Saturday, June 18, 2005
Batman Begins
Batman Begins rox!
Best movie of the summer so far.
EDIT: I felt the need to expound. Christopher Nolan has crafted one of the best superheroes films ever. Devoting the first act entirely to the origins of Batman was risky, but it makes the payoff that much better. As a fan of the animated series, I was glad to see them pursue the darker, grittier detective Batman route. There are no mysteries, all of Batman's technology is explained through fuzzy science. Which some fans may object to, but I found it more interesting and certainly helps humanizes the character. One plothole stuck out in my mind though. Wouldn't antidote to fear gas be something handy to carry around? That would negate the big batmobile chase though... Gotham City looks fairly ordinary at this point, basically Chicago with a monorail system. Hopefully the sequels will have more varied architecture.
In line with keeping the aesthetics grounded, the acting lack any of the bombastic performances featured in the previous Batmans. As the series got more and more popular, the villains became higher and higher profile "guest stars," with free reign to overact. Although Begins has one of the largest roster of movie stars, each of them knows their place in movie. Christian Bale has unseated Michael Keaton as the best Batman. Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman provide the quality character acting that bring validity to the film. The villains are not yet too over the top, lending credence to the notion that this is a prequel. Liam Neeson really stood out in this film as well.
Being a huge fan of the Elfman score for the Burton movies, I was naturally slightly disappointed that they were dropping Elfman and the main theme for the new movies. After viewing the movie, it's clear that they were going for something different entirely. Gone is the operatic, theme-heavy style. In its place is a relentless, pounding score fused together by James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer. The main two-note theme pulsates throughout the entire movie. With JNH handling the quiet piano cues and Zimmer destroying the sound system with his typical synth action cues, the collaboration works better than I'd thought it would. ¶ 3:05 AM
Best movie of the summer so far.
EDIT: I felt the need to expound. Christopher Nolan has crafted one of the best superheroes films ever. Devoting the first act entirely to the origins of Batman was risky, but it makes the payoff that much better. As a fan of the animated series, I was glad to see them pursue the darker, grittier detective Batman route. There are no mysteries, all of Batman's technology is explained through fuzzy science. Which some fans may object to, but I found it more interesting and certainly helps humanizes the character. One plothole stuck out in my mind though. Wouldn't antidote to fear gas be something handy to carry around? That would negate the big batmobile chase though... Gotham City looks fairly ordinary at this point, basically Chicago with a monorail system. Hopefully the sequels will have more varied architecture.
In line with keeping the aesthetics grounded, the acting lack any of the bombastic performances featured in the previous Batmans. As the series got more and more popular, the villains became higher and higher profile "guest stars," with free reign to overact. Although Begins has one of the largest roster of movie stars, each of them knows their place in movie. Christian Bale has unseated Michael Keaton as the best Batman. Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman provide the quality character acting that bring validity to the film. The villains are not yet too over the top, lending credence to the notion that this is a prequel. Liam Neeson really stood out in this film as well.
Being a huge fan of the Elfman score for the Burton movies, I was naturally slightly disappointed that they were dropping Elfman and the main theme for the new movies. After viewing the movie, it's clear that they were going for something different entirely. Gone is the operatic, theme-heavy style. In its place is a relentless, pounding score fused together by James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer. The main two-note theme pulsates throughout the entire movie. With JNH handling the quiet piano cues and Zimmer destroying the sound system with his typical synth action cues, the collaboration works better than I'd thought it would. ¶ 3:05 AM
