So I finally got around to checking out the much-hyped Batman Begins, a flick I was predisposed toward because of Christopher Nolan's involvement. Memento is a Hollywood post-noir milestone, and Nolan seemed a perfect fit for a 'serious' take on Bats.
Unfortunately, a big budget these days guarantees corporate meddling, and a committee of suits is death to the kind of maverick creativity displayed in Nolan's previous films.
There were some bright spots, but it was mostly typical H-town formula regurgitated on schedule. Katie Holmes was an embarrassment (and she also looked really weird in some shots...she's definitely one of those people who needs a flattering DP)- she delivered more than her share of dead-fish lines in a movie well stocked with them. And I generally like Bale, but what the hell was he thinking with that "Batman Voice" he cooked up? It sounded like he had a porcupine stuck in his throat...it's the director's responsibility to shoot down these sorts of method gone awry notions.
But the thing that turned me sour from the opening shot was horrible fake facial hair. It was bad enough it looked like they made their own from cotton wool, but there was SO MUCH of it. I know 80 million dollars doesn't go as far as it used to, but c'mon now!
The first shot of Bale had him looking like someone hit his face with a misdirected blast of hair in a can. Then comes Liam Neeson, who looked like got his chin stuck in a mangy possum's ass.
And while it's quite atestament to Gary Oldman's Herculean acting chops that he was able to conquer the comically huge porn 'stache they saddled him with...why should he have to?
Oh, and that obnoxious plastic-faced twerp they cast as 'young Bruce Wayne' made me want to kick the television in every time he showed up...who let the producer's bastard child in front of the camera? >:(
Overall, watchable but fatally flawed. The best bits were stolen from far superior movies (most obviously Bladerunner). Only the dude who played the Scarecrow escaped with his dignity intact (because even Oldman's chops couldn't save the line "I gotta get me one of those!" after Bale peels out in his odd crypto-military "batmobile"....give me Burton's crypto-phallic version any day of the week).
It could have been really good if only the screenplay had escaped corporate "improvements" and all of the casting was up to the level of the Scarecrow and Jim Gordon. Instead it looked like both were determined two-face style, by flipping coins (heads, a good decision....tails, a bad one.)
Worth a rental for the Scarecrow and some cool production design, but not much else.
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