poptone

Went to see Batman Begins tonight after work. Holy God, this film is perfect.

This is the best comic book film ever made. I'm not even coming close to hyperbole here, either.

Everything about this film was pitch-perfect. As much as I love the Burton films, I honestly don't think I'll ever be able to watch them and enjoy them as "Batman" films, just as Burton smorgasboards.

Some of the best aspects:

- The entire production design/cinematography. Shit's epic. I keep hearing people bitch about how liberally it borrows from Blade Runner. Accusing a dark, gothic action film of this is about as meaningless at this point as accusing every western for ripping off The Searchers. Gotham looks like a real, living, breathing city, not just a well-designed set (I'm sure actually using Chicago helped). It's gritty, grimy and dank, but never overly so.

- Story/characterization. This is better than any superhero film has any right to be. People complaining about it being too talky? Please, shut up and wait for Fantastic Four, then. It's so refreshing to see a movie in this genre that doesn't talk down to its audience and treats them as adults, by making an adult film with believable characters. The whole "fear" theme is over-played just a tad, but it's grounded by Neeson and Bale's delivery. People complaining about not enough action? What fucking film did you go see? Even before he dons the cape and cowl, this film moves at a breakneck pace, partly due to the way the fights are shot - I'm not a huge fan of the extreme close-up method of choreographing fights, but it beats the hell out of Matrix-style aerobics. The fights felt brutal and exhausting. Romance sub-plot (if you can even really call it that), is also handled perfectly. Their attraction is always there between them, but it's something that neither one of them act on, which is perfectly believable for two people so utterly committed to "higher" causes.

- The cast - unbe-fucking-lievable. Gary Oldman continues to be the coolest human on the planet. It's so nice to see him as a good guy, for once. He even saves what could have been a groan-inducing one-liner ("I've got to get me one of those"). Same goes for every single other supporting character - what more can you really say about Freeman that hasn't already been said? And Michael Caine, you glorious bastard, I thought Michael Gough had that part nailed - I was wrong. Cillian Murphy is wonderfully creepy as Scarecrow, too. I love the fact that he wasn't overused, and that even the "supervillian" was kept very grounded in reality. I'd really love to see more of him in the next film, even though I'm dead convinced that the whole "supervillians teaming up" deal was one of the downfalls of the last few Batman films.

The last five minutes or so of this film couldn't have been more perfect. The collective "OH SHIT!" heard in the theater when Gordon hands over the evidence bag to Batman was great. Okay, I'm done gushing for now. Congrats if you've made it to the end of this.