{"id":1081,"date":"2005-06-21T21:01:00","date_gmt":"2005-06-22T01:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/craigzablo.com\/?p=1081"},"modified":"2005-06-21T21:01:00","modified_gmt":"2005-06-22T01:01:00","slug":"batman-begins-mixed-feelings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/?p=1081","title":{"rendered":"Batman Begins… Mixed Feelings"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Let me start by saying that EVERYONE<\/b> that I know that’s seen Batman Begins<\/b> really, really likes it. Most everyone has even gone on to say that it’s the best Batman movie yet<\/b>. They usually conclude by saying how much I’m going to love it.<\/p>\n

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Well, now that I’ve seen Batman Begins<\/b>, I can say that they were partly right<\/b>.<\/p>\n

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I’d agree that Batman Begins<\/b> is the best Batman movie yet<\/b>. Unfortunately, I can’t say that I loved it<\/b>. Yeah, I liked parts of it a lot<\/b>, but that still leaves some parts that I didn’t<\/b>. So, if you haven’t seen it yet, you might want to check the rest of this post later because it will contain some SPOILERS…<\/b><\/p>\n

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Still with me? OK… let’s start of with what worked for me<\/b>.<\/p>\n

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The casting was great<\/b>. Christian Bale<\/b> makes a very good Batman \/ Bruce Wayne<\/b>. Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Cillian Murphy,<\/b> and Morgan Freeman<\/b> were also just right for their roles. [And I had had some doubts about Caine<\/b> as Alfred<\/b>.]<\/p>\n

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The soundtrack<\/b> was fine. The sets<\/b> were more realistic and worked well for the “new” direction. And speaking of direction, Christopher Nolan<\/b> did a fine job<\/b>, although I would have preferred a little more clarity during the fight scenes<\/b>. Yeah, I know that he was trying to show how scary<\/b> it was when you didn’t know where Batman<\/b> was going to be next, and man, can he move fast… still, a little of that went a long way.<\/p>\n

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Now the things that bugged me… <\/b><\/p>\n

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Bruce Wayne<\/b> as a kid is such a ‘fraidy cat<\/b>. It’s because little Bruce<\/b>‘s afraid that they leave the opera and his parents end up killed<\/b>, and wow, won’t that be something to overcome. I did like how they handled Bruce’s dad though<\/b>. He was caring and adventurous and understanding. [Heck, maybe HE should have been Batman<\/b>.]<\/p>\n

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So Bruce<\/b> decides to travel the world<\/b> and hang with low-life criminals<\/b> so that he can come to understand their minds<\/b>. Huh? <\/p>\n

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The Ras Al Ghul League of Shadows<\/b> was a cool idea<\/b>. I liked the line where he talks about destroying Rome, London, and other cities when their decadance became too great<\/b>. Ok, so now this sinister secret organization<\/b> is going to take down Gotham<\/b>. And they’re going to do it by releasing a poison in the water supply<\/b> that has to be activated by a device that they have to steal from Wayne<\/b> industries?!? That’s the best plan that this group could come up with?<\/p>\n

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And to make matters worse, they have to depend on a mentally ill doctor<\/b> to hire henchmen<\/b> to put the stuff in the water pipes? Why not send in a group of his ninja assassins<\/b> and get the job done right?<\/p>\n

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And to make matters worse, as soon as Ras<\/b> throws the switch on the Microwave weapon<\/b>, the water for blocks on end IMMEDIATELY<\/b> evaporates? I thought that this was going to be the more REALISTIC Batman<\/b>?<\/p>\n

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And before we get to Batman’s actions<\/b>… I didn’t like how Bruce Wayne<\/b> was played as an idiot<\/b>. Yeah, I understand that Batman<\/b> is playing him that way so people won’t suspect that he’s really Batman<\/b>. It just doesn’t work for me<\/u>. Why not give Bruce<\/b> some dignity<\/b>. People aren’t going to think that the billionaire playboy<\/b> is Batman<\/b>. You don’t have to make him come off as a drunken jerk who burns down his own house<\/b>.<\/p>\n

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Now for Batman’s actions<\/b>… first of all, Batman shouldn’t be flying around Gotham<\/b>. Swinging on his line I can live with. And don’t give me some guff and say, “Oh, but he was gliding.” I saw the movie. He was flying. LOL!<\/p>\n

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Batman is supposed to be a hero.<\/b> He is supposed to be saving lives. There he was driving that “Batmobile”<\/b> around destroying overpasses, riding across roof tops, knocking debris off buildings, causing car crashes, flipping police cars. He must have caused the deaths and injuries of dozens of innocent people<\/b>.<\/p>\n

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And when Batman<\/b> said, “I won’t kill you, but I don’t have to save you.” Uh, Batman, you’re a hero… you’re business IS to save people… even the bad guys.<\/b><\/p>\n

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Batman<\/b> is supposed to be smart<\/b>. He’s the greatest detective alive<\/b>. His brilliant plan to stop the train from getting to “the critical spot”<\/b> where it would blow up everything was to give Gordon the keys to the Batmobile<\/b> so he could get ahead of the train<\/b> and blow up the tracks<\/b>. That’s the PLAN?!? Meanwhile Batman “flies” up and on to the same train!?!<\/b><\/p>\n

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Huh? Did he somehow forget<\/b> that Gordon is going to blow up the bridge<\/b>? Hey Batman<\/b>, why not just drive the Batmobile<\/b> yourself and blow up the bridge? You have more experience at these things<\/b> than Gordon<\/b>… plus it’ll keep you OUT OF THE TRAIN!<\/b><\/p>\n

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A lot of people have been complaining about Katie Holmes<\/b>‘ role. The only thing that bothered me is that she’s known Bruce since they were kids<\/b>, and she had no clue he was Batman<\/b>. She knew him longer than I’ve known most of my friends and I’d venture a guess that I’d recognize ANY of them in a Batman suit<\/b>. Especially if they were two feet away from me and talking.<\/p>\n

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I did like the ending<\/b>. Things have been set up sweetly for the sequel<\/b>.<\/p>\n

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Overall, I know this review sounds really negative<\/b>. You’d probably think that I hated the movie. I didn’t. I liked it. Didn’t love it, but liked it.<\/p>\n

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And my guess is that I’ll like the sequel even better.<\/p>\n

“Batman Begins”<\/span> rates a C<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let me start by saying that EVERYONE that I know that’s seen Batman Begins really, really likes it. Most everyone<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":912,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comics","category-movies","comments-off"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/912"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1081\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}