Batman Begins

UK Release: 16th June 2005

Watched on LoveFilm Instant: Monday 23rd July 2012

Rating: 12

Genre: Action, Crime, Drama

Runtime: 2hrs 20mins

IMDb Plot Synopsis: When his parents were killed, millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne relocates to Asia when he is mentored by Henri Ducard and Ra's Al Ghul in how to fight evil. When learning about the plan to wipe out evil in Gotham City by Ducard, Bruce prevents this plan from getting any further and heads back to his home. Back in his original surroundings, Bruce adopts the image of a bat to strike fear into the criminals and the corrupt as the icon known as 'Batman'. But it doesn't stay quiet for long.

My Review: Wow. This film was so much better than I expected and it was a happy accident that I got to watch it too after being invited to go watch The Dark Knight Rises today I decided to set about watching the first two films of the triology so I’d know what was going on. And, well, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I’d always viewed comic book, action blockbusters as rather shallow and boring. But then I suppose I’m not the target audience. But Batman Begins had so much more depth to it and I found I could actually follow what was going on and care about it! 

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this is a film by Christopher Nolan here. I mean Inception is one of my favourite films of all time, Memento is a masterpiece... Batman was bound to be meticulously crafted. And it definitely shows. Not only does it look great but the acting talent I was not prepared for either. Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson... and that doesn’t even cover Batman himself Christian Bale. It was a difficult character to play and I defintiely preferred him as Bruce Wayne as Batman’s voice got a little grating. But the action sequences were really thrilling and I just got swept up in the intensity and fun of it all.

So many people have been raving about The Dark Knight that I almost didn’t see this as I didn’t think it worth bothering about. But actually I find it to be an excellent film on it’s own and that while The Dark Knight (which I shall review tomorrow) is a lot darker, I almost like Batman Begins a little more. It has a classicism to it’s storytelling that you just can’t beat and is hard to find thesedays.

Score: 8.5/10