Darby's ballgame was cancelled tonight due to rain earlier today, so while Shelby was at fencing practice, Darby and I went to see Batman Begins. Knowing that Shelby would not be able to see it for a few years (she thought the Scooby Doo movie was scary), this was the best opportunity for me to take Darby up on her request to see the flick that I, admittedly, was pretty darn excited to see myself.
Let me just say, for those of you that haven't seen it or maybe weren't all that fired up about seeing it, that this is the BEST BATMAN MOVIE EVER. I would personally say it was nearly the best comic book/superhero movie of all-time to-date, but I'm a little biased in this regard. My opinion of this movie's place in history doesn't mean there weren't moments of imperfection, but they sure did a good job of putting this flick together, making the seams are hard to find. This opinion comes from someone who collected Batman comics and books as a kid (with more than 600 Batman comics in the library) and so knows a thing or two about the Dark Knight. If nothing else, I think everyone who sees it will agree that this is the Batman movie we should have had all along.
Overall, I felt the story was good, and flowed well, with no lulls that I could sense. The character development was well balanced, the action was plentiful, the technical explanations were "reasonably plausible", the humorous bits weren't overdone, and there wasn't any ridiculously over-the-top romance. Even the villans, which have been notoriously a bit lame and circus-like in the Batman movies of old, were done well in this movie.
The big-name actors (Katie Holmes, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine) weren't in the film for bit parts or gratuitously added to the story for star-power. They all had important roles that were well written and well executed. In particular, having only seen a few small pieces of Ms. Holmes' part, I thought, going into the movie, she may have been the token eye-candy. But I was very wrong. Her part was important, and she did a surprisingly good job at it (she never once stooped to the "I'm a damsel in distress, oh please help me Batman" role or attitude like other supposedly-tough Bat-ladies from the previous films). I'm not saying she was the best person for the role, but I'm not going to take anything away from her either. Or, for that matter, from Mr. Bale. I really wasn't too impressed with what I saw from him in the trailers, but he, too, swayed my opinion by movie's end. That doesn't mean I think he was better than Michael Keaton, but for this role, in this film, at this stage in the Batman mythos-development, he did quite nicely, and I'd be just fine with him being the crusader of capes for many films to come.
And if my review means nothing to you, Darby thought it was awesome. When it was over she gave me a big hug and thanked me for taking her to see it, which I don't think she's done in a good long while (not even for Episode III). So there you go... Batman Begins, the ultimate father-daughter bonding flick for the Father's Day weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment