Mister Faded Glory

I’m a little under-the-weather today, and have been battling a sinus infection since last Friday or so. Don’t know where it came from, or why I’m suffering it as the mercury hurtles towards 100 in central Kansas. Sickness and heat do not go well together. So, you’ll be lucky to get this post from me this week. But then again, since I’m apparently ultra-long-winded, it should probably suffice.

Few times in my life have I walked away from a movie as completely blown away as I was by Batman Begins. I don’t profess to be a Batman-phile, but I am quite literate and well-versed in the past 60+ years of Dark Knight lore.

I consider Batman the most compelling literary character in American history, and perhaps the most vital. He is easily the most human, mysterious, puzzling, and satisfying hero, transcending comic-book genre into legendary folklore. So, what I’m saying is, I’ve got really-fucking-high standards. In Batman 1989, for example, when the hack screenwriter decided to attest that The Joker killed Batman’s parents — well, that was an unforgivable sin. I might as well mention right here that this movie gets it right — it is hack thug Joe Chill. And this movie does suggest that Chill was actually hired to kill the Waynes. Right again. (Though, to be fair, that story’s origin is actually pretty lame.)

Back to the review. With the new Batman revival in full swing, I was skeptical. I’ve long fantasized that some enterprising director would make Frank Miller’s extraordinary comic novel The Dark Knight Returns into a feature film. (It’s a commentary on the 1980’s, but replacing the Reagan character would not be difficult.)

Anyway, Batman Begins heads in another direction. It uses Miller’s Batman:Year One as a background canvas for its reimagination of the Crusader’s origin — and it’s striking in its faith to the Batman religion as well as its ingenuity in developing Batman’s lost years.

Miller’s Year One chronicles the Dark Knight’s beginnings as a vigilante in Gotham, with no selected identity. He has returned from abroad, namely seven or so years traveling across the globe.

Chris Nolan’s Batman also follows the same precarious path — from his true-to-Batman’s-roots beginning, as a child falling into a cave, through the well-documented witness of his parents’ murder — yet it is the first Batman piece, that I’ve ever seen, that attempts to chronicle the lost years, hinted at in Year One and elsewhere in Batman lore. Where did Batman learn all his tricks? Did he just become Batman at age 23? Hardly. Year One and elsewhere suggest Batman was away from Gotham for as much as ten years. Where did the Dark Knight go?

And Nolan’s ingenuity is imagining one of Batman’s fiercest foes — the diabolical Ra’s Al-Ghul – playing a mentor role in Batman’s origin. Amazing. The intensity and cunning of Ra’s is historically matched by only one villain in the Batman universe — yes, you know who – and it serves the saga well here, accounting for some of the dementia-addled conscience that eternally plagues Batman.

Indeed, fear is one of the themes throughout the movie, and the plot isn’t even necessarily important — the water-supply scheme is sort of cockamamie — but that’s no problem for Batman. It never is. The character of Batman — the torture, the anguish, the whimsy, the vengeance, the cruelty, the aloneness — that’s ALWAYS Batman’s story.

Tie to that you have the rumpled Lt. Gordon, the eccentric-cum-crazy Jon “Scarecrow” Crane, the hilariously malevolent Carmine Falcone (great work, Tom Wilkinson — though Rupert Thorne could have also been used in this role) and of course, the formidable Ra’s, and you’ve got plenty of meat to surround Christian Bale’s Batman.

The action scenes are real, stunning, easy to follow, and blistering — the sound in which they’re filmed in is the real joy. Batman’s first appearance — though you know it’s coming — causes chills. Bale was born to play Batman — one of the most underrated actors on screen, he turns the moody Wayne into the relieved, focused Dark Knight complete with blurry lines and a cold fear that penetrates his surface confidence.

The acting elsewhere is also superb, namely Wilkinson, Cillian Murphy, and Gary Oldman. The character development surrounding necessary Batman populants Gordon, Alfred, and Lucius Fox is a treat. The homage to Miller’s Dark Knight continues with the updated Batmobile — as if tugging on my heart, they never refer to it as the Batmobile — and the vehicle is mostly a speedy tank.

The origin is complete, and the seeds are planted for future sequels. Normally I eschew blockbusters, but this was simply one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. Granted, I’m a Batman fan — but that in effect is a more stringent hurdle for the filmmakers than a forgiveness. As the movie opened, with the bats everywhere, I got chills. It’s that good.

Enough mumbo-jumbo for you? Well, the movie is great. Unbelievable. Anyway, I may write more on it, after I see it again. That’s all for now.