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batman begins
CHRISTOPHER NOLAN’S
TRIUMPHANT RELAUNCH OF A
FRANCHISE WITH BATMAN BEGINS SHOULD FINALLY BRING THE SERIES CENTRE-STAGE IN THE UPCOMING AWARDS SEASON, SAYS ELEANOR SINGER.
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When Batman Begins opened in theatres around the world this summer, you could hear - along with the excitement that the ‘ride’ side of the movie provoked - a clear sigh of relief: here at last was a movie that recaptured, not just the thrill of Tim Burton’s 1989 movie - the first in the current cycle - but the spirit of the character created 66 years ago for DC Comics by Bob Kane.
British director Christopher Nolan - who not only directed but also co-wrote the script (and spent weeks in his garage supervising designs for the Batmobile!) - had found the true heart of the franchise, which is that Bruce Wayne has no superpowers, just great strength, enormous self-control, extreme courage and limitless ingenuity; and that his alter ego was born out of loneliness and suffering.
Not for nothing had Batman been known, in some of his early comic-book outings, as the Dark Knight. At the same time, of course, he remained a crusader for good and a scourge of corruption in Gotham. In Batman Begins, Nolan gave us a fully rounded character in a story that would have been interesting even without special effects and stunts. With them, it was irresistible.
“What’s always been fascinating about Batman is that he is a hero driven by quite negative impulses,” says the director. “Batman is human, he’s flawed. But he’s someone who has taken these very powerful, self-destructive emotions and made something positive out of them. To me, that makes Batman an extraordinarily relevant figure in today’s world.”
Audiences and critics evidently agreed, making Batman Begins one of the major critical and box-office successes of the summer. And, now that the annual Awards season is rolling around once again, the film’s range of contenders looks like being much broader than they have ever been in the past. The first modern Batman (1989) is the only one to have won an Oscar, but the Award - for Best Set Decoration - belonged very much in the craft categories. Batman Returns (1992) was nominated in similar fields (for Best Visual Effects and Best Makeup), as was Batman Forever (1995), which was cited for Best Cinematography, Best Sound Effects Editing and Best Sound. Neither film won a statuette, and the last pre-Nolan outing - 1997’s Batman & Robin - didn’t pick up any nominations at all.
This time around, however, Batman should easily make the transition from the ‘craft’ category (where nominations seem assured, especially for Nathan Crowley’s magnificent, Chicago-based Gotham) to the main arena - the ones that get all the attention and make it onto all the broadcasts, even those outside the US which have been edited down to an hour or so. Consider, if you will…
• Christopher Nolan, whose reinvention of the whole franchise - both as director and, with David S Goyer, writer - has produced a single, satisfying drama which would fascinate audiences even if they had never heard of Batman. By tracking the whole process, from the perfect childhood ruined by the murder of Bruce Wayne’s parents through the years of revolt and ascetic self-discovery, Nolan gives us a new perspective on the character. And, by including the painstaking creation of the suit, the Batmobile and all the other gadgets, he provides a fresh understanding of the kind of hero Batman really is.
• Christian Bale, who more than any Batman to date finds the darkness at the heart of the character, while never losing sight of the idealism and philanthropic zeal which drives the caped crusader.
• Katie Holmes, whose summer may have been dominated by other developments, but whose intense performance reinvents a character in danger of becoming a cliché: the crusading attorney who disapproves of Batman’s methods, cannot but welcome his achievements, and can’t help falling for the man behind the mask.
Among the supporting actors, it is hard to distinguish between Michael Caine, who makes the perfect Alfred; Morgan Freeman, who brings a welcome mix of humour and authority to Lucius Fox, the old ally taking his revenge for being forced out of Wayne Enterprises; and Cillian Murphy, who is genuinely scary as Dr Jonathan Crane, the man whose chemical weapon threatens Gotham and even, for a while, the Batperson himself.
And that’s just the beginning for Batman Begins…
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BATMAN
BEGINS
Warner Bros. Pictures present a Syncopy production of a film by Christopher Nolan
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Prod: Emma Thomas, Charles Roven, Larry Franco; Exec prod: Benjamin Melniker, Michael E Uslan; Dir: Christopher Nolan; Scr: Christopher Nolan, David S Goyer, from a story by Goyer based on the Batman comics created by Bob Kane and published by DC Comics; Ph: Wally Pfister; Prod des: Nathan Crowley; Cost des: Lindy Hemming; Ed: Lee Smith; Mus: Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard.
With Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne/Batman), Michael Caine (Alfred Pennyworth), Liam Neeson (Henri Ducard), Katie Holmes (Rachel Dawes), Gary Oldman (Detective Sergeant Jim Gordon), Cillian Murphy (Dr Jonathan Crane), Tom Wilkinson (Carmine Falcone), Rutger Hauer (Richard Earle), Ken Watanabe (Ra’s al Ghul) and Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox).
International distribution:
Warner Bros. Pictures
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