greasepig reviews

I have been a Batman fan since I was this high. Of course, that means that my early experience with this icon was mostly with the circa 1966 television series that was pure camp in those days. When the Tim Burton version came out, in 1991, I believe, I was still excited enough about it that I went to the 'sneak preview' the day before the 'official release' (apologies to KP for the 'single quotes'), and I loved it. I never read too many of the comic books, so it isn't as if I really cared about these other stories. I pretty much like seeing all of this stuff on its own merits. The basic premise is all the same - basically some dude who's been wronged wants to be a superhero. That's all I need to make it interesting.

This movie had many things that just clicked for me. I think the first part, with all the flashbacks and stuff, was made partly in Iceland, and I definitely recognized some of the landscapes. This part also went by kind of quickly, and seemed like a continuation of the previews for a time, to be honest. But then when you realize the movie is 140 minutes, I guess they did have to cut some stuff out.

Anyway, I liked all the characters in here, even though some of them may not have gotten enough airtime. Liam Neeson was a great villain, although you didn't necessarily realize he has a bad guy until later. I suppose his crazy moustache should have given him away. The villain who had the most screentime, Dr. Crane played by Cillian Murphy (I had to look all that stuff up, because one bad thing about this movie was that they kind of overdid it with the orchestral soundtrack sometimes, making it difficult to hear the dialogue) was very effective, I thought. His persona and his evil gimmick were genuinely scary. Gary Oldman was great because of how subdued he played Jim Gordon (after this movie Commissioner Gordon). At the end of the movie (another spoiler here, if anyone cares), he uses the Batmobile to blow up some stuff, and, basically, save the city, and Batman's flying by, and he just simply holds up his hand to wave. Michael Caine's cockney take on Alfred was cool, too. The funniest line, IMO, was when Bruce said to Alfred, "Just tell them that one joke you know", so you get the idea that comedy wasn't an important element in this film. I guess there were other famous people in there too, but I didn't necessarily recognize them all. I mean, all movies these days have famous people, I guess, but this movie worked it pretty well.

Another great thing about this movie was the technical stuff. Of course you had to suspend some disbelief, but it allowed you some real-word fun stuff to like, too. The Batmobile just kicked a lot of major ass. It's basically some military vehicle painted over black so that Batman could use it. And he flies all over the tops of buildings with it. And the mechanism of the badguy, Scarecrow, or whatever he was called, was brilliant I thought. Whoever would have thought that a canvas bag could be so scary.

I guess I should mention Katie Holmes in here, too. Her part was pretty much the weakest in a really well-cast crew. I think any, random, well-developed human female could have played that part exactly the same way. It neither added nor detracted to the storyline. But somehow, even though I don't really believe that she had a part in the movie's script, she did manage to keep with her Scientology message that all psychiatrists and the drugs they use are evil. So good for you, Kate. Freak. BTW, is Nicole Kidman still a Scientologist these days?? just wondering.

One thing that surprised me is that I saw this movie on the first day it came out, at one in the afternoon. I would have expected a bunch of kids (school let out just last week here) to be the first to see this thing. But there were only maybe twelve other people in the whole theater, perhaps one kid. It's a nice big plushy theater, too (the Presidio). Go figure.
Rating: 4 Godzillas