Director: Christopher Nolan
Year Released: 2005
Rating: 2.0
With the Star Wars prequels bringing in so much attention, and comic books being Hollywood's current obsession, it makes sense that they would bring Batman back out, and show where he came from - why tormented billionaire Bruce Wayne fights crime at night. Director Nolan adds enough gloom and grimace to the film, but this particular movie takes itself a bit too seriously, causing the intertwined themes of fear, psychological torment and revenge to play out a little heavily (the constant conversations regarding the murder of Batman's parents in a back alley are particularly thick) - at the very least, the much-maligned Tim Burton Batmans had the saving grace of a sense of humor. The belabored first act - the 'training' and background parts - hold things up at first before the sometimes muddled but always spirited action finally kicks in, which is when the film really starts moving along (it's best to ignore the implausibility of the screenplay's Doomsday scenario and the al-Qaeda-inspired fear of contamination) though I must add that Fellow Traveler/Moviegoer John Simone is right in mentioning that American directors - Nolan included - still don't know how to do fight scenes, forgetting what Jackie Chan once said about filming them the way you would Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing (it's all about the feet). Otherwise, the largely U.K.-based supporting cast (plus Morgan Freeman) add plausibility to the speeches about honor, duty, etc. ... and all Katie Holmes is there to do is smile.
