Quote: Bianca said: Christian Bale was unbelieveable! I haven't seen any film with him before so maybe I'm a bit naïve when it comes to what he can do, but he sure as hell impressed me. The fear and the pain that he conveys comes across quite well and to see him done the cape and cowl is very impressive. He's a mix of Michael Keaton & Kevin Conroy's Bruce Wayne, and almost all of Kevin Conroy's Batman. Yes, I know Conroy is just the voice, but he's what made Batman, Batman and somehow, Bale manages to do just that when he's behind the mask and there are times where it's scary as hell.
Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes was "okay" but I definately wasn't impressed. Other than a few instances of "headlights" poking through the her shirts you're doing to be disappointed boys. Sorry.
I enjoyed Michael Cane as Alfred and he had a bit more of the B:TAS in him than the previous Alfred from the movies. It was quite nice to see Alfred chastise Bruce for his "fun" a few times.
Morgan Freeman as Fox was fantastic. I really, really, really enjoyed seeing him and look forward to seeing more of him in the coming films.
Ken Watanabe was wasted Ra's Al Ghul. His screen time was incredibly short and totally "fluff." It was very disappointing. Very.
Gary Oldman was Gordon was an interesting choice. He's a Sargent in this movie, and moves up to Lieutenant by the end of the movie. You get to see a very quick glimpse of his family life (wife and child) and how he's very slightly connected with Bruce via the death of the Wayne's.
Liam Neeson as Ducard was interesting. I'm no expert on Ducard from the comics but a friend gave me a quick low-down and sufice it to say, he doesn't seem to share much with that Ducard but he's still an interesting character . . . right up to the very end which is surprising as hell. And, it must be the SW fan in me, but seeing Ducard teach Bruce just made me think of Qui-Gon Jinn. All the things he says to Bruce during their training on the ice (before they begin to fight) just screams Qui-Gon! It was insane. But, towards the end of the movie, you'll see that his Ducard is no Jedi but more like a Sith bent on cleansing the Earth of all the foul things.
I didn't know who Cillian Murphy was but he was an okay Scarecrow/Jonathan Crane. There were a few times, via camera angles, that I thought he'd make a great Joker but then changed my mind as the movie progressed.
It was a surprise to see Rutger Hauer in the movie but he played his part well. He didn't get the memo at the end.
The visuals in the movie are fantastic, as are the themes that are carried throughout. There were quite a few times where I just kind of went, "Ohhh!" at how they handled the "Fear Toxin" as seen through the eyes of the vicitms and when Crane sees Batman through the Toxin it's quite gruesome (almost reminds me of the Uruk-hai from LOTR).
The 1st chase scene through Gotham was quite good and turned out better than I thought, if just a wee bit "over the top" with the number of vehicles that fliped over. But over all, it was pretty good.
The next to last scene, with Batman going after Ra's Al Ghul to stop his plan came out beautifully. It reminded me of the No Man's Land arc where they cut off the island from the rest of Gotham. All the inmates from Arkham have been set free and the Toxin is filling the air... The Police Chief says to Gordon, "The Riot Squad is there with you already, there's no one left to help you now," and then you see the Batmobile race across and jump the river and into the mess and end up just feet from Gordon. It was nicely done.
Overall, the film was great. I definately want to see it again and they very nicely set up the next movie with a new baddie who likes to leave his calling card at the scene.
I'm not exaggerating when I say that this is pretty much exactly how I felt. I really liked the Bale Batman voice. I don't think they'd really shown much of it in the previews so to see him so intense was a surprise in of itself, and quite thrilling overall. Using different voices is actually Bale's calling card, almost. He's said that he uses a completely different accent in all of his movies(many of which I recommend if you haven't seen them).
I was worried about the way they'd handle the Wayne aspect of Batman, and amazed at just how well they pulled it off. One of the millions of things that the Schumacher films got so wrong was not exploring the dichotomy between Bruce Wayne and Batman. It's crucial to the character. Bruce Wayne is supposed to be everything Batman isn't: a self-absorbed, millionaire playboy and generally a complete buffoon. Sort of like how the Chris Reeves early Clark Kent was Superman's opposite: a clumsy, embarrasingly awkward dork. Nobody's going to think those guys go around fighting criminals and saving lives in their spare time.
I was stunned at how many great actors they packed into this movie. Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Rutger Hauer. I didn't even realize Tom Wilkinson(who was superb, he nearly stole the show) was in it until they got to his part. Oldman was certainly more than fine as Gordon, but I have to admit a part of me wanted to see him as a badguy. He just does them so damn well. Freeman and Caine were great, I think I could watch Freeman in just about any movie and enjoy him.
I was also a bit surprised at how short Watanabe's on-screen time was, though if he had delivered all his lines the way he did his first ones, I think I would have been worn out by him quickly. Either way, Neeson was fantastic in his place. He's in tremendous shape for a guy who turns 53 next month.
I guess I was slightly underwhelmed by Scarecrow. The only thing I'd seen Cilian Murphy in was 28 days later(quite a different character), so I did know who he was, but I wasn't blown away by him. I loved the way Nolan handled the fear gas, though. Superb use of special effects. The scene where Batman uses it on Crane was incredible.
Katie Holmes's character wasn't quite as useless as many previous comic book movie female leads, but overall it was pretty much the same story. They stand around, look pretty, get in trouble, are saved by the hero, then leave. Honestly, the only thing I think I liked about the character(other than it seemed like she hadn't been introduced to the concept of a bra), was the fact that in the end she realized she couldn't be with him, because Bruce Wayne had become the mask, and Batman was the face he wore under it.
I had a major geekout moment at the end with the Joker card.
While overall I enjoyed the movie tremendously, there were a few tiny things I thought could have been better.
-I thought they could have given Ra's Al Ghul something(a weapon, something) to make the final battle more believable. With the suit and the gadgets, the fight really shouldn't have lasted long. Ghul had a what, a sword and a chest-protector?
-I realize that it really had to be this way because of how much story there was to pack in, but some of the pacing of the movie bothered me a little. They spent a good chunk of time on the training, which was cool, but significantly less time on the Wayne family and on Crane.
-The army couldn't find a use for the Tumbler? Are you kidding me? And in the same vein, why did a huge multinational corporation like Wayne Enterprises have one guy(one guy!) in charge of an entire warehouse of super high tech weaponry?
-This is so nitpicky but I can't help myself: why, when Bruce Wayne went down into the cave(a cave, mind you), could he see most of what was around him? This is a cave, right? Where bats live?
Like I said, though, overall, the movie was great. More than enough to satisfy one of the more cynical comic fans out there. I think I'd need a bit more seperation from the actual experience of watching the film to really rank it. When you've just seen a movie you really like it's hard not to go "that was the best movie ever!" I definitely thought it was better than both of the Spidercrap movies.
