Sturgeon’s Law is that 90 percent of everything is crap. So the obvious corollary to that is that 10 percent of everything is gold.
Since no less an authority than Isaac Asimov stated (to me, in fact) that Sturgeon’s Law is immutable, then we can assume that 90 percent of everything done with Batman in the past seven decades is crap, and 10 percent is gold.
So what would happen if someone went through and cherry picked all the stuff from that ten percent?
Well, you’d have “Batman Begins,” a slightly overlong (they could’ve trimmed ten minutes), occasionally bewilderingly filmed (the fight sequences seemed to have been edited by putting the film into a blender, leaving the top off the blender, and starting it up) but ultimately satisfying and superior film that kickstarts a franchise that had sunk under camp and an abundance of superstar supervillains.
Lifting the best creations and concepts from everyone from Denny O’Neil to Frank Miller, “Batman Begins” traces–as the title suggests–Batman’s origins. A dissolute Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne, traumatized by his parents’ death and subsequent events involving Joe Chill (rightfully restored as the Wayne’s killer), submerges himself in the criminal element and winds up being trained in the way of the ninja by Qui Gon Jin on behalf of Ras Al Ghul (although there’s some twists involved which, frankly, I saw coming a mile off, but still, they were nicely thought out.) Bruce eventually returns to Gotham City, where he becomes involved with his former sweetie who is, to her credit, neither a ditz nor homicidal. Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) arranges for Driving Mr. Batman, Michael Caine clucks concernedly as Alfred, and the Scarecrow is played by someone who isn’t Patrick McGoohan, which was a disappointment to me but I lived with it.
It’s amazing the stuff we’ve come to accept. I remember when fans went ballistic over the fact that Batman was wearing armor instead of tights. I’ll betcha that absolutely no one will be complaining about it this time around. Bale adopts Michael Keaton’s soft-voiced, whispering Batman style, Gotham City looks like a real city instead of a strange Gothic thing, and–in a novel twist for a Batman movie–the plot actually hangs together. The ONLY deficiency is the music, which is adequate enough I suppose, but you won’t come out of it humming signature themes the way you did when Danny Elfman was scoring it.
Overall a terrific relaunch of the Bat franchise.
PAD
• 
Posted by Joe Krolik
Okay James, if you KNOW who “you-know-who” is, so tell everyone already!
That’s why I used the phrase there. At this point, you haven’t a clue who I am referring to. So lighten up please. Thanks.
SPOILERS
Considering that this was basically Batman Year One, there can only be one “you know who” at the end of the story……The Joker.
I’m wondering how good the movie looks in IMAX. Here in Phoenix, we’ve been not seeing the simultaneous IMAX openings that other cities get due to the lone IMAX theatre being right next to a multiplex and the multiplex takes precedence over IMAX. However, an AMC theatre in a different part of town has upgraded one of their screens to IMAX and will be offering Batman Begins. Of course, it is a higher ticket price, but might be worth it.
Lee Whiteside
Considering that this was basically Batman Year One, there can only be one “you know who” at the end of the story……The Joker.
Batman came along in 1939 and Robin came along in 1940. So it is not illogical to assume the “you know who” could be Robin.
(I know it isn’t, though I haven’t seen the movie yet, because as a person who surfs the internet daily, I first read about this “spoiler” weeks ago….)
Lee Whiteside:
No IMAX, but…you do have the Cine Capri 🙂
(non Phoenix people…the Cine Capri is a recently opened theater that, while nowhere near as grand as IMAX, is like older pre-multiplex theaters (even though it’s now in a multiplex). Big screen…lots of speakers. enjoyable movie-going experience)
Just back from the film. A few random comments — i don’t think there’ll be any spoilers:
As to the editing of the fight scenes: I have mixed feelings about that; while really fast confusing action scenes can be annoying, slow motion/”bullet time”/whatever fight scenes can be so corny. While one couldn’t see every move, every punch thrown, the editing did sort of give some idea what it would be like watching the Batman in action — more or less apparently popping up out of nowhere, taking out a bad guy or two, and then disappearing again.
Michael Caine as Alfred — perfection.
Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon — the man’s a flippin’ chameleon; i hadn’t caught that Oldman was in the film. I spent a lot of time going “Who the heck is that?” (I need to see the film again just to see if Gordon’s kid has red hair.)
Design: Overall good, but i didn’t particularly like the Batmobile. Didn’t dislike it particularly, just didn’t much like it. The Batmobile scenes were good, though. (Especially the last one)
Did they use real Chicago El trains and CGI the undercarriages to look like monorails, or what?
(Incidentally, a monorail is a lousy design for a real-world transportation system; it’s bad enough figuring out how to make a reliable and not-overly-complex track switch for one, and other forms of special trackage that are relatively trivial with conventonal two-rail design are even worse.)
Best train action i’ve seen since Silver Streak, but i be it wasn’t done full-scale/real time, like it was in SS.
The McGuffin is ludicrous, even by comic-book physics standards.
Is anyone out there familiar with the term “guano”? Personally, i wouldn’t want to be exploring a cave that’s been home to hundreds of thousands of bats for untold years without a respirator and full bunny suit. And maybe snowshoes.
I love the glimpses of the logistics of being a masked hero; almost every time i see the inside of the Batcave, i find myself echoing the Joker in the first Burton film (or, at least, the trailer) — “Where does he get these wonderful toys?”
Speaking of the Burton film — you’re right, there’s nothing like Danny Elfman’s score here. (One of the best moments in the first film is climbing up the cathedral tower, when the visuals and Elfman’s score both quote Vertigo.)
As i was sitting there it struck me that everything from where we first see Bruce in the prison, up to the end of the training sequence would, with the change of the name of the character from “Bruce Wayne” to “Kent Allard”, have been almost-equally perfect for a film about another Dark-Cloaked Avenger Of The Night…
Did the prison sequence remind anyone else of a couple of pages from Watchmen?
I thought that i remembered thet Joe Chill was a retcon; that the original version had the killer anonymous. That’s the concept that works for me — that total randomness; that it could have been anyone who walked down that alley that night, that the killer was just a faceless pseudopod of the overall monstrosity that is crime and violence… An anonymous killer makes the Batman’s crusade against all crime more, i dunno, obsessive.
Some real clangers in the dialog — particularly in the early exposition, explaining who the Waynes are and so on.
Apparently this isn’t our universe; i’m not sure just when it’s supposed to be, but i have my problems with the thought that Joe Anybody could just waltz into an important courtroom (into the Courthouse, for that matter) with a gun.
And as to the earlier comment about when various characters were introduced — wasn’t the “Chemical Syndicate” story one of the very first Batman stories? And wasn’t it the one that introduced the Joker?
All in all, though, a Really Really Reeeallly Good Movie. Not quite, in my own ratings, quite up to Spider-Man 2, but that’s an awful high mark for a comic-book film to aim at…
Apparently this isn’t our universe; i’m not sure just when it’s supposed to be, but i have my problems with the thought that Joe Anybody could just waltz into an important courtroom (into the Courthouse, for that matter) with a gun.
Now, in 2005, you probably couldn’t.
But in 2004, you most certainly could; courthouse security was a joke in 90% of the jurisdictions.
I just got back from the movie, and it’s very true to the roots of the prototypical Batman. It’s nice to have two “comic” films that were made with little compromise, that is to say, “Hollywood tweaking”. Granted, it may not appeal to the masses like Burton’s (I had issues back in the day, but I was still impressed), it shows great respect to source material. I think I saw a couple of nods to the Animated series.
As for “you know who”, let’s say that the events of the movie set a “Milestone” for Gotham City.
David
Posted by roger Tang at June 15, 2005 08:41 PM
Apparently this isn’t our universe; i’m not sure just when it’s supposed to be, but i have my problems with the thought that Joe Anybody could just waltz into an important courtroom (into the Courthouse, for that matter) with a gun.
Now, in 2005, you probably couldn’t.
But in 2004, you most certainly could; courthouse security was a joke in 90% of the jurisdictions.
Dunno where you live; in the Atlanta area there have been metal detectors on the entrances to all courthouses and similar buildings since the 90’s or earlier.
(In the recent case in which a suspect killed a judge and a court clerk in an Atlanta courthouse, the gun was taken from a deputy who the shooter overpowered — there was a breach of procedure involved, but it wasn’t a gun brought in through the front doord.)
Five years ago, speaking in terms of my own experience, one couldn’t even get into the Dawson County (Georgia) courthouse carrying a cellular phone, much less a gun.
What i’m getting at is that, while it may well have been possible to get a gun in – especially by a professional killer with Connections, a casual citizen just walking in with it in his pocket wasn’t likely to get past the front door.
Dunno where you live; in the Atlanta area there have been metal detectors on the entrances to all courthouses and similar buildings since the 90’s or earlier.
In Seattle. Where three women were gunned down in a courthouse despite metal detectors in 2000. Like I said, security was a joke here and in other places…until something happens.
I have not been surfing the Net for spoilers. Honestly, I don’t care about them – especially at this stage, when the script for the second film hasn’t even been blocked out, much less written, and any “spoilers” are bound to be rampantly speculative crap.
Be that as it may (and it probably will), it takes only a cursory knowledge of the Bat-mythos to realize that since they’ve gone with Ra’s al-Ghul for this villain, it would be anticlimax to follow up with any except Batman’s only true opponent.
(Personally, I think the Joker’s smart enough that he figured out some years back that Bats is also Bruce – but anybody can defeat Billionaire Playboy Bruce Wayne; only a diabolical genius could possibly defeat the Bat. Yes, I also think that in Joker’s fractured mind, he draws the distinction.)
A simple, spoiler-free review of the film from a humble comics fan…
I went to see the one o’clock showing at the local theater. Due to a problem in the projector booth, the movie was delayed for over half an hour. By the time it was fixed and the previews were over, the movie started at 1:56 – AND NO ONE COMPLAINED. When the movie was over, there was a smattering of applause in the theater, and I joined in.
It was that good.
Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman WERE Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Lucius Fox and James Gordon. The acting was superb, and this time even the villains were believable and not chewing up scenery all over the place.
As far as the Batmobile goes, when I first saw it months ago, I thought the filmmakers had lost their minds. In the context of the story though, it works perfectly.
I agree with Peter that the fight scenes were very hard to follow. They don’t detract from the overall story, though. Plus, what I could see looked cool.
As I told a friend of mine, I give this movie two thumbs so high up they’re almost not attached to my body anymore. If you’re a fan of comics at all, you need to see this movie.
Mike wrote: “Did they use real Chicago El trains and CGI the undercarriages to look like monorails, or what?”
The “El” system in the film was almost entirely special effects. I say almost entirely because there is at least one scene shot at night inside one of the existing “El” stations in the Loop (the Quincy Street Station, perhaps?).
That being said, there was a ton of Chicago scenery, bridges and buildings which were used as a framework for Gotham. Chicago bridges were a prominent part of the film’s nighttime ambiance, and played a role in one of the film’s sub-plots. In addition, Chicago’s underground street network downtown, composed primarily of a street called Lower Wacker Drive, also played a prominent role in the film.
This film should do well enough at the box office that there will be a sequel, so I would assume the film crews will soon be back in Chi-Town.
Actually, the fun part for me was recognizing the parts they filmed in my hometown of Waukegan, Il. I was tapping(More like slapping, really) my friend on the shoulder saying “That’s it! That’s the highway!”
Also, as for the “You know who” thing. Did ANYONE even think that maybe, MAYBE the fact that almost every live-action Batman film had a different person playing Batman, it might make someone question who was going to don the Bat-suit next time?
Freaking Brilliant!
The scene where Batman was questioning Flass – I would have given him any information he wanted.
But now I have a question.
Is the character”Ra’s” pronounced “Raysh” like in the cartoon, or “Rahs” like in the movie?
Well, I actually screened it a couple of nights ago, which means I got paid to watch it. That about makes DC and me even, after I wasted two hours of my life in Catwoman.
Anyway, I liked it, and I think it’s easily the best Batman movie ever. Burton’s Batmans were fine as Burton movies but not really as Batman movies, in my opinion.
As for the fight scenes (and the main reason I’m posting) . . . I think they are edited so chaotically because if you actually saw Batman trying to do acrobatics while trapped inside that super-stiff costume, you’d burst out laughing.
Five movies. Five movies and they still can’t have the cowl make sense. The guy can’t turn his freaking head. Geez.
And what they’ve shown of Dr. Doom in the trailers is what’s turned me off the FF movie.
I started calling Ra’s “Rah’s” when I first came across it in the comic. Then, the animated character pronounced it “raysh,” and that stuck. I may go back to “rahs” now that I’ve seen the film.
Brilliant, by the way. I know I was overly emotional and really anticipating the film, but I’d say they got it 98-100% “right.” There’s some nit-picky things, but really only one moment near the end that accounts for the 3% range.
Re: the fight scenes. I do think part of the issue with them is getting the full bat suit to move like that…you just can’t have it look like it needs to, and stil be jumping all around.
On the other hand, I found that it added to the atmosphere a lot. The fights were shot very close up, giving you a sense of the chaotic nature of them. Almost like you were part of the fight. I found it a nice change from the overblown choreography of fight scenes, like those from the last 2 Matrix movies. that kind of full blown, in the open and daylight fight works well for Spider-Man or Captain America, but Batman should be in the shadows, less seen, more felt,
And back to atmosphere…holy cow, the first fight in the warehouse…I know Bats was beating up thugs and bad guys, but I think they really conveyed the fear those guys felt. I almost felt bad for them…
AND we finally saw the Serenity preview…at any other movie, that would have been the highlight of the evening.
Batman beginning was slow very slow and extremely slow and other than Gordon and Fox the acting was acceptable at best. I expected Robin to show and say Holy plot holes Batman!
The Batman scenes were good, but the bat mobile chase was stupid, I Care about Gotham as I destroy its property.
The cowl is one of those things that probably only works in a comic book. Unless we’re going to accept that Batman occupies a world where martial art movies are reality, Batman has to wear some sort of bullet/protection. And that means a rigid cowl.
I really could only come up with one minor plot hiccup…not so much a hole, as I explained it to myself pretty quickly.
Bruce would probably find some way to pay for all the damage did during the chase scene. And it was to save a life, so there was great justification there.
bobb: I’ve been hearing that alot about the ‘Serenity’ preview. I got to see it at ‘HHGTTG’, and it actually turned me on to ‘Firefly’ for the first time. Since then, I’ve talked four different people into buying the boxed set. Ðámņ, I love that show.
I almost totally missed Firefly when it was aired (darn Fox TV). At the time I was maybe just starting to watch Buffy, and this whole Joss thing hadn’t hit me yet.
Now we own the entire Buffy/Angel/Firefly collection, and watch them through their entire run. Those re-runs are better than 98% of the new stuff being put out.
Watching the Firefly DVDs from beginning to end, in the order they were intended to be seen (someone needs to explain to Fox that serials used to be all the rage in entertainment, and they did very well), it’s hard for me to understand how it didn’t last as a show. After watching Firefly, it was hard watching Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin and Gina Torres play bad guys on Buffy and Angel.
I’m still chucking over Wash’s “o god o god we’re all going to die” response….
Sci-Fi just announced that they will be showing Firefly this summer, for those of us who want to see the show without resorting to renting/buying the DVD’s. 🙂
Saw Serenity at one of the sneak previews. I think you’ll all be very happy. Though given Peter’s fatherly feelings for Jewel there is a line from Kaylee that he may not care for.
David
I’ve tried to get into those dámņ previews, but they’ve sold out too quickly. We here in Seattle have been privileged to get in on all three showings, but I’ve missed out on all of them. I thought the ‘Serenity’ trailer was great, and am thrilled that it got me into a great series like ‘Firefly’. I’m really looking forward to the comic that will be coming out next month.
Re: Kaylee’s line. Yeah, I’ve read pretty much every spoiler I can find about the movie, and know exactly what you are talking about. I thought the same thing when I read it on the Browncoat forum.
Oh, and for those of you who want to watch ‘Firefly’ on Sci-Fi this summer, they WILL be showing the episodes in their proper order, not the whack order that Fox pulled out of their ášš the first time they broadcast them.
SERENITY trailer?! – !!! Okay, now I’m REALLY likely to go see this movie! 🙂
Yeeeeeeeeessss! I loved this movie! They got it sooo right! I loved the fight scenes – they added to the atmosphere I think. I loved Bale as Batman and Neeson and the twists and the characterization and well…basically, everything.
I have seen about five films in my whole life twice in the theater. The 1989 “Batman” is the only one I have seen 3 times in the theater. There is a good chance it will soon have company.
The ending was classic, and everyone at my theater, for the initial midnight so, also cheered and applauded. I can’t remember that happening before at a movie I attended, but I was definitely one of them:)
Oh, and I think Sturgeon’s Law/ Revelation is a piece of absolute crap, no matter what Asimov says.
That would mean 90% of PAD’s work is crap, that 90% of “Buffy” or “Law and Order” episodes are crap and so on.
Sorry. It’s a vey cynical point of view. 90% of stuff may not be gold, but it’s not crap either.
That “LAW” means that there is as much crap in the runs of “Batman” and “Spider-Man” as there was in “U.S. 1” and “NFL SuperPro”.
Nope. Sorry. T’ain’t true.
Oh, and the “Serenity” trailer was VERY well-received at my theater, even moreso than “Fantastic Four”, which got positive buzz as well.
Craig, thanks for reminding me about “Firefly” on Sci-Fi, but I’ll probably pick up the DVD anyway:)
No, Jerome, it means PAD is the cosmic counterbalance to “John Norman”, and part of the output of Harlequin Romances (Ellison is the rest of the counterbalance to that). Overall, 90% is still crap; it’s just concentrated in other writers.
🙂
Jerome: Amazon has the ‘Firefly’ DVD on sale right now for $29.99. Apparently there’s also some place called DeepDiscountDVD that is offering it for the same price, but with some sort of fancypants discount that gets it down to $23.00 or some such thing. Me, I just went with Amazon.
IMAX – Saw it in Dearborn Michigan at the Henry Ford IMAX. Yes to IMAX, one or two times.
I can’t believe someone spoiled the appearance of Ace the Bat-Hound in the Sequel. The complaints are starting already about his mask.
Loved it. Actually prefered the Bruce Wayne stuff over the Batman stuff. I thought the fight scenes were terrific. Only problem I had was Bale in a cowl. Made him look like a chipmonk.
IMAX – Saw it in Dearborn Michigan at the Henry Ford IMAX. Yes to IMAX, one or two times.
You mean they didn’t name the IMAX after Bruce Campbell? 🙂
I read one quick review on another forum about Batman Begins saying that the only thing missing from the movie was a Katie Holmes shower scene. 🙂
SPOILED WARNING!!
If you don’t want to know anything about a movie, And you see an column by someone who just saw the movie and wants to talk about the movie he just saw that you don’t want to know about, Don’t read it!
People have lost the art of common sense and depend on labeling to do their thinking for them.
Peter, you’re right about the music not being memorable, But it doesn’t detract from a scene the way music does in most movies do now. From the blaring DD soundtrack, To the miss-matched Hellboy, where It get’s slower and quieter during the climax, soundtracks like Superman and Batman’s seem a thing of the past.
Look at Elfman’s Spidy score, Does anyone remember the main theme?
I see your point about the fight scenes but I do think it works well in the earlier scenes when Batman is more of a mystery.
Moving between his opponents like a shadow.
Very cool.
The rest of the movie is so strong that I didn’t really notice the lack of action shots until after the movie was over. I think next time they could make a “fight friendly costume” just for the action scenes.
And maybe get a better fight choreographer.
But it’s not a big deal in the scheme of things.
I’m not sure I’d put so much importance on Sturgeon’s Law. Who is he to decide everything mostly crap? And it sounds to me he only added the “everything” line to keep from being lynched by Sci-Fi geeks.
Batman Begins
Newsarama said,”It’s that good.”
Peter David said, “a terrific relaunch of the Bat franchise.”
They…
Saw _Batman Begins_ yesterday. It was quite good.
SPOILERS FOLLOW:
One of the things I liked about the movie was the “Keyser Soze” moment when “Henri DuCard” reveals himself as the _real_ Ra’s Al Ghul.
I also liked it because there were echoes of the pulp novels version of _The Shadow_, where “Lamont Cranston” would give instructions to one of his agents by pretending to be a fellow agent just passing on a message. In fact, there was a scene in the 1994 _Shadow_ movie that showed just such an occurance.
Actually the _Shadow_ analogy is better, because Keyser Soze wasn’t supposed to exist. The Shadow, on the other hand, didn’t pretend to be the underworld’s equivalent of Bigfoot.
Anyway, I trust that Ra’s Al Ghul’s deception in _Batman Begins_ was there to reinforce the theme of using deceptions and distractions to your advantage. In the comics (for those who don’t read them) Henri DuCard and Ra’s Al Ghul had no connection.
I agree that the fight scenes were sometimes difficult to follow. Perhaps the scenes were filmed as they were to give the audence a criminal’s-eye view. Someone or some_thing_ is trashing them, and their efforts to fight back are feeble, at best.
Didn’t like the Waynes at the opera. They should’ve been out to see _Zorro._
On a related note, I _did_ like the _Zorro_ poster outside the theatre. This upcoming film is a sequel to _The Mask of Zorro._
Looking forward to it.
Is there some reason (beyond the whims of the plot gods) the Waynes wouldn’t have gone out the _front_door of the opera house?
I liked that Joe Chill was re-established as the Wayne’s killer. And when he was gunned down by a Falcone stooge, I turned to my friend and said, “Holy Jack Ruby, Batman.”
I also liked the various _Batman: Year One_ allusions.
I didn’t have any problems with the casting. I’m not familiar with Cillian Murphy at all, and never watched _Dawson’s Creek_, so I had no pre-conceived notions about Katie Holmes.
This is one of those films that I _want_ to see in the theatre again. Hopefully, I’ll have time to do so.
Rick
I thought it would’ve been funnier if the Wayne’s had seen Derfladermaus (I know the spelling must be of on that one) in stead of Mephisto( I don’t speak German, forgive me!).
The only reason I can think of for the Wayne’s going out a back or side door is that might be where the ushers had them exit so as not to disturb too many audience members.
And for those who had a problem with the poor security of the gotham courthouse, Remember, Gotham is 90% corrupt.
Probably 99% since Gordon seems to be the only good cop in town.
PAD do you know if dennis oneil has seen it?
i was just curious what his reaction was after the whole bat credit card thing thing from B&R
i hope he liked it
or does when he eventually
gets a chance to see it
great time to be a batfan
or a comicbook fan
for that matter
Knuckles,
Thanks for the “Firefly” info. I would still like to give one of my local stores a shot, though:)
Gary,
Dennis O’Neil had planned on seeing it when I interviewed him last week. He was a bit disappointed in the last few movies as well. But, having done the novelization for this one, he was looking forward to it.
Jonathan,
Sorry. I still think “Sturgeon’s Law” is a bunch of crap. There is more good stuff out there than people realize, albeit for different tastes.
I liked the update from Zorro to the opera…whatever it was, I’ll trust those more exposed to it than I to name it.
Seeing the film Zorro made a lot of sense in 1939, when Batman was created (I could be mixing stories…Zorro might have been something Miller added, but it would have fit around that time, as it was released in 1940). Movies and films, being new, were attended by the higher elements of society. They were dress-up occasions. And it fits that a higher-society Wayne family outing, circa 1940, would include taking in a movie.
Advance that to a more modern Batman. Would the billionaire Waynes attend a common movie, dressed to the nines? Maybe if it were a high-level charity event. Changing it to the opera places it within the Wayne’s logical circle of cultural events (and gets some great interior shots of a Chicago theater). The bat-characters in the performance also added credulity to Bruce’s guilt over his parents’ death, and lays the roots for his quest to conquer fear. But for Bruce’s fear, they’d not have had to leave early, through an emergency exit leading to the ally (in any case, several theaters in Chicago have main exits that do exit to ally’s like that) where Chill was, probably waiting for some rich socialite to step out for a smoke. It takes the bacis premise and adds a sense of realistic sense to it.
I just saw the film for the second time (I really recommend seeing it in IMAX…the huge screen is so much more clear than the normal 70mm) and it’s full of little changes and details like this that update and enhance the story. I’m more convince than ever that director Nolan totally understands this character, and provided what will be the definitive Batman movie for the next generation of fans.
Assuming the WB studio doesn’t allow it to be turned into a farce again.
Just saw Batman Begins and all I can say is; “Wow”.
Maybe I’ll be able to say more in a few days when its all sunk in.
But dámņ was that a good movie.
I love every single second of this movie, and I already saw it twice!
And now I’m praying for Steve Buscemi doing the you-know-who role in the sequel… 😉
Having seen it twice as well, I’m falling more and more into the “loved it” crowd. It’s not Kand/Finger’s original Batman…but that’s not what it was supposed to be. For a modern take on the character that stays loyal to the concepts that most fans hold dear, it really doesn’t miss a beat.
Steve Buscemi…I’d not considered him. Yikes, he’s got the smile down already. But didn’t he stop acting and become a fireman after 9/11?
I’m not going to worry too much about casting. The production team found a fantastic cast for BB (even Holmes did a passable job), so I’m pretty confident in the next one this team puts out.
According to the Imdb, Steve Buscemi has no fewer than eight films due in 2005 and 2006. Eighteen since 2001. I wouldn’t exactly call him retired.
The rumor that he retired to become a fireman is due to the fact that he WAS a fireman, once. And he returned to the job on September 11 — literally, on that day — to help with emergency operations and with some of the cleanup. I think that lasted a few weeks, at most. He deserves credit for that much, but he has gone back to acting.
Batman Begins
Good news: Batman was #1 this weekend. Bad news: despite positive critical reviews, the weekend take lower than expected. Let’s hope that studios don’t look at this and think it’s more profitable when they make stupider movies. As faithful as…
Just saw it and I liked it.