PG-13, 140 min.
Director: Christopher Nolan
Writers: Christopher Nolan,
David S. Goyer, Bob Kane (characters)
Starring: Christian Bale,
Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson,
Rutger Hauer, Ken Watanabe, Mark Boone Junior, Linus Roache, Larry Holden, Sara
Stewart, Gus Lewis, Richard Brake, Rade Sherbedgia, Emma Lockhart
I’ve reviewed “Batman
Begins” several times. Many feel that it is the best Batman movie ever made.
Many feel that its sequel “The Dark Knight” is the best Batman movie ever made.
I was of the former camp, but every time I watch “Batman Begins” the two movies
close the gap on each other in my mind.
My only problem with the
first of the Christopher Nolan trilogy originally was the somewhat typical
climax with Batman fighting Ra’s Al Ghul on the train as it races toward the
center of Gotham City. I felt it was well done, but somewhat beneath Ra’s Al
Ghul as a villain. It smacked of a maniacal James Bond villain trying to
destroy the world simply because that’s what the villain is supposed to do.
With the somewhat backwards
morality of Ra’s, I suppose it sort of is a maniacal villain trying to destroy
the world. In Ra’s ideals, to build it back up again with a stronger element of
good within. Batman can’t get around the purity of Ra’s plan, because it
doesn’t differentiate between those who are guilty of Gotham’s sin and those
who are not. The fact the Ra’s can’t see the injustice of his justice is a
result of his own particular insanity. That’s the same insanity that Batman’s
actions boarder on, and therein lays the error of my initial judgment of Ra’s
actions being typical.
Yes, they are typical for a
criminal, which is what Ra’s is. The parallels between his ideals and Batman’s are
what are important here. Batman draws a line. The entire trilogy is about where
that line is and whether Batman draws it in the right place. This story with
Ra’s in this first film is the perfect set up for such a study in the morality
of justice. That being the case, it is an excellently crafted film by Nolan. It
works on its own. It works even better as the first act of his study of Batman
and the ideals for which he stands.
And last year's Penny Thoughts entry.
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