Monday, April 02, 2012

B is for Batman Begins (#367)

Batman Begins was released in 2005, and now stands as a testament to Christopher Nolan's expanding creative abilities.  At the time of its release, Nolan was known for the superb Memento, though he'd also made Insomnia and Following, the movie that launched his career.  I would have seen it simply for being a Batman fan, and as a huge fan of Nolan's even at that point.  I didn't expect it to be the kind of movie it actually was.  Although heavily steeped in character, his vision of the Dark Knight (years before the untouchable Dark Knight) was not what I'd expected from Nolan, seeming a little too polished in the typical Hollywood veneer, a little too traditional, a little safe.  I struggled with this impression for years, actually.  I think I'm coming around.  In many ways, its resemblance to the comic book The Long Halloween had dulled the Nolan mystique (Insomnia was adapted from someone else's material, too, but I hadn't seen the original movie, so there was no reference, only creepy Robin Williams and very sleepy Al Pacino), or so I believed.  But then he made The Prestige, and The Dark Knight, and Inception.  Taking myself out of my own way, I think my opinion of Batman Begins will only grow in estimation.  It strength is the thing that was always obvious, that Nolan focused first on Bruce Wayne and then built everything else around him.  That's what a Batman story should be about, until Batman truly emerges.  In Batman Begins, we're simply not there yet.  In any Christopher Nolan movie, expect to discover the main character through the unique circumstances of their life.  That's what he does here.

Star Trek bonus!

B is for Bashir, Julian
(from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
The good doctor of the space station located at the "edge of the final frontier" was the heart and soul of the development that took Deep Space Nine from its early rough edges to the grandiosity that it attained over seven seasons.  He grew up more literally than Sisko's kid, and never is that more apparent than in the metamorphosis of his relationships with Miles O'Brien and Garak, the "plain, simple" Cardassian tailor.  Portrayed by Alexander Siddig, who has gone off to a well-deserved career in the movies, Bashir is one of the great characters of Star Trek.

A-to-Z Challenge!

1 comment:

Michael Abayomi said...

I just noticed that our choices had in fact intersected once before. This was the movie that prompted me to do a movie theme for the A-Z challenge. I remember waking up on Day 1 without any idea of what to do. But then I had an irrepressible desire to write this particular review:

http://michaelabayomi.blogspot.com/2012/04/batman-begins-movie-review.html

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