My Take On Batman Begins - Game & Movie
Posted by Diggler - 9/7/2005 20:34
 | | Batman Begins is a new type of Batman movie. Dark and mature, it (almost) wipes away memories of the last two travesties |
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In light of recent local events, I felt like some good old escapism was in order this weekend. Cue Batman Begins.
Movie
I've eagerly awaited this film for a long time in actual fact. I'm not a big comic book reader by any stretch of the imagination - my geekdom focuses mainly on movies and games right now - but I do love the character of Batman. The idea of the tormented, unhinged vigilante. A guy who's public persona is his "mask", while his true self sticks to the shadow of night. That's a fascinating concept.
It's just a shame that the Batman series had to get progressively worse and worse over the years, and that it took the disastrous Batman & Robin for the world to realise something had to change in order to do this character justice.
And so we have Batman Begins. The film that sets out to wipe the slate clean and bring the series back to its darker, meaner comic book routes. No more Bat Nipples and no more Mr Freeze-esque, "You're not sending me to the cooler!" quips. Although the subject matter remains the same, the content and style couldn't be more different; this is the polar opposite of the hyper-stylised fantasy take of the previous Batmans. Here director Christopher Nolan (of Memento fame) has set out to make a three dimensional, adult Batman flick with, to me, a focus on pure realism over anything else.
What would a Batman story look like if it happened out in the streets of your very own city? How would he end up with the Batmobile? The suit? The mask? How on Earth would he fly? The flick tackles every single aspect of the character one by one as if he were a real, breathing person. Every nook and cranny of Batman's origin is explained in in-depth detail.
 | | The batmobile has a bizarre new look since we last saw it, but it works |
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And in a way, possibly too much. The opening hour for instance, following a younger, damaged Bruce Wayne travelling the world in search of answers, feels more like Seven Years in Tibet than a superhero flick. Viewers not familiar with Batman's story may have a bemused - and possibly bored - look on their face for the entire opening for that reason...for an awfully long time, this is a Batman movie with no Batman. Where's the stirring super hero score? Where's the excitement of saving the day? It's all a little too realistic for my tastes.
I usually love the concept of the origin story. I worshipped the opening of Spider-Man for instance, seeing how Peter Parker came upon his arachno-skills. Even Daredevil - a cheesy old piss-riddled effort - excited me hugely during Matt Murdoch's origin flashback. Watching these larger than life icons gain their powers is always a sight to behold.
Unlike the aforementioned though, the problem with Batman's origin is that it's just not all that interesting. Unlike so many super heroes, Batman has no magical powers - expertly trained in martial arts and decked out with fancy gadgets he may be...but super powers? Not for Bruce Wayne. So this extended intro which takes up way too much of the film is unfortunately, rather dull.
 | | Since American Psycho, Christian Bale has become one of my fave actors |
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In addition, after seeing this long, drawn out progression of Bruce to Bat, so much time has been spent on setting up characters and the reinforcing of itself as a "real" film, that when Batman (eventually) shows up, he feels almost unintentionally hilarious and out of place.
The original Batman movies by Tim Burton deserve some major kudos. To me they neatly sidestepped the above problem by their exaggerated look and style. Batman never felt out of place and ridiculous in those films 'cos...well, the world was just as ridiculous as he was. Not quite so here.
This isn't helped by the Bat Voice. Christian Bale is awesome in the flick, don't get me wrong, chiselling and refining the character of Bruce Wayne perfectly from the offset. It almost goes straight out the window when the caped crusader speaks though, with a quasi-Michael Keaton impression that, again, is way out of place in this film.
My final gripe is with the editing of the flick. It feels way too rushed and breathless, like massive chunks are missing, while the remaining scenes almost blend into each other in an attempt to speed through as much material as possible. It feels like a three hour movie is in there somewhere, sliced and castrated down to two. The fight scenes are also shot in the infamous Peter Jackson point-blank style where it's nigh on impossible to make sense of who's doing what - not a good thing considering many of such scenes take place in the pitch-black of night.
These things hampered my enjoyment of Batman Begins, and it's a shame because them aside, this is the comic book movie I've always yearned to see. Along with Spidey and X-Men, it feels like a film built from the ground up by people who genuinely get the source material. From the artists, to the cast, to the script, to the director...there's a passion positively driving this film, even if it hits the odd speed bump along the way.
 | | Liam Neeson joins the likes of Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman in one of the best ensemble casts of the year |
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The choice of opting for live action stunt and model work over an abundance of computer generated effects is an inspired choice that brings Gotham to life like never before. There's grittiness and weight to this world, further reinforcing that underlying sense of realism, and it ultimately comes off like the seediest streets of New York city mixed in with some Blade Runner.
I still prefer the more artistic take of the Tim Burton flicks - both in set design and just the film in general - but one has to applaud the sheer believability of Christopher Nolan's Gotham here. To me, this city truly exists somewhere out there.
The Scarecrow is also a worthy villain that sidesteps the potential lameness of a man with a sack on his head, due mainly to some exceptionally creepy camera work and sound design. He is easily the scariest damn thing I've ever seen in a film of this genre. I was damn impressed with his corner of the flick, and above all else wish he'd played a much larger part over the remaining villains who felt somewhat boring.
The plot gets a little too convoluted and bloated by the end of the film for my tastes, but never in a way that I ceased to be interested. That said, my favourite part of the entire flick is actually the very last scene. It completely (and surprisingly) leads into Tim Burton's original Batman movie very nicely indeed.
Going in, I presumed this film would be more of a new beginning for the series, but as a result of that single scene it feels more like a prequel. For the next flick though, while I have high hopes for more Batmans in this style, I'd much rather see exciting new villains as opposed to Bruce square off against The Joker yet again.
For any problems I have with this movie, I can't stress how well made it is regardless. From the sets to the acting to the sheer scale of the thing, it's an incredibly solid piece of work. I'd just love to see that same talent on display here bring another Batman story to the screen, one that's perhaps a bit more worthy of their exceptional skills. The dark knight has been setup in this flick...now let's see him fully unleashed.
Ultimately I had mild disappointment with various aspects of Batman Begins, but the potential of the series and the reinvention of the franchise has me excited enough that I left it on a reasonably high note.
Game
 | | While a beat 'em up at heart, the game features a tacked-on stealth element |
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Something to bare in mind when going into the video game adaption of Batman Begins is that's from EA - a company with a spotty track record when it comes to movie license tie-ins. For every Return of the King under their wing, there's a Golden Eye Rogue Agent out there to negate it. I'd say this PS2, Gamecube and Xbox offering lies somewhere around the middle of that quality spectrum.
On the plus side, it has nice graphics, glorious animation, some satisfying (if simplistic) combat, and best of all...ambition. This game attempts to breath a lot more of the Batman character into the game than the average beat 'em up. Stealth plays a significant part for instance, as does Batman's detective and interrogation skills.
On the downside, none of this added fluff really pays off, with the sum no where near the equal of its parts. Ultimately the game just isn't a whole heap of fun to play, and even rather boring at times.
 | | Batmobile bonus levels are also thrown into the mix, but don't expect much |
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The easiest way to describe it is Splinter Cell-light. You'll be attempting many of Sam Fisher's same tricks, from sneaking around in the shadows to hacking computers. Unfortunately Splinter Cell is a finely tuned killing machine of a game, perfected and ripened over three progressively stunning titles, while Batman isn't. It's merely adequate and "nice", when it needs to be a whole lot more to survive in Chaos Theory's wake.
As a result I have little to really say on this game. As a movie tie-in, there's been worse. It's a reasonably solid recreation of the films characters and villains, including decent voice acting by all the principal players and tons of behind the scenes unlockable footage. But as a game, it won't be one to linger long in the memory like say, Chronicles of Riddick.
Smacking around bad guys as the caped crusader is a pleasing way to spend a few hours, and if nothing else you have to appreciate EA's attempts to fuse some more varied skills into his repertoire...even if they come off as sadly dull.
But all in all, Batman gets a big fat A...for average. It's by no means a terrible game - something to bare in mind amidst the recent travesties thrust upon the caped crusader in video game form - but it's hardly a must-have either. For Bat freaks wanting some console action to accompany his recent big-screen outing, this should provide a few hours of light entertainment, but the rest may want to pass.
More than anything, this game makes me yearn to whip out Batman Returns on the SNES. Now who remembers that work of beauty?
This review/report was created by the great team at TPSreport.co.uk:
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