Paul and I caught the opening show for Batman Begins last night. Absolutely great! Let's look at it in a little more detail.
POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT!!
I've tried to keep concerete details to a minimum, but bits and pieces of info will definitely be leaked. You've been warned.
Batman - main good guy
Christian Bale is an awesome Batman. As Bruce Wayne, he's got that vacuous party boy look. The hotel swimming scene is fabulous. As Batman, he's got the intense stare you'd associate with the Dark Knight and his voice is just downright scary. You can feel the anger in his voice lash out at you all the way from the screen. The "dangling bad guy" scene rocks.
Ducard - mysterious mentor
In the comics, Henri Ducard is Batman's mentor in the deductive arts. In this movie, he's some sword-wielding ninja-leading badass dude. Liam Neeson is an excellent Ducard - mysterious and a little aloof.
Scarecrow - main bad guy
Johnathon Crane, the scarecrow from the comics, was a tall emanciated figure. The Scarecrow in the movie is, well, too short. Minor differences aside, the movie Scarecrow was sufficiently nerdy to be believable and Cillian Murphy comes across as just subtly psychotic. Beautifully done.
Ra's al Ghul - main bad guy
Just absolutely totally diverts from the comics. As far as I know, Ra's has NEVER mentored Batman in anything. Yet in the movie, Ra's trains Batman in martial arts in his secret ninja lair. And who is Ra's al Ghul without a Talia standing by his side??? Oh well.
Anyway, divergence between the movie and the comics aside, this was a pretty damn good movie. Definitely worth me sacrificing my beauty sleep to catch the midnight showing (on a school night, no less!).
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