Netflix Movie Review #4

[borlandia]

It's rather safe to say this is the best Batman movie to date. I've never really been a big fan of the Batman movies, the acting is usually hard to believe and the sets are so dark it's hard to really take what's going on seriously. Maybe I'm just too cynical, though, and need to go back to being a kid to really appreciate Batman. First off, I have to say that Christian Bale is twice the Batman any of the previous guys were. George Clooney and Val Kilmer just straight up did not fit the Batman persona I had. Michael Keaton was getting there, but Bale pretty much fits it perfectly. He fits the Bruce Wayne image as dashing but dark, and has the badass charismatic mentality that is Batman. He has that deep cold voice and can actually say legit "action hero" lines without you laughing at him. Basically, he's the first Batman that I can really take seriously. The next thing is the buildup in the script. It didn't just start out with "Dear God, there's a horrendous villian tearing through Gotham, Batman devise some spectacular plan to save us.". It was immediately dramatic from the outset, and actually had a moderate plot buildup with (gasp!) character development. Liam Neeson's character was also good as being evil, but not necessarily evil-minded. This also made the story itself suffer a little bit, because it was difficult to get a grip on the reasoning and personality of the villians in the story ("The Scarecrow" and his minions). The fact that Cillian Murphy, the Scarecrow, is so evil and mean that it kind of makes up for that. Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine are also great in this film, as well.

As said earlier, I usually don't like Batman movies because overall I'm not a big fan of the overly dark sets and nature of the movies. Tim Burton originally did a good job, since that's his bread and butter. Joel Schumacher had trouble keeping that trend going, because he's more action and suspense centered than developing characters and an actual story. Christopher Nolan directed this so it's not as cartoony as previous Batman movies, and the characters are realistic and the story somewhate plausible. Excellent art direction as well. The set lost it's Saturday morning cartoon feel and went towards a more modernized city. Plenty of action and martial arts fighting too, to keep the testosterone in you satisfied.

Oh, yeah, and uh, Katie Holmes is fine as hell. That helped.

Comments

[volsgirl.livejournal.com]

I loved this movie.

Oh, yeah, uh Christian Bale is fine as hell.

Plenty of action and martial arts fighting too, to keep the testosterone in you satisfied.

[volsgirl.livejournal.com]

That's the truth.

Scarecrow freaked me out...he ain't right.

[ucdshoelace.livejournal.com]

I was wondering when this was coming......and when Katie Holmes would be mentioned!!

[http://users.livejournal.com/__burninated__/]

It was definitely the best of the batman movies, and the best superhero movie I have seen in a while.

Tonight's game has made me sad. I will be in mourning tomorrow.