I saw Batman Begins tonight. This movie was not made from celuloid but rather from 100% pure awesome. There is, in fact, very little that could have been done to make this movie any more awesome than it was and still have it retain its essential Batmanness. They could have, for example, shown two and a half hours of The State and simply called it Batman Begins and while that might have been more awesome than this movie, it wouldn't have been very Batman.
And every role and I mean every single role was perfectly cast. Perfectly. Also, I have become convinced that Gary Oldman is neither an actor nor even necessarily a human being, but rather some sort of mythic creature, a strange and creepy trickster figure, capable of taking on any form.
It's just so awesome. Go and see it. Then come back to discuss.
Comments (12)
It rocked. Poe, baby...Poe. Christopher Nolan continues to rock house. Gary Oldman...
Posted by The Last Oni | June 18, 2005 11:15 AM
Posted on June 18, 2005 11:15
I haven't seen it, but I have only one comment:
No Talia? How can you have Ra's as a villain and NOT have Talia be the female lead?
Posted by Bard | June 18, 2005 11:53 AM
Posted on June 18, 2005 11:53
It was alright... read the definitive review: http://www.bossous.com/batmanbegins.html
I agree with Bard by the way, Talia should have been in this as his love interest instead of ol' what's her name. Ra's was always my favorite villain aside from Joker.
Posted by Steeve | June 19, 2005 5:40 PM
Posted on June 19, 2005 17:40
Steeeeeeeve! You need to write more on Bossous.com. Even when I disagree with you, you write excellent stuff.
I'll admit that the love interest was largely superfluous to the story, but even that works within the context - love intrests are superfluous to the life of the Batman.
Talia, incidentally, did not show up now so that she might appear in the third film, at the head of a reformed League of Assassins. Duh.
I'd like to see an extended version of this movie - DVD release maybe will get some deleted scenes that are cool.
In the meanwhile I'll have to settle for catching it on an imax screen sometime in the next week or so. Yay imax!
Posted by Jason | June 20, 2005 12:41 AM
Posted on June 20, 2005 00:41
I did not like it as much as I could have ... for example I'm not a big fan of the flying batman
Posted by gus | June 20, 2005 4:05 PM
Posted on June 20, 2005 16:05
The next two sequels are going to be amazing. Jack Nicholson is one of my favorite actors, but the next Joker is going to be the sickest and therefore the best Batman movie villain.... You heard it here first, Jason.
Posted by Steeve | June 20, 2005 8:19 PM
Posted on June 20, 2005 20:19
For some reason the most memorable bit of Joker dialogue I can think of is from The Killing Joke. Over the body of a shot Barbara, the Joker begins critiquing the librarian as a book. Its actually a rather amusing comparison, and you realize just how deliberate the entire thing is...and how fucking psychotic and sociopathic the Joker really is.
Well, ok, that and shoving someone in a coffin into a vat of acid and then turning to his goons and proclaiming "Well, that was fun. Who's for Chinese?" That's from the BtAS episode "The Man Who Killed Batman".
Posted by Bard | June 21, 2005 1:12 AM
Posted on June 21, 2005 01:12
The only part that ruined it for me, and I know why he does it in my comic book mind... but when he growls as the Batman... it kinda bugs me... I know he is trying to disguise his voice... and I know he is trying to terrify the evil villians... But growling???
Posted by Mike | June 22, 2005 9:31 PM
Posted on June 22, 2005 21:31
Better than a hell of a lot of other Batman voices I've heard...
Can't wait for the Joker. I'm so hoping it's Crispin Glover...
Posted by Jason | June 22, 2005 11:50 PM
Posted on June 22, 2005 23:50
I actually liked the growl. I mean, obviously, I didn't LIKE it, because it was a deeply unpleasant voice, but it made me think of Batman as a man in a costume rather than a superhero. Which, in my mind, meshes perfectly with Batman's traditional role in the DC universe.
But you know what makes this film a dozen times better? As you watch it, occasionally think back to Batman Forever. And then rejoice.
(I have never seen Batman and Robin. I will never, given a free choice, see Batman and Robin. I like Bane too much for that.)
But on the subject of campy Batman and Robin, don't you sometimes wish the Penguin would have tried to steal the Vatican or something? And then Robin could say "Holy Holy of Holies, Batman!" And Batman would say "How I hate you, the Boy Wonder." And then the Pope would say "Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis ad caput tuum saxumim mane mittam," which is Latin for "I have a catapault. Give me all the money or I will fling an enormous rock at your head." Hah hah! Yes.
Posted by Jedoc | June 23, 2005 6:08 AM
Posted on June 23, 2005 06:08
Serious bonus points, Jedoc, for using my favorite Latin phrase.
Though I think the Dynamic Duo would technically have to be somewhere in the vicinity of the temple mount in Jerusalem for Robin's line to be accurate. The Vatican, alas, is but the Holy See.
(Also: second-favorite Latin phrase: "Si hoc adfixum in obice legere potes, et liberaliter educatus et nimis propinquus ades." Translation: "If you can read this bumper sticker, you are both very well educated and much too close.")
Posted by Jason | June 23, 2005 4:47 PM
Posted on June 23, 2005 16:47
Ah. True enough. Then again, I wouldn't know how to BEGIN threatening someone with a catapult in Hebrew, so I stand by my decision.
Posted by Jedoc | June 25, 2005 5:06 AM
Posted on June 25, 2005 05:06