Batman Begins - My 2¢ worth...

Caught a preview screening of Batman Begins last night.
After Joel Schumacher's last pair of turkeys (namely 'Batman Forever' and 'Batman & Robin' - ugh!) I thought the franchise was irredeemable - after all, does the World REALLY need another Batman movie??!! I went into the cinema expecting nothing and I came out getting a fix of EVERYTHING!
Batman Begins delivers, full-stop. In terms of bringing the comic book character of Bruce Wayne/Batman to the big screen, it was perfect. Unlike Schumacher's incarnations, it didn’t shy away from the notion that Bruce Wayne is motivated by psychological scarring and that Batman flirts upon the edge of the psychotic. Batman's actions and very existence is motivated by vengefulness intolerance (of the flawed, of the corrupt) and obsession - he is NOT a 'truth and justice for all' superhero like his DC peer, Superman.

As the film's title suggests, this is a prequel. This movie is about the trauma Bruce Wayne faced as a child, losing loving parents to a criminal in a mugging and the events that follow that bring him to the decision to take on the persona of the Dark Knight in an effort to avenge his Parents' death through fighting crime and corruption in a socially-disintegrating Gotham City.
The film almost seems split in two, the first half moving very slowly, citing Wayne's fleeing from Gotham, his insidious curiosity of the Criminal Underworld, and his physical combat training.
The second half of the film moves at a far more frantic pace
Wayne returns to Gotham, adds the finishing touches to his Batman persona and makes his crime fighting debut foiling the corrupt Falcone and his Maniacal Puppetmaster, Physiologist, Dr Crane - who turns out to be 'Hallucinogenic-Nemesis', Scarecrow. Scarecrow, I initially thought, was too weak a villain to introduce a new Batman franchise. However, I was WRONG. Scarecrow was executed extremely well visually and did indeed prove menacing.
This half of the film also entertains with dizzying action/fight scenes and a thrilling 'O.J' style car chase with Batman in his prototype Batmobile (at this point looking like a tank) fleeing a convoy of police vehicles to head to his 'Bat-cave'.

One of the first things that stands out about director Christopher Nolan's 'Batman Begins' is its stellar cast. Quite surprising considering this is simply a 'Super-Hero' movie.
Christian Bale made a believable Bruce Wayne, but looked slightly odd as Batman in the costume - perhaps even being a bit too angry at times, as while the Dark Knight is certainly motivated by anger (and guilt), he isn't usually so emotive.
Liam Neeson was brilliant (As usual) as Ducard. A very believable Villain (if you can call him that) who is not part of your usual 2D/Black & White personification-of-evil variety. And Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman gave us very natural, likeable performances of the characters Alfred and Lucius Fox respectively. Heck!, even Katie Holmes was tolerable in this film - actually appearing quite attractive at times!
However, praise aside - the film did have a few shortfalls.
Few of the things that irritated me included how it succumbed to Hollywood clichés at times with a tacked-on love element/kiss at the end of the film, and dodgy one-liners to appease a mainstream audience, which felt out of place (Michael Caine im looking at you!). And lets not forget the typical Hollywood prerequisite for any franchise flick - set it up for sequel! And Batman Begins does this shamelessly at the end with an off-screen villain leaving his calling card - that is a playing card of a Joker, hmmmmm….

All-in-all, this Batman is certainly better than any of Schumacher's efforts; but is it the DEFINITIVE Bat-flick?
In my opinion, its pretty damn close to perfection, but no cigar.
I have a very biased affection for Tim Burton's 1989 'Batman' and its sequel 'Batman Forever', as do I have an affection for Michael Keaton playing the part of Bruce Wayne.
Burton's vision of Gotham had the perfect blend of sophistication and macabre (where Schumacher's was just plain flamboyant) and was better than Nolan's which just stood as bland and industrial.
Burton's Gotham streets were populated with Citizens affected by crime; Nolan's was empty, often deserted with a few hobos/junkies thrown-in for measure.
Burton mixed comic fantasy, reality and psychology flawlessly without becoming camp. Nolan probably can be accused of taking the whole thing too damn seriously.

Still Batman Begins was a great flick, one for the DVD collection and without a doubt one to catch this summer!