Batman Begins

[I Took the Red Pill]

Cillian Murphy was the only guy creepy enough to play Scarecrow. They cast him for that perfectly.

[krissy]

not as good as i expected. you guys overhyped it for me.

[fantasyjunkie]

I liked Morgan Freeman. "Didn't you get the memo?"

[The Fat Bioware Nerd]

As for the soundtrack, there's no heroic theme for Batman, but he does have his character theme. The music is quite dark and ambient, and it works well with the movie. A happy "na-na-na-na na-na-na-na BATMAN!!" theme just wouldn't have worked with Batman Begins.

I wasn't talking about the sixties Batman theme I was talking about Batman's theme in the Tim Burton films.

[abrojtm]

I liked the movie a lot. I'm excited for the sequel.

[Dr Unne]

I liked the movie up until Batman drove past police-guy Gordon in that big black tank thing, and Gordon said "I have GOT to GET ME one of THOSE!". This is the moment I like to call "appealing to the lowest common denominator". At that moment I pictured Sideshow Bob and/or Grandpa Simpson on a motorcycle exclaiming "Hey everybody, I'm gonna haul ass to Lollapalooza!" to a chorus of canned applause. The obligatory love interest sideplot is bothersome for mostly the same reason.

[Kossage]

I was pleasantly surprised by Batman Begins even with all the hype surrounding me. The cast did an excellent job for the most part (Katie Holmes was the only one I didn't care for that much, although I didn't cringe during her performance), and it was nice how even the supporting characters had some great actors. Christian Bale worked quite well as Batman although at times his "sinister" voice made him seem a bit too melodramatic (that's not necessarily a bad thing, but it did distract me at times). Nolan's direction was solid, and the screenplay was good enough, although it did make some nice twists to some of the characters of Batman universe. It was nice to see all these different subplots come together and how they all made the story go further without distracting the audience.

The scene where Batman calls the bats was breathtaking, and I liked the moments between characters, like with Bruce and Ducard and Alfred (Michael Caine surprised me, because at first I couldn't think of him as Alfred but eventually he showed that he knew what the role was about in just the right way). The villains were quite nice in the film, Scarecrow was given just the right amount of madness and sophistication (yet another surprising performance, this time by Cillian Murphy), and of course the whole Ra's thing was interesting with enough depth given to him. It was nice to see Falcone around too, and of course I loved the whole corporate subplot with Rutger Hauer.

I was a bit shocked by the redesign of the Batmobile, but I got over it in time, and at least they tried to make a realistic edge to everything that was going on on screen. The quick edit of the fights was a bit distracting at times, but I can understand why Nolan wanted to make it so, and I'm fine with his decision. I would've wanted to have more of Batman's detective work in the film, though, but I guess something had to be cut so all I can say is: "Oh well." I was also pleased by the visuals of the film with the gloomy atmosphere all around, and the overall cinematography was fine.

By the way I like Batman Begins but the score in my opinion is kind of forgettable it wasn't as memorable as the Danny Elfman score in Batman and Batman Returns.

Exactly. I knew they were going to begin anew so obviously the score wouldn't sound the same as Danny Elfman or Elliot Goldenthal's scores for the previous Batman films, but I was still disappointed that the main theme in this Hans Zimmer/James Newton Howard collaboration wasn't as memorable or complex as I'd hoped. Not to mention I didn't like Zimmer's synth cellos in the mix especially during the loud action scenes; listening to the soundtrack really made me cringe. There were some nice moments in the score, though, especially the theme with the somber piano. The first Batman score is a classic with its memorable themes and wonderful use of leitmotif all around with some macabre and heroic bits mixed in, but this current Batman Begins score, albeit being pleasantly dark at times, just lacks the touch of magic I exptected to hear in the film. Zimmer/Newton Howard score works in the film to some extent even though it has some of the problems I mentioned earlier, but it's not that pleasant to listen to on the album, which is a shame.

All in all Batman Begins is a nice film with its compelling storyline, decent score, great cast (for the most part), wonderful visuals and solid direction. Despite some of its flaws the film is enjoyable and works as a Batman film, and I had a good time watching it.