Bat. Fuckin'. Man.

That sounds unpleasant.

That just took me to a Batman/Gordon place. (Because one of the nicknames for Batman is, simply, "the Bat," so -- you can perhaps understand my interpretation of the first word in Sean's profane yet succinct movie review.)

My one addition to all the Batman Begins furor is this;-

A little over a third of the way into the movie I said to myself, "My god this movie is astounding. I think I've been putting up with so much mediochre shit these last few years that I'd forgotten what a real movie could be."

Now, in the light of day, this seems odd because the last few years brought some astonishing works, not least among them the LotR trilogy. I think that what was different here was that Batman Begins felt more like a drama than an action movie, and with that brought a dramatic depth and sincerity to a group of characters I've enjoyed for decades.

The director and writer were interviewed a few weeks ago and do have films 2 & 3 plotted. Now let's hope the WB doesn't get twitchy and interfere more with the next couple. Hope springs eternal.

I noticed what people were talking about with the fight sequences, but I felt they'd made a conscious decision to not be an action movie, so the fight sequences were not shot in the normal action style. I liked it.

As much as I love Tim Burton, I really think he tried to downplay the scariness. Rewatching Batman , The Joker wasn't scary. He was freakish and strange, but he wasn't scary.

I Agree wrt the first movie, but I thought the Pengiun and Catwoman were... well.. OK, maybe not scary, but completely uncompromising. Which is as good as scary in my book.

Just don't make Oswald a flippered freak again. As much as I enjoyed DeVito as Penguin, I'd like a return to villainy for villainy's sake.

How was DeVito not villainous for villainy's sake? He wasn't a mutant or anything. He was just an ugly baby who was raised by penguins and it made him fucked up, yo.

the fight sequences were not shot in the normal action style. I liked it.

I think it was very normal action style -- the fight scenes seem to be getting choppier and blurrier as time goes by. If anything, I give him a pass on being typical, but really I want so much more (and for a large part, got it).

Saw The Batdude this evening and really enjoyed it. Beautifully shot and well-acted (especially Liam Neeson and Gary Oldman). I didn't have the great love for it that most folks do, but thought it was a damn good film.

I'm with ita. My experience has been the blurry, too close, hand-held fight scenes have become pretty much action movie standard these days and it drives me nuts. I agree the ninja ranks fight scene totally rocked the house, though.

That said, I loved the movie. It was totally what a Batman movie should be though I could have done without the huge flying train crash explodey thing. I loved the casting, barring Katie Holmes, who I thought was merely acceptable. Then again, I never watched Dawson's Creek or anything else she's been in, so I've don't have any other performances to compare this one to. I did love how her character took out the Scarecrow though. I laughed and laughed. And they completely got Batman's handling of the criminals pitch perfect. I do hope the next movie actually focuses on the detective aspect of the character, though. thing, though.

My other complaint would be what's up with the women in the Batman movies always figuring out Bruce is Batman ? I mean, it really shouldn't be that easy or else he'd be dead pretty quick.

Kalshane, I think it was easy this time because he told her who he was. Hopefully that's not SOP.

True, I just find it a little ridiculous that in every movie the "love interest" finds out who he is. Hopefully that's the only thing we'll see carry over from the previous movies and they break the pattern with the next one.

Random bit of curiousity, I've gathered that in the comics that Bat-family's costumes are some kind of hand-wavy kevlar-spandex blend, but when did that first get introduced? I know originally the costumes were just cloth (and were in TAS), though the movies have pretty much consistantly said the batsuit is body armor.

True, I just find it a little ridiculous that in every movie the "love interest" (spoiler)

Eh, in the comics these days, every love interest finds out who he is. I mean, it's nice that the Bat's getting laid and all, but the decowling is just SUCH a silly production number...

I've gathered that in the comics that Bat-family's costumes are some kind of hand-wavy kevlar-spandex blend

It's a Kevlar/Nomex blend, which I'm shocked to find is real in addition to being non-Kosher.