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copyright ©1999-2006 |
Plot synopsis
As a small child growing up in Gotham City’s oldest and wealthiest
family, Bruce Wayne falls into a well on his family’s palatial estate
one afternoon while playing with his best friend. Huddled in the dark,
he notices an opening in the side of the well – from which a cloud of
shrieking bats suddenly comes bursting forth, surrounding the young boy.
He cowers in terror until his father comes to rescue him -- and from
that day on, bats become synonymous with fear in the boy’s mind. When
his parents take him to the theatre one evening, the production reminds
him of his experience with the bats, and he begs his parents to leave
early. As the family exits the theatre and step into the deserted alley
outside, they find themselves held up at gunpoint by a mugger. Both his
father and mother are shot dead in front of Bruce’s eyes. Emotionally
scarred and all alone, the orphaned boy grows into an angry young man
determined to take vengeance on his parents’ murderer. When that
opportunity is snatched away from him, he disappears from Gotham City to
the Far East, where he ends up falling in with a semi-mystical, martial
arts group led by the charismatic Ra's Al-Ghul. Bruce Wayne returns home
with ninja-like strength and agility, and a determination to fight the
corrupt powers that have plunged Gotham City into a pit of crime and
poverty. Remembering how bats were once the creatures he feared most in
the world, Bruce Wayne molds himself into Batman, a hero whose efforts
will strike terror into the hearts and minds of Gotham City’s
evildoers. Review
A
few years back, in a desperate last-minute attempt at throwing together
fun Halloween costumes, the boy and I decided to go as made-up (uh,
made-up by us) superheroes. My friend Barrett, a long-standing comic
book collector, was delighted, as he oohed and ahhed over the little
details of our costumes and laughed at our superpowers. So what’s your
origin story, he proceeded to ask. Our what? -- we answered. You know,
how you came to be superheroes? – he pressed. As we stared at him
blankly, he insisted, But the origin story’s the best part! Watching
the latest installment of the Batman movie franchise, I have to agree
that Barrett was right. By focusing on the back-story leading up to an
ordinary person’s transformation into something greater, the origin
story is the bit of the tale that makes superheroes feel human, and thus
allows us mere mortals to connect with these characters when they later
go on to accomplish extraordinary deeds. Director Christopher Nolan [Memento] isn’t your typical action movie director, and proves to be
exactly the right choice to bring the Batman origin story to screen. As
told by Nolan and screenwriter David S. Goyer, this is a broody and
pensive tale, and the fight between good guy and bad guy plays definite
second fiddle to the real battle -- the one waging within Bruce Wayne as
he grows up and decides whether he’ll let fear and anger eat away at
him fruitlessly, or use those feelings to make a difference in the
world. As the young Batman facing inner demons galore, Christian Bale
seems made for the role -- perhaps the only one of the movie Batmans
who’s as convincing playing slick billionaire Bruce Wayne as he is
portraying the dark, tortured do-gooder in the superhero suit. With
Bale, you buy that there’s a lot going on beneath the perfect chiseled
exterior; his Batman is clever, and mysterious, and intriguing, and you
want to get inside his head. Batman Begins isn’t your typical
superhero action flick so much as a compelling character movie that just
happens to feature cool sets, good fights, fun costumes and wow-awesome
toys. Yes, the Batmobile does seriously rock (unlike incarnations in
Batman movies past), but in the end, it’s the intelligence of this Batman
that makes this superhero flick a cut above the rest.
---------------------------> lounge . nourish . host . laze . home . |
