Review

Review Date: 19-June-05
Spoiler Rating: Low
Juju Judgment: Just OK

Batman Begins (2005)

More than the average superhero, Batman is an enigma. He fights for the light but keeps to the dark. He spends his days at garden parties and his nights in back alleys. He's a billionaire opposed to greed and corruption (a real shocker). One can assume that these contradictions account for his widespread, long-lasting appeal. It's interesting, then, that a paradox also describes why his latest cinematic appearance doesn't kick butt: in a movie that obsessively catalogs everything that makes the Dark Knight tick, he's the least meaty character of all.

"Batman Begins" is the story of how a rich, young Bruce Wayne traveled the world trying to escape a tragic past but eventually found his destiny at home, in the very city where his father made his name and both parents were gunned down before his eyes. The first part of the picture moves back and forth between Wayne's formative years and the present day, when he has returned to Gotham after a long absence during which everyone assumed he was dead. With a ninja's training and a newfound thirst for true justice, he initially targets a drug lord (Tom Wilkinson) whose seemingly iron grip on the city gives him a reason to forge a crimefighting identity — and gives director/co-writer Christopher Nolan a reason to indulge his fetishistic fascination by explaining the origins of all we know about Batman, like the suit, the belt, the car, the signal, the cave, the playboy reputation, and why he chose bats anyway.

Yes, "Batman Begins" makes good on its promise to illuminate the hero's past, but the juicy details can't vivify a character who's essentially dull, and that's the problem with this movie. The fault, I'm sad to say, rests largely with star Christian Bale, although he can certainly shift part of the blame onto the smart alecks who stocked the cast with a host of fantastic actors (most of whom, like Bale, are from Britain or Ireland — what's up with that?). No doubt the plan was to back up Bale in his first major role, but he's simply blown off the screen by Liam Neeson as Wayne's mysterious mentor, Gary Oldman as the future Commissioner Gordon, and Cillian Murphy (a complete knockout) as a creepy psychiatrist who specializes in nightmares. Heck, even Michael Caine upstages the star, and he plays the butler! The real pleasure of watching the second half is seeing these men at work, wrapped up in a plot involving chemical-weapons terrorism in which Batman, despite his tortured past and techno-chic arsenal, seems like a fifth wheel following along for the ride.

(Oh, and did I mention the cast also includes Morgan Freeman, Katie Holmes, Ken Watanabe, and Rutger Hauer? Poor Bale never stood a chance.)

As the movie often notes, the moral center of Batman is hard justice in difficult times, and I guess there's something intriguing about a man who could retreat into madness or luxury but instead chooses to face his fears. Yet, ironically, Nolan's attempt to bring the icon back to the fore doesn't do him justice. "Batman Begins" shows us the Why and the How; I hope the sequel gets beyond the So What?

Copyright © 2005 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.