(no subject)
Batman Begins is excellent. Just excellent. Some great fanservices in it (Victor Zsasz? Wow...), some things that were slightly ridiculous (The whole disregarding of the "only a select few people know Batman's true identity and those are his superhero support staff, Alfred, and a few villains" thing that defines Batman... yeah, Katie Holmes? Uh...), Gotham looks too suspiciously close to the city they filmed it in (Chicago), and the villains you thought would be the stars of the show really didn't do too much, which was sort of a disappointment for me (because Scarecrow is my alltime favorite villain) but also a refreshment (save the insane asylum villains for later incarnations, plus focus the movie on Bruce Wayne a bit more...).
All the performances were pretty good, except seeing anyone deliver lines in the batman costume in a live action movie still feels stilted and looks goofy (especially since every bat costume has a stiff neck, leaving the actor always looking straight forward and stiff). The villain's plot is just over-the-top enough to be crazy, Liam Neeson plays a truly sinister villain(who i never recall seeing in the comics... maybe i need to read Batman: Year One. He's probably in there), which i didn't think he could do.
Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Gary Oldman put out great performances too. I'm gonna be nitpicky on the casting of Scarecrow, because Cillian Murphy is definitely NOT who i would have cast. He didn't develop the part much (mostly looking dreary and speaking disinterestedly in his dialog-heavy scenes) and acted absolutely ridiculously in the scene where he and his henchmen are waiting for Batman to attack them in the basement of Arkham Asylum. Plus he kinda looks funny and isn't gaunt enough to be Johnathan Crane. I don't know who i would have cast, but it wasn't Cillian Murphy.
Great teaser for the next movie at the end. Historically Batman films will have two villains (this one sort of had 2 major and 2 minor), so i wonder who the second major one (if any) will be in Batman 2... Harley Quinn, maybe The Riddler, or a minor one like Firefly come to mind. The return of Ra's is inevitable somewhere in the series (i mean, he's a fricking immortal.)
So, Batman's a thumbs up for sure.
All the performances were pretty good, except seeing anyone deliver lines in the batman costume in a live action movie still feels stilted and looks goofy (especially since every bat costume has a stiff neck, leaving the actor always looking straight forward and stiff). The villain's plot is just over-the-top enough to be crazy, Liam Neeson plays a truly sinister villain(who i never recall seeing in the comics... maybe i need to read Batman: Year One. He's probably in there), which i didn't think he could do.
Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Gary Oldman put out great performances too. I'm gonna be nitpicky on the casting of Scarecrow, because Cillian Murphy is definitely NOT who i would have cast. He didn't develop the part much (mostly looking dreary and speaking disinterestedly in his dialog-heavy scenes) and acted absolutely ridiculously in the scene where he and his henchmen are waiting for Batman to attack them in the basement of Arkham Asylum. Plus he kinda looks funny and isn't gaunt enough to be Johnathan Crane. I don't know who i would have cast, but it wasn't Cillian Murphy.
Great teaser for the next movie at the end. Historically Batman films will have two villains (this one sort of had 2 major and 2 minor), so i wonder who the second major one (if any) will be in Batman 2... Harley Quinn, maybe The Riddler, or a minor one like Firefly come to mind. The return of Ra's is inevitable somewhere in the series (i mean, he's a fricking immortal.)
So, Batman's a thumbs up for sure.