The latest chapter in the saga of the Batman, as its title
suggest, follows the now ancient comic book tradition of establishing the
origins of its protagonist, in this case demonstrating that superheroes are not
born, but made.
The sixth feature film based on the caped crusader, Batman Begins covers some of the
territory previously explored in various “origins” issues of the comic, but
develops the story into the sort of dark and violent saga currently favored
among the more ambitious writers and illustrators, who now call their sometimes
crude and smeary picture books “graphic novels.”
Together with its atmosphere of gloom
and menace, the movie employs something of the psychological approach to its
central character also popular among the more pretentious comic-book artists,
probing the motives and methods of a man driven by trauma, anger, and even fear
to fight crime in the great city of Gotham.
Despite its attention to contemporary
trends in the masked avenger racket, the picture derives much of its style from
a number of very different sorts of books and films. Bruce Wayne (Christian
Bale) journeys to a mountainous region of Asia — presumably Tibet — in the
manner of the protagonist of The Razor’s
Edge to learn from some cryptic mentors the esoteric methods of combat and
self control that will enable him to become the Batman. The smoky, corrupt
Gotham City, where he later plies his nocturnal trade, resembles the Chicago of
the old gangster flicks — an impoverished slum with crooked cops, incompetent
judges, its own Al Capone figure, here called Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson)
— and references the Great Depression.
In addition to abandoning the
stylized gothic Gotham of the Tim Burton versions of the story, the director,
Christopher Nolan, also alters a number of other visual elements. No longer a
sleek, winged super car, for example, the new Batmobile looks like a combat
vehicle: tough, angular and functional. The protagonist’s acquisition and
development of his equipment follow a natural, authentic pattern of experiment,
trial and error, proceeding from crudeness and failure to efficiency and
success, so that the famous costume and utility belt (and the hero himself)
don’t always function with the slick perfection of the earlier movies.
In keeping with the new or at least
somewhat changed conception of the character and story, the script treats the
material more seriously, avoiding most of the obvious and laborious humor of
the previous flicks. The script substitutes a more generalized sense of evil
(with more ordinary sorts of bad guys) for such spectacular and extraordinary
villains, overplayed by hyperbolic actors, as the Penguin, Mr. Freeze,
Two-Face, the Riddler, and Poison Ivy. As a result, instead of a kind of urban
nightmare presided over by some invulnerable monster, Gotham City seems more
the wasteland of modern times, a sewer full of rats, the soiled battlefield of
the giant flying rodent who paradoxically embodies the good in an evil time.
Despite its departures from the
franchise tradition, Batman Begins features some of the expected chases,
stunts, and fireworks, though again they follow a more restrained pattern,
growing out of the acceptable conditions of plot and situation. If it lacks the
self-conscious campiness and dramatic irony of its predecessors, the dialogue,
in keeping with Bruce Wayne’s Asian training, features cryptic philosophical
utterances about overcoming rage in order to accomplish good, embracing one’s
fears, controlling the self, and other bits of useful Zennish wisdom.
Christian Bale’s chiseled, handsome
countenance and his smug, tightlipped acting style rarely seem appropriate for
the allegedly troubled and self-questioning Batman. He looks perfectly
acceptable when he simply occupies space or when clothed in his working outfit,
but when he speaks he conveys almost no emotion, and certainly his scenes with
his childhood sweetheart (Katie Holmes) scarcely suggest anything resembling
passion or even affection.
His stiff, impassive manner, however,
emphasizes one of the most important and neglected concepts in the character
and the whole saga, that Bruce Wayne is the real alter ego, the secret
identity, while his true self lies in the person of Batman, first cousin to
Dracula, an ambiguous figure who only comes fully alive in cape and tights and
mask, the dark angel who will save Gotham City from itself.
Batman Begins (PG-13) is playing at
Cinemark Tinseltown, Loews Webster, Pittsford Plaza Cinema, Regal Culver Ridge,
Regal Eastview, Regal Greece Ridge, and Regal Henrietta.
This article appears in Jun 22-28, 2005.
