Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine Batman Begins Discussion ... SPOILERS!

Just got finished watching it twice today. I loved it all! Best Batman movie out of them all.

I liked it. There are some things I may have done differently. Ra Al Ghul was awesome. by far my favorite bat villain in the comics and now films. The Scarecrow was awesome. Batman just looked kinda silly to me. I may be getting old. I guess Christian Bale was so cool as a martial artist warrior i kinda didn't care for the Batsuit.

But the movie was very cool overall. I guess in the sequel the Batman scenes may be in better "tune" with the rest of the film.

Saw it yesterday. The audience applauded at the end.

THAT'S how good this is.

Stuff I was uncomfortable with at first - an Asian Ra's Al Ghul, and Ra's being part of the group that trained Bruce - made perfect sense toward the end.

Liam Neeson LOOKS like a young Ra's. I never saw that coming.

And this is the best Jim Gordon we've seen in the movies. Boy, wasn't that last scene fun?

Let's do this again in two years. PLEASE.

I couldn't see anything wrong as I watched it.

No plot holes and the characters did things for legitimate rerason, not just to advance the plot.

I thought Michael Caine did a great job as Alfred.

Definitely going to see it again.

I think it was better than the first Batman with Michael Keaton (and I think a flip book would be better than the 3 sequels)

Forbes did an estimate of Batman's fortune and an article on what it costs to become a superhero (over $3 million a year). I had no idea that a good butler would earn $200,000 a year! Got this link from The Great Curve blog:

Bruce Wayne: $6.3 billion

OK, so he also has a couple billion dollars. Batman's alter ego, Bruce Wayne, is an old-money heir and the owner of Wayne Enterprises, a massive international-technology conglomerate. In our Forbes Fictional Fifteen, we estimated his net worth at $6.3 billion. If he were a real guy, he'd be the 28th richest person in America, right behind News Corp.'s (nyse: NWS - news - people ) Rupert Murdoch.

I thought DC always said he was like the third richest man in america? I may be wrong. It just seems like i remember that.

Well, I thought it was great. By far the best portrayal of Batman ever on screen, IMO. And it gave me hope for DC movies in the future.

The actors were just absolutely, mind-blowing amazing. Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman, as any one of us could have predicted, were nothing short of amazing. Gary Oldman, a very underated actor IMO, was excellent, and I’m very pleased that such an effort was given to make Jim Gordon on film equal Jim Gordon in good Batman comics.

Liam Neesen stole the show. I like that the twist surprised me too. EDE, it actually *is* part of cannon that Bruce trained with Ra’s assassins, although he didn’t realize it at the time. He trained with Henri Ducard in the comics (Ra’s top man), who taught him how to be a detective. ‘Ducard’ is the name Liam Neesen uses early on in the movie.

Tom Wilkinson was excellent too. I love how nasty an antagonist he can be in small roles. Cilian Murphy was brilliant. Hell, the guy who played Dr. Thomas Wayne was great!

Above all though, Christian Bale really nailed it for me. He just absolutely blew me away. Smart and tough, but also very vulnerable and with a sense of humor—now that’s the Batman that I want.

I didn’t mind Katie Holmes or her character at all. And there’s still plenty of room to bring in Harvey Dent if they go forward.

I do like how the pace was a bit slower at first—there’s a lot of ground to cover and I like how they’ve taken their time in establishing Bruce as Batman. I can easily see how the story of Batman/Ra’s Al Ghul could continue in future movies, with the Lazarus Pits and Talia being brought in if they ever decide to go that route. It would be worth it IMO for the chemistry b/t Bale and Neesen alone.

I love how we saw Bruce as Bruce first and then the transformation into Batman, with Bruce Wayne left by the wayside (and Alfred’s reaction).

The ending scene was very cool.

Overall, I can’t think of any other superhero movies ever that could be qualified as better, other than maybe Spider-Man 2 or X-Men 2. I really enjoyed it that much.

aw crap!! I wrote this long post about my thoughts on the film and there was some glitch when i submitted and it's gone - crap!

I liked the movie a lot, blah blah blah...

Oh, and I think it'd be cool if the Joker kills Rachel in the next film - it'd personalize their enmity and clear the decks for Harvey to be Batman's main ally in the D.A.'s office (it might even be surprising).

I saw it this morning at the local IMAX theater and I loved it. Trying to make sense out of the superhero mythic (like Unbreakable) was the film's strongest point. What's this Batman's reaction going to be when he realizes that there are other superheroes? Can they possibly fit a Robin into this series?

Can someone explain Ra's Al Ghul to me? Was Liam Neeson always Ra's Al Ghul, or did he take on the mantle after the orginal was killed in the fire? Or did Rah's Al Ghul transfer himself into Liam's body?

Incidentally, this movie is not exactly burning through the box office like a hot knife through butter. Given the fact that this one cost 150 million to make, I don't know if WB is going to be too wild about a sequel if it doesn't gross at least 200 mill.

Of course, there are overseas reciepts and DVD sales to think about, but I would only call this one a mild success, at least by box office standards.

He was always Ra's -- the other guy(s) were just misdirection.

That's what I thought, Drake - except for one comment that confused me (and it doesn't take much to do that. ). At the end, Liam said "You left me for dead." That wasn't true, because Bruce carried him down the mountain. However, he did leave the one he thought was Ra's for dead.

I think I remember someone reporting that it was the 11th highest opening for a Wednesday movie -- not exactly something to crow about.

On the other hand, unlike most "blockbusters", this one will probably generate good word of mouth and maybe drag in people who didn't originally think of seeing a Batman movie.

Ok, I'm going to try another Batman review (my last one got lost as I tried to post it):

-- I think this is a great movie! This has a chance of holding up better than Burton's.
-- I really liked how they took all the various elements (Ra's, the mob, Scarecrow and Gotham's redemption, not to mention Bruce's personal journey) and made it a fairly tight story.
-- I'm not going to say that I saw the plot twist with Ra's coming, but there was a point where it crossed my mind (I had noticed "Ducard's" facial hair and thought it looked like Ra's). Very good non-use of the Lazarus pit to set up us comic book geeks though who just assumed that's how he'd come back.
-- One of the things I was really glad to see that was sorely missing in the other films was the friendship with Jim Gordon. The groundwork is laid very well here and even gave us the classic "Batman pops in and out of Gordon's office" scene as well as a Bat-signal scene! (for a film that's more "realistic", I'm wouldn't have thought they'd use it (better than a Batphone at least)), but they pulled it off.
-- Great performances all around, (though Katie is still a bit of a lightweight) but Cillian Murphy nailed it, imo. Just creepy enough, but also restrained for a Bat villain (lord knows previous actors have chewed the scenery to shreds).
-- Some have commented that there was no point to Holmes' character, but I can see why she's there: plot wise, she moves things along with the DA's office more expeditiously than the Batman could and characterization wise, she represents what Bruce has to sacrifice to be a hero. At first it was because she didn't like the Bruce Wayne that he had become, then because she couldn't be with the Batman that he had become. She represents that lost piece of his childhood and as such functions as a compass leading him back to himself.
-- The Joker tease at the end drew some applause in the theater I was in.
-- I almost can't believe they did the "poison the water supply" gag, but they made it work (sorta -- that microwave weapon that doesn't harm people at all seemed questionable). At least they can't repeat Joker's "laughing gas the people of Gotham" plot again.

Minor quibbles:
-- It was just a bit too convenient that Lucius Fox was there all by himself in that department with all these crime fighting goodies. And wouldn't someone who worked on that car recognize it at some point? (since it was splashed all over the news) It's pretty unique. A lot of people must be familiar with it from all that military testing.
-- Fox says that it'd take weeks to mass produce an antidote, but a whole lot of people were exposed to that gas. Are all thos other cops and civilians dead?
-- The gas didn't really seem to instill that much fear, just some freaky hallucinations. I guess I can understand them not wanting to have people screaming throughout all those scenes, but Katie and that little boy didn't look any different from some people I've seen at the club at night
-- I kinda wish Ghul wore something other than a regular suit for the final battle.

It was still good enough to be number one again this week, beating out "Bewitched". I agree with Drake. This one will will most likely stay steady, earning money while others are a flash and burn out quickly.

Don't know if it has been mentioned before, but, somehow, I just don't remember the Scarecrow having that much sex-appeal in the comics.

Unless War of the Worlds, Fantastic Four, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Dukes of Hazzard cause everyone to just forget about it. But on the other hand, maybe a good Fourth of July weekend will bolster it.

Still holding at #3, beating out a number of new movies. Next week it'll probably drop to four with Charlie out, unless War keeps on tanking.

Here is a Batman quiz, similar to the FF quiz I posted in that thread.

Ouch! There's one serious trick question there, if you're not paying close attention!

I was. I got 100% on this one.

I got a 100% but four were just guesses. I should buy a lottery ticket today.

Aced that puppy.

Unless War of the Worlds, Fantastic Four, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Dukes of Hazzard cause everyone to just forget about it. But on the other hand, maybe a good Fourth of July weekend will bolster it.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Sorry but I just had to point this out.

Batman Begins - $201 million ($361 worldwide), 7 weeks in Top 10 (3rd highest grossing movie of the year), Ranked 6th in all time Comic Book Adaptions

Fantastic Four - $148 million ($270 worldwide), 5 weeks in Top 10 (10th highest grossing movie of the year), Ranked 11th in all time Comic Book Adaptions

Batman had more staying power, like I predicted.