TRANSMISSIONS FROM TERRA FIRMA: May 2006

BATMAN BEGINS
Batman Begins...at last! Since the May of 1939, the time when the dark knight graced the pages of Detective Comics #27, fans have been waiting for this, the perfect Batman movie. The reason why I chose this as my first movie review is obvious to all those who know me. For everyone else (in simple english), I am a huge fan.

It was everyone's opinion that the Batman franchise had burnt itself to cinders thanks to Joel Schumacher's campy and gaudy Batman and Robin. Enter Christopher Nolan, the genius behind Memento, to resurruct it from the ashes. "Why do we fall, Bruce? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up.", a dialouge in the movie by Dr.Thomas Wayne (Linus Roache). Suprisingly, the same dialouge is quite suited to describe the state of this franshise too. But the ultimate weapon that this movie actually posseses, is that it has a plot.

Unlike the previous Batman movies, where the spotlight was on the villians, the story behind Begins, thankfully, is about billionaire Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) and his alter ego, Batman. The movie opens without opening credits or even a title and surprises us with the most unusual setting for an introduction, a prison somewhere in the indo-china subcontinent. (WARNING!!! Unwanted Trivia: Though its never mentioned during the course of the movie where the prison is, bat fans beleive it's Bhutan, thanks to some details from the Batman comics). It is Bruce Wayne who wakes up in this prison, having just dreamt about his encounter with Bats at the age of eight. To rescue him from brutal treatment at the prison, Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson), a representative of the League of shadows, offers him a way out - a membership in the League of shadows. After rigourous training under the watchful eye of Ducard, Wayne is offered to lead an assault on his home town, Gotham City.

Refusing to follow the League's ways, Wayne battles Ra's Al Ghul, the League's head(Ken Watanabe) and barely manages to escape, rescuing his unconsious mentor, Ducard in the process.

Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham, to find his town in shambles, in desperate need of a saviour. To add to his misery Wayne discovers that Wayne Corp. is run by a selfish entrepreneur (Rutger Hauer), but in its applied sciences department lies the almost forgotten scientific genius Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), who understands Wayne wants to fight crime and offers him weaponry. Not just any weaponry, magnetic gas powered grappling guns, kevlar utility harnesses, survival suit for advanced infantry, memory cloth tailored to fit on any rigid skeleton and a prototype batmobile - a few names among many.

It is only during the second act that Bruce Wayne dons the cape to become his alter ego. With the help of his trusted butler, Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine) and Lt.James Gordon (Gary Oldman) he brings down Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson), one of the cities biggest crime bosses. Only later does Batman find that Falcone has hush-hush tie-ups with Dr. Jonathan Crane (Cillian Murphy), a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum (the nuthouse in Gotham), to bring in mysterious shipments of a psychedelic drug which if left unchecked might prove disastorous for the whole of Gotham.

The origin of The Batman and his connection with the Chiroptera, has been hinted at during the last four films, but never has it been analysed with so much depth. In the end it's the little details, like Lucious handing over Wayne his weapons, the painting of the Bat suit, the first Batmobile test run, an out of focus batsignal, a tribute to The Joker, that make this movie a delight to watch. But this movie would have never become a box office hit if it weren't for three key details - direction, cinematography and acting.

Christopher Nolan made sure no one else took the director's chair, and without the aid of a second unit, cradled his project with utmost care. While watching one can clearly see the amount of thought that has been put into every frame of the movie. Batman, unlike other superheroes, does not possess any superpowers. It was this aspect that made me bond with the character in the first place. And it was this aspect that Nolan, so adamantly, brought to life in begins - Realism. If he wanted the Batmobile to make a turn at 60 mph in a particular scene, he wanted an actual working model to do it in front of a rolling camera. The effect that it left on the audiences was actually - surreal. Without all the fanfare, lashed out in every scene of the previous Batman movies, begins tricks the audiences into believing that everything that you see onscreen is very much possible in our world. Some scenes, like Bruce Wayne climbing the mountain in search of the League or Bruce Wayne being swarmed by bats under Wayne Manor, are nothing less than brilliant. Hence the oscar nod for best cinematography . The musical score by two great composers, John Newton Howard and Hans Zimmmer, exactly reflected the duality of the central character. You could feel Howard's presence during the emotional sequences and Zimmer's thud during heart stopping action.

Batman Begins boasts a cast of actors unparalled by any other movie in it's genre. And every one of them delivers such powerful performances, that you couldnt expect more. Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman surpasses everyone's expectations to become the best bat ever to grace the screen. Be it the billionare playboy, the brooding Bruce Wayne or the dark knight, Bale carries off the role with such ease and style, that you soon wonder whether the previous Bat-Men were animatronic. This was the performance everyone was waiting for and it was Bale in the end who steals the show. Katie Holmes (Rachel Dawes) plays Bruce Wayne's chilhood friend/love interest/assistant D.A, a character whom i intially thought was unnecessary. But after a second look, you realize that she plays Bruce Wayne's conscience and, suprisingly, plays it well. Micheal Caine As Alfred did dissapoint at times when he came out a little whiny (not the alfred we are all used too), nevertheless still managed to deliver a great performance.

Cillian Murphy as Dr. Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow, during his limited screen time, pulls off his villanous role with such severity, his gaze alone is enough to chill one's spine.

The very few drawbacks that the movie presented was sadly during the action sequences when the camera was way too close for the audiences to follow. Alfred's whining and a few redundant instances in the movie ("If that train reaches us, the water supply is gonna blow.") probably sum up all the negative aspects.

I have said it once but i will say it again. This is the Batman movie everyone has been waiting for. Only during the end of the movie when Batman glides off the roof, the main title is introduced. Cementing the fact that throughout the course of the movie Batman was born, it is only after this... Batman begins. - {BATMAN^V^EXILED}