not so convinced about this series replacing the first 2 batman films which I thought were excelent.

 

[Derric]

I liked it, felt a bit more "serious" than the other existing ones that just feels silly to watch.

 

[DaGaffer]

Just seen it. Much better than the earlier ones, including the Tim Burton ones (which have dated quite badly imho). Had a real Frank Miller feel, and I liked the way they actually applied some logic to how Bruce gets his cool toys. Good casting too; Christian Bale is easily the most believable Batman and Gary Oldman makes a top notch Jim Gordon.

They dicked around with the Ras-al-Gul and Scarecrow characters a bit compared to the comics, but it worked OK.

 

[Stazbumpa]

This film owns. Film of the year, no contest. Kicks the shit out of the Star Wars cartoon.

This is Batman as he should be. None of this CGI, poncey, "Batman-is-a-nice-guy" bollocks. He's darkark, nasty, violent and only a step away from being one of the bad guys.

Quality.

 

[Talivar]

Yea best film this year easy, beats star wars and war of the worlds thats for sure

 

[Ch3tan]

It had acting, consistency, no stupid plot holes. This really was enjoyable from start to finish. Film of the year for me so far aswell.

 

[Turamber]

Long, long, long way short of being as good as the latest Star Wars film or War of the Worlds.

It started very promisingly. Raised lots of questions about justice and revenge, a good examination of how a psyche' forms (rather like the first Tim Burton film in that). But somewhere, round about the introduction of the car, it all got rather cliched and derivative. I can't say that any of the action was particularly original - have seen it all before and, with the sheer number of superhero films now, rather recently. Even the better Batman images were all pretty much ripped from the earlier films.

And the Joker is going to be the bad guy in the next film? Oh please, surely Hollywood is not so bankrupt of fresh ideas that they have to resurrect not only the superhero but the villain too?!

 

[Ch3tan]

Worse than star wars? With the god awful acting in star wars, and the patheticly childish "turning" of anakin to the dark side? And WotW which is just a serious of stupid events after the first 20 minutes. Batman actually managed to have a plot that wasnt full of holes, good acting and managed to stay engrossing throughout.

As for bringing the Joker back. It is a new series of Batman films, not related to any of the previous. You cannot ignore the main villain and create new ones that most people wont be able to assoiciate with.

 

[Turamber]

Both the Star Wars film and War of the Worlds were very well done, had good stories, good acting and, most importantly, managed to appear fresh and new whilst engrossing their viewers on a higher level. Batman Begins starts off good, but sooon becomes your standard super hero stuff - hitting people and having swish gadgets.

If you are going to retell a story that was only told ten years or so ago then you really have to make a better fist of it than that. Trotting out the same tired imagery left this viewer less than satisfied.

 

[old.Tohtori]

Like WotW isn't a remake

Anyway, just some info on the movie that i haven't seen yet:

The batmobile, is real in all aspects. Going through walls, riding at 175 kliks an hour, there was no cgi in the make. The car could take anything they dishes out and that's bloody impressive piece of machinery.

The gotham city. Built. No real locations were used, but built in two huge hangars.

Those two bits allreay make it an impressive feat in my book. Waiting to see it this week, final judgement then.

On the point of it becoming another "super hero movie". It is. What did you expect?

 

[Turamber]

Like WotW isn't a remake

AFAIK the last cinematic version of WotW was back in the 1950s.

On the point of it becoming another "super hero movie". It is. What did you expect?

Spiderman 2 significantly raised the bar for Superhero films. Slapping a few people about and looking dark and brooding is so passe'!

 

[Ch3tan]

Both the Star Wars film and War of the Worlds were very well done, had good stories, good acting and, most importantly, managed to appear fresh and new whilst engrossing their viewers on a higher level. .

I must have seen two very different movies to you.

 

[Doomy]

Just watched it after deliberately avoiding it because of the 2 toss last ones.

Very impressed, Batman is fucked up as he should be. Would love to see the slate wiped clean but in no way am I disrespecting Burtons dark vision either, this one just seems to set the ante just right. I must admit when the plot with the bad guys became apparent i had a brief 'oh dear' moment but then i realised I was also watching a black caped guy with pointy ears saving the day.

More please.

 

[Tom]

Just watched this, what a brilliant film! Loved the bits where he was flying around. Great music as well.

 

[Sar]

Bloody brilliant film. Loved it. Best Bats film bar none.

 

[Furr]

yes it is a corker of a film, i was very impressed by it, and i can only see it getting better as i can't see them going all camp as that was a disaster....

 

[EmeraldSpider]

I loved this film, one of the best from last year certainly...
Very glad to see someone who can play the different personalities of bruce wayne to the full both playboy/psychotic

Great Stuff, This and DareDevil rank as my two alltime favourite super-hero films , mind you we'll see how the Wolverine film comes out I have high hopes.

Anyone have any ideas who should play the Joker, I think either Matthew Lillard or Steve Bucemi, both play psycho's amazingly well and would pull off the manic quality of the Joker very well .

And of course I expect to see some excellent casting where Selina Kyle is concerned.

Ele

.

 

[Mauness]

by far the best batman film to date, cant wait for the "others"

and i agree "Steve Bucemi" should play thi part very well indeed

oh and start wars 3 sucked, as did WotW (oh, i want to watch a film about parenting...fell asleep about 40mins in) they both were a great dissapoinment