Batman Begins
dir. Christopher Nolan
Opens Wed June 15.
For those whose temporal lobes are still flash fried by the memory of director Joel Schumacher's penchant for neon nipples, the prospect of the Dark Knight returning to the screen after the Reno floorshow debacle of 1997's Batman & Robin can perhaps be forgiven for causing some anxiety. Thus, at the overstuffed preview screening for Batman Begins, Christopher (Memento) Nolan's much hyped do-over, at least half the audience appeared ready to bolt at the slightest hint of camp. For this initially wary viewer, at least, the skepticism lasted until about 10 minutes in, when Bruce Wayne first encountered a room filled to the brim with ninjas. A week later, the dazed, happy grin still hasn't totally subsided. As grounded in the real world as a guy in a rubber suit can possibly be, Nolan's full-blooded, bleak-as-all-get-out reinterpretation of the Caped Crusader is so satisfying that it's a little scary. Possibly even more than Sam Raimi's hugely enjoyable Spider-Man series, this is the comic book movie-respectful, dark (but not needlessly so), reverent without being slavish-that people have long been clamoring for.
Taking equal inspiration from Sin City creator Frank Miller's Batman: Year One miniseries and artist Neil Adams's classic grim and gritty '70s run of Adam West apologia, Nolan and David Goyer's scenario circles back to the basics and has a ball reinventing the mythos. The defining elements are still there: boy loses parents, devotes life to fighting crime, becomes creature of the night. What's new is the filmmakers' attention to the inner life of their 2-D main character, devoting fully half their time to recounting Wayne's training and motivations for spending the nights all done up in a batsuit. For the first time in a live-action recounting, the title character is actually allotted more attention than the inevitably showy villains. (Fear-gas maven The Scarecrow and eco-terrorist Ra's Al Ghul, for those fanboys keeping score.) As an origin story, it holds its own against the animated Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, previously the benchmark.
The cast more than carries their weight. Rebounding fully from his frail Skeletor appearance in The Machinist, the buffed-out Christian Bale makes this iconic character wholly his own, balancing bouts of A-hole playboy persona with occasional self-aware glimmers of how nuts his personal crusade actually is. Whether lurking in darkness or putting the hurt on legions of freaked thugs, his Batman is honestly, thrillingly frightening. The supporting players, from Michael Caine's butler to Gary Oldman's nerdy cop sidekick, share Bale's commitment. This may be the first time Liam Neeson hasn't looked bored by the mechanisms of big-budget filmmaking, and he delivers a ferocious performance as the hero's ruthless mirror image. Meanwhile, Morgan Freeman nails every single line lobbed his way as Wayne's trusted business adviser and gadget supplier.
Drawbacks? Well, there's the suit. Although not quite as clunky as Michael Keaton's Michelin Man getup, it still appears to limit mobility to a fairly ridiculous degree. (Batman should really be able to turn his head.) More damaging, for all of Nolan's intelligence and proven knack with temporal juggling-he's not quite an action filmmaker yet, although he gets considerable mileage of his hero's tendency to strike from the shadows-his increasingly frenzied combat set-pieces come perilously close to Bruckheimeresque spatial incoherence.
To linger on the occasional misstep, however, is to discount the unholy, intense frisson of the overall project, including an end beat that should make even normally rational folks consider getting in line immediately for a sequel. (Without spoiling things, Crispin Glover should seriously think about getting fitted for a purple tux.) Still, it remains to be seen if, in this day and age, audiences can actually cope with a summer blockbuster that doesn't require settling for trace moments of inspiration. After the screening, an audience member in a woefully tight novelty T-shirt was heard complaining about the appearance of the utility belt. And so it goes.
