Bats is finally dealt movie justice

[mythteller]

I wholeheartedly agree with grrrscary about the new Batman movie: they finally got it right (I went to see it last night with sarahcarotte. I wasn't too sure about Christian Bale at first (another shortish Batman made me nervous), but he definitely got the whole Bruce Wayne/Batman intensity right. And I would've kept the actor who played Alfred in the other films (<a href="http://www.space-debris.com/bat_gough.jpg">Michael Gough</a>). Casting Michael Caine in the butler's spit-shine shoes was a bit of overkill.

I also agree with grrrscary about the action scenes being too quick, although having Bats be nothing but a hard-hitting shadow in his first few fight scenes had the right effect. But I would've added an extra 10-15 minutes to the training scenes at the beginning.

In fact, I would've made the whole movie about his training, ending with his first Batty appearance in Gotham. He studied with dozens of masters in various disciplines, so you could have a great film just about that. But if Books are not Movies, then Comic Books really ain't Movies. There's no simple formula to follow when trying transform the printed word to image and sound.

All in all, I'm perfectly willing to forget the first four Batman movies (except for the garish Batman Forever: there are some fine cinematic tributes executed in that film) and embrace Batman Begins. Finally, somebody understands the whole Batman concept (Adam West is NOT to be consulted!).

Comments

[beautifulstars.livejournal.com]

really?
i must say, on some things i agree, and on some i wholeheartedly disagree. i think the first two Batman films with Keaton were brilliant-- nice and dark with just the right amount of comic-book kitsch. i DO think that Bale made an excellent bruce wayne-- i mean, come on, the guy's been gorgeous since he was 12 yrs old in 'empire of the sun' and he managed to make Batman's alter ego interesting, which was never done in the other movies. however, as soon as he got in the suit, his voice did this wierd 'now i must be DRAMATIC' thing. my personal theory is that the batsuit was too tight and it pressed on his larynx, thereby causing him to do a strange, lowered=voice, drawn-out-syllables thing 'WHEEEEEERRRRREEEE ARREEEEEE THEE DRUUUUGGSSS' (also, his Bat lines must have been written by someone else, cause very kitschy and not in a good way). I enjoyed Michael Caine, although it would have been just as nice (and maybe less...Cockney) to see the previous Alfred. Katie Holmes was just appalling--righteous, judgemental and entirely unbelievable. Cillian Murphy was awesome and needed more screen time, and Liam Neeson needed less. I, too, would have loved to see more of the training scenes. They were the most compelling.
But, I think, with a little finesse, and if someone told him carefully that the Batsuit is not a recipe for overacting, then Bale could turn into a very nice Wayne/Batman altogether. Would love to see him face off with the Scarecrow again, just to enjoy them playing off each other.

[jdhobbes.livejournal.com]

Yeah... the angry gutteral Batman thing was over-the-top. I wish he hadn't done that. A quiet, intense Clint Eastwood whisper would've done the trick too.

Keaton is a brilliant actor, but he just didn't look the part. He's not hunky enough for Bruce Wayne (short with curly-ish black hair?).

Scarecrow didn't get enough development. J. Crane loves to scare people. He gets off on it. The movie just made him another dimestore terrorist in a potato sack.

[beautifulstars.livejournal.com]

i know. i thought cillian (like bale) did a really nice job as the alter ego, and would have loved to have seen more of him.
heh. i think keaton is a cutie. but yeah, i can see your point.