Batman Begins

[@PLUGO]

you should write an article...

[Judge Pen]

Liar

I feel dirty.

It makes perfect sense to deflect a gun blast with the very hand you are holding a gun yourself!!!

[Shaolinlueb]

It makes perfect sense to deflect a gun blast with the very hand you are holding a gun yourself!!!

man that gun kata video was G@y with a capital G.

[rogue]

I hope next time they use live rounds.

I'm looking forward to this movie and I'm hoping it removes the memory of the latest batch of Batman movies. Batman is one of the best charaters to explore. He's almost as nuts as the Joker.

Anybody catch the directors cut DVD of Daredevil? I hated it in the theater but on the DVD they put the movie back the way it was intented and it was really good. It showed how messed up Matt Murdock was.

[Vash]

Batman is one of the best charaters to explore. He's almost as nuts as the Joker.

Indeed. I like how he defines his obsession, it being a decision as opposed to compulsion. I can pull the wuote direct, but I'll have to dig out the O'Neil novel of the Fall.

Anybody catch the directors cut DVD of Daredevil? I hated it in the theater but on the DVD they put the movie back the way it was intented and it was really good. It showed how messed up Matt Murdock was.

I never found it. Where it be?

[SimonM]

man that gun kata video was G@y with a capital G.

Morons! The world is full of morons!

[@PLUGO]

Saw it last night... PACKED midnight show. We ere there an hour early and the most of the good seat were already taken. There were ALOT of trailers and most of them sucked. Getting back to the actual film WHAT FUN!!!

Was forced to lay out this article on the movie, before I saw it, which caused me to fixate on the coffee mug on the ice. Sigh . . .

BALE is the most believable Bruce Wayne ever. The schizm between 3 Bruces was great to watch: the angry lost Bruce, the Public Billionaire Bruce and the Bruce becoming BATMAN where all delivered very effectively. This wasn't quite the dark brooding "machine" that's become popular in the comics; He's still young, ambitious and learning as he goes along. A couple of times I wondered if a voice over narration might have eased some of the exposition that took place.

Really, just about all of the characters had a great genuineness to them. Even the Lois Lane type "Racheal" fit well in a pre-Harvey Dent Gotham City. And what a great city it was; a nice blend of real world setting with DC™ "super hero" comic city. I do however wish Gordon had just a bit more to do. Detective Flass could have been used better.

Alfred was excellent.

Discovering the Batcave had a solid shamanic edge.

Heck the movie was much more psycadelic than I would've thought. Sure, there was a very effective Scarecrow (cinematography was a bit too jumpy at times) throwing some great images around. Also, the movie played the Urban legend aspect of The Batman very effectively; surprisingly so.

There where a few odd choiced here & there, including a sort of "You killed my parents" moment that didn't work in the first film and had only slightly better effect here. However there where some moments of true (IMO) greatness. The film's pacing moved the stoy along quickly, loading BATMAN's origin story with pleanty of nuance. Thomas Wayne played a significant role in moving a Young Bruce wayne beyond the desire for vengance.

For the comics geek the switch form Zorro to Faust in young Bruce's formative was a very interesting choice. Nice parrallel to the training he'd recieve later.

The Batmobile was great fun but it struck me a just a bit HUMMER-ish. I suppose all uber-rich movers and shakers need their SUV's. It was interesting to me how the batmobile played the role of a sort of counterpoint to his Father's choice of transportation in the city.

[Shaolinlueb]

i got out of work early today to catch the 1:30 showing. it was great. i love how in the end they set it up for a sequal

*edit
its like a totally new series. to call this one the 5th one is wrong. this is like the 1st one of the new batman series. which i think it did very well. i liked how they didnt play with some of the famous villians. i liked the scrare crow and raz al ghul as the villains.

[Chief Fox]

Just saw it last night. I thought it was an awesome movie. The story was good. The way they told the story was good. The casting was excellent. I really like Morgan Freeman and Michale Cane and thought they both did an awesome job. The girl who played Rachel was hot. The guy who played batman was really good too. Raz Au Gal (Liam Neilson) was awesome.

My only complaint is the way they shot the fight scenes. It was really choppy so you couldn't really tell what was going on. This wasn't so bad though.

I'd give it 4 and 1/2 bats out of 5.

[SunBeam]

Saw it last night and this is my impression.

Alrighty then,

Batman Begins is a "good" movie. I was impressed by the quality of the dramatic aspects of the film. It can be enjoyed by genre fans and regular folk. I was impressed by the drama and liked the acting of the players on the screen. Everything clicked for me expect for Katie Holmes (maybe because of Tom and all that), Mr. Bale's Batman voice and one or two action sequences. Katie was...okay but seemed...just okay. I liked CB's performance as Bruce and even as Batman in certain scenes but there were one or two times that he tries to keep his voice low and menacing that seemed forced or shall we say, not in key? When he is yelling and upset as Batman it is better but when he is just conversing it seems a little odd. Maybe because he is trying to augment his voice from his natural English accent and then hoping to sound menacing at the same time. This is his only flaw in his portray of the Dark Knight IMO.

Stand-outs are Mr. Caine and Mr. Freeman. Excellent casting for Ducard also. Even Oldman and Rutger H. did a standard good job. Liam Ducard and Bruce Bale had good chemistry in their scenes. C. Murphy is just flat out creepy, nice to have a creepy guy for a creepy role. Wished Ken had more screen time but at least he got his face pressed so he can stay in the public eye. Plot was okay and effects were decent. I guess the thing about the film was that it seemed like an action/drama and not like a genre (superhero) film so much to me. Is that good or bad? I guess good because you get to "really know" the guy underneath the suit. This makes the connection to his plight stronger and have you care about what happens next. I heard about complainants that the action sequences where not too great. True, they could have been staged better. I think the limited action during Bruce's training was better than some of the action of him as Batman. It's because the Batman action is so stealthy that you can't see all what's going on. I know some of it was done this way to give the perspective of that he is everywhere and no where and I don't mine that. It's once he is locked in battle with the elite thugs that the camera needed to pull back and give a better perspective of the throw down in the dark. And finally, the Batmobil. On the money in my opinion. Loved it and the Batcave was cool too.

They wanted to be very down to earth and realistic with this film and I believe that they achieved that. I just hope they get the fight sequences tighter on the next one. CB is a good physical actor. Don't lose it but use it (exploit it visually were I can see it) when he is in the suit.

[canglong]

When they reported he isn't on any road he's flying across the rooftops that and when Fox ask Earle if he got the memo those made the movie worth the price of admission. Rutger Hauer was perfect for the role of Earle and in general the casting was excellent the only person missing was Christopher Walken. Excellent movie definitely worth paying for more than once.

[mattb]

The pic I saw of the Joker was:
http://www.cinemablend.com/images/ne...1179708837.jpg. So far this series looks pretty good. Be interesting to see how that new Batpod comes into play.

[PangQuan]

The pic I saw of the Joker was:
http://www.cinemablend.com/images/ne...1179708837.jpg. So far this series looks pretty good. Be interesting to see how that new Batpod comes into play.

Thank god!!!!!!

[Wood Dragon]

Thank god!!!!!!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=UWw0ov-cAUg

Teaser.

[GeneChing]

Hk is too dirty for Batman....

Batman Can't Fight Hong Kong's Dirty Water
Vivian Wai-yin Kwok, 11.05.07, 10:08 AM ET

HONG KONG -
Batman has shown himself to be brave enough to combat Penguin, Catwoman, the Joker, Mr. Freeze and all his other enemies. But, faced with Hong Kong's tainted Victoria Harbor, he chose instead to flee from danger.

In The Dark Knight, the latest Batman movie, being shot in Hong Kong this week, the masked idol was initially supposed to jump from a plane into the waters of Hong Kong's iconic Victoria Harbor. Yet the scene was axed after producers discovered that conditions in the channel are potentially hazardous to Batman even when wearing his seamless bat outfit. The news pointed up the Hong Kong government’s failure to tackle the city's worsening pollution problems, which have been strongly criticized by international companies and foreign expatriates for years.

Citing two anonymous sources, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reported that Warner Brothers decided it could not let cast members risk their health by swimming in Victoria Harbor.

"There was supposed to be another scene where Batman jumps out of the back of a Hercules C130 [a four-engine turboprop aircraft] into Victoria Harbour.

The plan was for Batman to be seen jumping into the water and then climbing up some bamboo, or something similar, onto a pier," the South China Morning Post quoted an unnamed official with the production house as saying. "But when they checked a water sample, they found all sorts of things, salmonella and tuberculosis, so it was cancelled. Now the action will cut to inside a building."

The movie is a sequel to the 2005 blockbuster Batman Begins and stars Christian Bale as Batman, Heath Ledger as the Joker and Michael Caine as the butler Alfred. Christopher Nolan, the Academy Award-nominated director, will once more direct the film.

October Pictures, the Hong Kong production company managing the shoot, refused comment on the report.

Swimming in Victoria Harbor is not recommended to any one, not even Batman, as it has long been polluted by horrendous amounts of industrial runoff and residential sewage, WWF's conservation director Andy Cornish told the South China Morning Post.

Despite the unhealthy conditions, Hong Kong's Environmental Protection Department stressed that the government has completed the first stage of its Harbour Area Treatment Scheme for sewage. Ironically, Hong Kong government officials had earlier expressed concern over the possibility that noise pollution and traffic jams might affect the city during the nine-day location shoot of the Batman movie.

As Hong Kong's government has continually failed to solve the city's pollution problems, particularly its deteriorating air quality, the iconic Hong Kong image of Chinese junks has been replaced by others: a smoggy sea view and people holding their noses at intersections.

In the latest Global Competitiveness Index, released earlier this month by the World Economic Forum, Hong Kong saw its ranking drop to 12th from 10th last year, falling behind South Korea and the Netherlands. The report by the Geneva-based organization, canvassing the views of more than 11,000 executives, reflects growing fears that worsening pollution, rising costs and limited school places are eroding Hong Kong's comparative advantage.