Batman Begins
Because I was so owerwhelmed by the new Batman movie (The Dark Knight) I decided to watch the previw one, too. The one that shows how and why Batman rises so to say. And I must say I liked it very much. You get lots of background information about the character. In this film Batman is somehow more human, we get to know about his greatest fear and why he chose the bat as his symbol, and that the figure Batman is a symbol for the right path, a sign for hope and justice in these criminal times in Gotham City. When Bruce Wayne was a boy his parents (probably the most perfect parents you ever saw) got killed. Bruce is convinced that it was his fault, he is full of anger, hate, fear and guilt. Therefore he escaped from his life in Gotham, traveled, stole and went into prison somewhere in Asia. Finally he found his master, a Ninja fighter, who tought him about fighting, anger and a bit of philosophy ("Technic is nothing, will is everything") imbedded in the breathtaking landscape of the Himalaya. After this he is ready to leave for Gotham and claim war against criminality. He meets Rachel, played by Katie Holmes here and probably the worst choice ever, she is just not a good actor and was annoying me with her sleepy expression in her face and she just is not able to give her figure character. Well, Bruce and Rachel were friends when they were children and of course they are attracted to each other but nothing really happens. Batman brings one of the worst criminals into prison and then has to face his real antagonist, his old master. What I appriciated about this movie was the connection to the comic. The camera work created pictures that clearly show comic like scenes, they almost looked like drawn (so maybe they were). Christian Bale (who plays the Batman) has more to do than in the following movie, but he was the right choice. I would recommend to make a Batman night, to watch this one and the the second one. They are very different in atmosphere and camera work, but both worth watching.
