Film reviews

Chris Nolan’s resetting and retelling of the Batman story is astonishingly good. Nothing remains of the gothic Gotham City of Tim Burton’s original vision in his Batman movies; instead, this Gotham is a major city strongly reminiscent of Chicago and New York. It stands not only as a symbol of wealth and power, but as a symbol of corruption, vice, evil, greed and all that’s wrong with human society.

One of the few individuals to “make a difference” in Gotham was the billionaire Thomas Wayne (Bruce’s father). He and his wife Martha gave generously in their attempts to lift the appalling weight of the depression from the less fortunate in Gotham. Their kindness and their relationship with their adorable young son is pivotal in this film, and most beautifully portrayed. When young Bruce falls down into an underground structure, breaking his arm and subjected to a terrifying encounter with what must have seemed like a horde of bats, it is his father, rappelling down, who rescues him, and tells him as he cradles him in his arms and carries him up to the mansion, “Why do we fall? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up.”

The murder of Bruce’s parents marks the pivotal point when the boy is both bereft and filled with rage that he cannot show. Bruce’s seven-year absence after a youthful confrontation with the crime boss who really runs Gotham City is true to the original comic books, and explains how the young man, armed with nothing but “my anger outweighs my guilt”, becomes trained in stealth, theatricality, misdirection, and of course superb fighting skills. Taken in by the League of Shadows run by the mysterious Ra’s Al Ghul, trained by Ra’s Al Ghul’s “lieutenant”, Henri Ducard, it seems at first as though the young billionaire who had lost his way has finally found the path he should go. But Ra’s Al Ghul’s ways are not, in the end, Bruce Wayne’s ways, and a conflagration of disagreement leaves Ra’s Al Ghul and many of his men dead, and Henri Ducard saved only by the skin of his teeth.

When Bruce returns to Gotham City after this, the story moves seamlessly into the more familiar elements of Batman’s first appearance. Yet such is the power of director Chris Nolan’s firm grip on the film, and such is the utterly convincing and riveting portrayal of Bruce Wayne by the excellent actor Christian Bale, that the pre-cape portion of the film is just as gripping as the post-cape section.

Christian Bale, who deliberately “bulked up” to play this role, did most of the fight scenes himself – and it shows. His consistent vision for the role of the driven and ferocious character of Batman is stunning, and one can see just why the criminals of Gotham fear him. His suit is superb, a menacing and powerful look that gives him almost the ruthlessly strong grace of a panther. His fighting style is no-holds-barred, tough, fluid and fast. There is a rage burning in him, a ferocity which he channels into his dedicated battle against criminals, and yet his character also shows great integrity, questioning, sensitivity, wry humour and a highly capable intelligence that acts swiftly when necessary.

In short, this is the most interesting, most fascinating portrait of Batman seen in film.

The casting in the film is well-night perfect. Liam Neeson as the mentor, Henri Ducard, is wonderfully played, and there could be no better and more apt portrayal of the honest cop Jim Gordon than Gary Oldman in a role against type. Michael Caine brings genuine warmth to the role of Alfred, the faithful butler, and Morgan Freeman is just perfect as the inventor Lucius Fox. Ra’s Al Ghul is masterfully played by Ken Watanabe, and Cillian Murphy is excellently cast as Dr Jonathan Crane, the psychiatrist with a twisted nature who enjoys drugging his patients with an hallucinogenic drug and covering his face with a tattered hessian bag to play the “Scarecrow”. Cillian Murphy’s face seems made for such creepy roles – it’s like that of a malevolent and almost dainty elf. The two children who play the young Bruce and the young Rachel are very good indeed – in particular, Gus Lewis does some wonderful work as Bruce aged eight.

The only real drawback is the character of Rachel Dawes. Katie Holmes is no more than moderately competent as an actress, and this was a drawback in the film several times (for instance, the scene in which Rachel is sprayed with the drug and is supposedly driven almost crazy with it. All Ms Holmes can do is look mildly ill). Her delivery of several of the lines made Rachel Dawes seem like a self-righteous prig, and I doubt this was how the character was intended to be perceived.

Batman’s “toys” – his belt of tricks, his “memory fabric”, his “wings”, his absolutely fabulous car (“Does it come in black?”) and the bat cave itself – are fantastic. Literally fantastic.

The storyline is extremely well-written and gives convincing motivations to all the characters for their actions. The cinematography, faithfully conveying the vast snow-driven Himalayas complete with glacier (actually shot in Iceland!) as well as the dark and divided city of Gotham, is magnificent. The score is beautiful, too. In fact, everything combines here to make a very satisfying film indeed.