As the title might suggest – unless some of you out there have managed to remain oblivious to Batman – this epic superhero film was part of the ongoing tsunami of gritty Hollywood reboots. The difference between this and many of its contemporaries, however, is that this might be the film that started it all. Christopher Nolan dropped the rock into the remake pond and, with good reason, he made sure it was a big one. The results were wonderful, and Batman Begins has gone down in short-span cinema memory as one of the best of the gargantuan franchise.
Considering its storyline – a vast city overrun with crime, corruption, violence, scary villains linked to an insane asylum and a vengeful orphan dressed as a giant bat – one might expect Batman to be on the gritty side in the first place. Instead, most of the adaptations have been cartoonish. The 60s serial featuring Adam West removed all sense of menace for a moving comic book look, something that Tim Burton attempted to balance with the doom and gloom side in his own efforts to get a film series going. Opinions on these are divided. The 1990s follow-up, Val Kilmer’s Batman Forever, received a less mixed and colder reception, its theatrics failing to come together into something that made sense. Then, of course, came Batman and Robin, ranked number one on several lists of the worst films of all time. Poor old Batman just couldn’t catch a break.
It also has plenty of other things going for it. First of all, the cast – despite the bat voice and a few other possible flaws, Christian Bale did a rather good job of playing the new, complex Bruce Wayne and went on to reprise the role in another excellent and one quite good film. Anything with Michael Caine is a joy to watch, and his Alfred the butler – not much different from half of his other characters, but still perfect – adds another pleasant layer to the film just by being there. Then, of course, comes Gary Oldman. I’m biased here, since he’s probably my favourite actor, but you’d struggle to find a film fan who wouldn’t call him objectively brilliant. Oldman is renowned for disappearing into his roles so as to be both convincing and almost unrecognizable, the feat that Johnny Depp gets all the credit for despite being nowhere near as good at it (whilst probably being an Oldman fan). Here he plays Gordon, the moustachioed, thick-spectacled and American-accented police officer rising rapidly through the ranks. Cillian Murphy manages to be a bit scary as the Scarecrow / sneaky psychiatrist. Both he and Liam Neeson, who makes another excellent villain, will loom again over the second sequel, The Dark Knight Rises.
But that isn’t the only problem. Context isn’t everything. How many times have you heard someone complain about The Dark Knight Rises’ numerous gaping plot holes and another fan has replied: “It’s about a guy who runs around dressed as a bat! It doesn’t matter!” I hear this a lot, and I find it odd that fans of comic books and comic book movies would be so quick to discredit their own whole genre as flippant and half-baked. It’s exactly what their high-school-movie in-crowd detractors would say. The fact it’s based around a comic premise doesn’t excuse it from having to be consistent. These films aren’t niche anymore, they’re as mainstream as anything else and twice as expensive. The Dark Knight, while not perfect in terms of plot, didn’t have anywhere near the level of rocky execution that plagued its successor.
Unfortunately, when it came to The Dark Knight Rises, the wave was in full force and he didn’t have the same luxuries of time and contemplation.
Welcome to Hollywood.