Castlewood
Civilian
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2004
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- 795
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My friends make fun of me because I'm a movie buff. They name any movie, and I can tell you the director, the actors, quotes, etc. I memorized alot of Fight Club. I'm obsessed with Pulp Fiction, The Matrix, Vanilla Sky, American Psycho, Se7en, Cast Away, Memento, Heat, Crash.
You name it. I've seen it.
No movie matches the quality and brilliance of Batman Begins.
It's a bold statement, and some of you might laugh... but allow me to explain.
You see, aside from the fact that this was "the big return" after 8 years of being trapped in the mist of Schumacher's Fart known as Batman & Robin.... this movie means alot more than just that... to me, at least.
The funny thing you have to realize is, if Batman Begins was on HBO one day, and "the average movie-goer" flipped to the channel just as little Bruce was falling down the well, he/she would have NO CLUE that this was a Batman movie, and that's what I love about it. If you don't know who Bruce Wayne is, then you'll have no clue what this movie IS until an hour into it, when Batman himself suddenly shows up. It's so damn brilliant.
I think Nolan seriously treated this movie like it was The Godfather of superhero movies. Honestly... this movie is the best of the bunch, and goddammit, I think it's one of the best movies ever made. Bare with me, it gets worse...
Everytime I pop the DVD in, and I hear those bats flapping, the WB logo in Black&White, and then those thousands of bats flying across the screen, I get so PUMPED. It feels like I'm seeing it for the first time again. No movie I own gives me as much replay value as this does.
It's not even the fact that I'm a huge Batman fan. It's just a damn good movie! I completely despise Spider-Man, and I hated the movies, but if Nolan would've made Spider-Man Begins, and had it be that movie instead of Batman, I would've respected Spider-Man Begins just as much. It has nothing to do with the fact that I'm a Batman fanboy. Hopefully that makes sense?? Nolan's an amazing director, basically.
It's the little things about this movie that make it my all-time favorite:
- The Birthday party sequence (Liam Neeson's speech, with Bale's interactions).
- Cillian Murphy's acting. "He's here. The Batmaaaan."
- Virtually anything that Michael Caine did. The emotions from this man during the scene after the funeral are superb.
- Gary Oldman's simple approach.
- Tom Wilkinson's acting during the restaurant scene.
- When we first see Liam Neeson in the jail cell, and the music builds as he explains to Bale: "But, if you make yourself MORE than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, and if THEY can't stop you... you become something else entirely." ---- Pay attention to this scene in particular... the way the chords in the music progress and go higher as they cut to Liam's face as he says "And if THEY can't stop you".... and then when they cut back to his face as he says "A legend, Mr. Wayne"... watch how the frame is closer to his face than before. That's GOOD directing, dammit!!
- When Bale goes down into the cave, and the bats fly around him, and that music just builds... and builds... and EXPLODES, followed by a quick cut to Cillian Murphy's line "No more favors".
Nolan's eye for the camera is just so impressive. He has a real instinct, much like a painter knows how to move the brush on the canvas. This is a real "art film", in my opinion. It has "art" to it. It FEELS like looking at a painting and being moved by it, but you don't know why. The scene where Batman is standing on top of the building, motionless like a gargoyle overlooking the city as the camera pans around him and suddenly stops... that MOVES me.
Now, there ARE things that I DON'T like about "Begins".... such as the quick-editing action, of course. The way I see it... a painter isn't good at painting EVERYTHING. If you specialize in caricatures, you can't expect to be a master at landscapes. In my opinion, I would've been okay with NO ACTION in this film, but obviously Nolan knew that he had to do it... since it IS a Batman film, and people are expecting an action movie instead of a intellectual Godfather-ish movie.
So yeah... this is the greatest movie I've ever seen. As many movies as I've seen, and out of all the favorites on my long, LONG list, this one takes the cake by A LOT. And as much as I'm excited to see "The Dark Knight", I'm just not sure that it will hit me on an emotional level like this one did. This one started it all. This one set the gold standard.... and you can SEE how other movies are trying to "copy" it now. As Oldman said at the end, "You really started something." Nolan did, indeed.
You name it. I've seen it.
No movie matches the quality and brilliance of Batman Begins.
It's a bold statement, and some of you might laugh... but allow me to explain.
You see, aside from the fact that this was "the big return" after 8 years of being trapped in the mist of Schumacher's Fart known as Batman & Robin.... this movie means alot more than just that... to me, at least.
The funny thing you have to realize is, if Batman Begins was on HBO one day, and "the average movie-goer" flipped to the channel just as little Bruce was falling down the well, he/she would have NO CLUE that this was a Batman movie, and that's what I love about it. If you don't know who Bruce Wayne is, then you'll have no clue what this movie IS until an hour into it, when Batman himself suddenly shows up. It's so damn brilliant.
I think Nolan seriously treated this movie like it was The Godfather of superhero movies. Honestly... this movie is the best of the bunch, and goddammit, I think it's one of the best movies ever made. Bare with me, it gets worse...
Everytime I pop the DVD in, and I hear those bats flapping, the WB logo in Black&White, and then those thousands of bats flying across the screen, I get so PUMPED. It feels like I'm seeing it for the first time again. No movie I own gives me as much replay value as this does.
It's not even the fact that I'm a huge Batman fan. It's just a damn good movie! I completely despise Spider-Man, and I hated the movies, but if Nolan would've made Spider-Man Begins, and had it be that movie instead of Batman, I would've respected Spider-Man Begins just as much. It has nothing to do with the fact that I'm a Batman fanboy. Hopefully that makes sense?? Nolan's an amazing director, basically.
It's the little things about this movie that make it my all-time favorite:
- The Birthday party sequence (Liam Neeson's speech, with Bale's interactions).
- Cillian Murphy's acting. "He's here. The Batmaaaan."
- Virtually anything that Michael Caine did. The emotions from this man during the scene after the funeral are superb.
- Gary Oldman's simple approach.
- Tom Wilkinson's acting during the restaurant scene.
- When we first see Liam Neeson in the jail cell, and the music builds as he explains to Bale: "But, if you make yourself MORE than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, and if THEY can't stop you... you become something else entirely." ---- Pay attention to this scene in particular... the way the chords in the music progress and go higher as they cut to Liam's face as he says "And if THEY can't stop you".... and then when they cut back to his face as he says "A legend, Mr. Wayne"... watch how the frame is closer to his face than before. That's GOOD directing, dammit!!
- When Bale goes down into the cave, and the bats fly around him, and that music just builds... and builds... and EXPLODES, followed by a quick cut to Cillian Murphy's line "No more favors".
Nolan's eye for the camera is just so impressive. He has a real instinct, much like a painter knows how to move the brush on the canvas. This is a real "art film", in my opinion. It has "art" to it. It FEELS like looking at a painting and being moved by it, but you don't know why. The scene where Batman is standing on top of the building, motionless like a gargoyle overlooking the city as the camera pans around him and suddenly stops... that MOVES me.
Now, there ARE things that I DON'T like about "Begins".... such as the quick-editing action, of course. The way I see it... a painter isn't good at painting EVERYTHING. If you specialize in caricatures, you can't expect to be a master at landscapes. In my opinion, I would've been okay with NO ACTION in this film, but obviously Nolan knew that he had to do it... since it IS a Batman film, and people are expecting an action movie instead of a intellectual Godfather-ish movie.
So yeah... this is the greatest movie I've ever seen. As many movies as I've seen, and out of all the favorites on my long, LONG list, this one takes the cake by A LOT. And as much as I'm excited to see "The Dark Knight", I'm just not sure that it will hit me on an emotional level like this one did. This one started it all. This one set the gold standard.... and you can SEE how other movies are trying to "copy" it now. As Oldman said at the end, "You really started something." Nolan did, indeed.
I knew some people who didn't like how slow it was in the beginning, but I was completely riveted throughout the whole thing.
![[A]](https://superherohype-data.community.forum/avatars/s/70/70800.jpg?1270390582){kind=avatar}
