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GET READY FOR SOME BATMAN!
by Ellis Nassour

  • Christian Bale as Batman in a much darker rendition, Batman Begins.



    Move over Stars Wars 3, Gotham is about to get a real summer blockbuster as Bruce Wayne, in the form of Christian Bale, as Batman, one-day-at-a-time sets out to change the world.

    In Batman Begins, director Christopher Nolan [Insomnia] and screenwriters David S. Goyer and Nolan take us back, well, to Batman's origins [as originally created by Bob Kane in DC Comics], but this beginning is decidedly different from what we have seen before. Back in the late 30s when Batman made his debut, he was known as the Dark Knight, after a series of unfortunate events when, through sheer force of will, he becomes Gotham's symbol of hope and justice.

    CHRISTIAN BALE,
    the new Batman:

    That psychological dark side is what makes Batman Begins more exciting, more edge-of- the-seat and much more an adult film than one for the kiddies. There are so many unique elements at work in the new re-telling that they instantly make you forget the other Batman big-screen attempts. A lions-share of credit for this must go to production designer Nathan Crowley and director of photographer Wally Pfister; not to mention Academy Award winner and six-time nominee Hans Zimmer and six-time Academy Award nominee James Newton Howard, who joined forces to compose a first-rate score.

    It may take a while to warm up to Bale, who made his screen debut as a child in Spielberg's much unappreciated Empire of the Sun, but he grows on you as he transforms into Gotham's superhuman hero. There are few laughable gaffes in the film, thanks not so much to any brilliant dialogue but to an excellent supporting cast.

    Heading the co-stars list is Academy Award-winner Michael Caine, who has so often taken roles beneath his abilities [for the money, as he has often admitted], but here he shines in the role of Alfred, the trusted Wayne family butler.


    Batman Begins boasts a formidable supporting cast:
    Michael Caine as trusted Alfred, Cillian Murphy and
    Tom Wilkinson as worthy villians.

    Cillian Murphy [who made quite an impact in 28 Days Later] as psychiatrist Dr. Jonathan Crane, who's badly in need of his own services, and the always-dependable Tom Wilkinson, as crime boss Carmine Falcone, are very good at chewing the scenery but they're also formidable scenestealers.

    Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman [whom it may take a few minutes to recognize and who, sadly, has very little to do here], Rutger Hauer and Ken Watanabe provide additional back-up; then there's Katie Holmes, who may not be that dynamic a line reader but compensates by providing the apparently always-necessary female beauty.

    For the ultimate Batman Begins experience, catch the digitally re-mastered print that will be shown in IMAX theatres.


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    Ellis Nassour is an international media journalist, and author of Honky Tonk Angel: The Intimate Story of Patsy Cline, which he has adapted into a musical for the stage. Visit www.patsyclinehta.com.

    He can be reached at [email protected]





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