Batman Begins...

[TarpleyG]

...cool ass movie.  THIS is what Batman should have been from the get-go.  Starts a little slow but you need the back story for it to work.  Christian Bale puts Keaton, Clooney, and Kilmer to shame and Michael Caine as Alfred--good job whoever picked him.  Go see it if you are a Batman fan.  Oh, and the coolest part--the Tumbler rocks.  Gotta get me one of those.

Greg

[wasrjoe]

I liked it except for the anti-gun anti-killing anyone parts. But that was integral in the Batman comics - so they stayed true to them. Still a damn cool movie.

[Strings]

Actually... I seem to recall a couple panels of Batman with a gun in his hand. Although overall, he DIDN'T approve of firearms...

[BryanP]

Hunter Rose,

The original Batman from waaaay back when carried twin .45's.

[Strings]

not talking about WAAAY back: it was a fairly recent panel. Somewhere in the late 70s, mid 80s...

[InfidelSerf]

I'm looking forward to seeing it in a few hours.  I'm taking my GF's grandson to see it at the new IMAX theater.
It should be pretty good as an IMAX experience.

*update*
Ok this has to be one of the best action movies to come out of hollywierd in sometime.
Batman Begins is what the other silly attempts should have been trying to do.

It was dark, believable, and plausable.

I didn't really see a large anti-gun overtone.  There was one scene where he was conflicted and tossed a gun into the river.  But that was due to his inner demons since his parents were killed at gunpoint (I hope that's not considered a spoiler...especially since there really isn't anyway you could offer a spoiler for a movie that held so closely to the original concept behind the comic)

Katie Holmes' character said some silly pacifist things.  But she is supposed to be the contrast to the conflict he goes through.

All in all I give it two big thumbs up.

I give the new IMAX experience a moderate thumbs up.   It wasn't a true IMAX experience to me since the screen didn't wrap around and envelope the audience. And I'm not sure if it was actually filmed in 70mm or just adapted for the imax theater.  
It was better than your average movie screen though.. and it was loud  I hate going to movies and thinking the whole time.. "CRANK IT!"

Since it was the normal ticket price during a matinee.. it WAS worth the extra $2

[atek3]

I hated the silly "pro public transportation", "pro corporate social responsibility", "arms are bad (wayne enterprises)",  messages.  And tell katie holmes, ditch the taser and get a real gun, I mean come on, she worked for city gov. she could get a permit.  
It seems so silly to have one person, a "bat man" reponsible for stopping crime, when really, allowing people to carry concealed handguns would stop almost all of the street crime (muggings, assault, etc.)

atek3

[Strings]

actually, Batman is more believable than the idea of Joe Average "taking back the streets". Think about it: I could believe more in one guy getting completely fed up with "the system", and taking matters into his own hands, then I could in the general public doing the same. Of course, I wouldn't believe in that "one man" running around in tights and a cape: I see something more lilke Boondock Saints...

[TarpleyG]

I remember Bruce Wayne made a point that whatever this 'person' was had to be able to absorb the blame and hate that it would bring and that is why it had to anonymous.  Simply going out as Bruce Wayne would have accomplished nothing.

Greg

[Drizzt]

"I hated the silly "pro public transportation", "pro corporate social responsibility".... messages"

Actually, I liked it.  This shows that private citizens and corporations can make the choice to help, rather than the government seizing our money and distributing it as it sees fit.  Without governement in the social services business, I believe that private entities would take over the reins, and do it better and more efficiently.

[Glock Glockler]

"I hated the silly "pro public transportation", "pro corporate social responsibility".... messages"

Actually, I liked it.  This shows that private citizens and corporations can make the choice to help, rather than the government

Uhhhh, public transportation is the govt seizing our money and distributing it.  The opposite would be a private company getting into the transportation business.

[client32]

Starts a little slow but you need the back story for it to work.

For me, the best part was before the big action.  I liked seeing him transform into batman.

Oh, the final test - well I guess next to final test was cool as all get out.  (I like to call it "where's waldo")
I hope that one of the extras on the DVD will be something with that scene.  I would like different camera angles.  Possibily one overhead.

[Sean Smith]

The movie wasn't anti-gun or anti-killing or anti-corporate, really.  I think people are reading into it too much.

Bruce Wayne threw the gun he had away after he came within an inch of committing a vengence killing with it.  In this movie, Batman never actually says anything bad about guns.  In fact, nobody does.  Gordon complains about the police arms race with criminals, but he doesn't argue for gun control or bitch about the NRA... and we are talking about an arms race in a comic-book world where the bad guys almost wiped out the city.

Katie Holmes' character was going to use a downed cop's gun in self-defense against the crowd of crazy people.  Batman "saves" her... from having to kill the crazy people (who were basically innocent victims for plot reasons I won't give away).  No moral stigma or implication that she'd not blow away the crazies to protect herself and the kid was made.

She had a taser so the bad guy she took out could obviously live to fight in another sequel.  It also led her to being unarmed later when the crazy crowd was after her, and she had to scramble for the downed cop's gun.   Plus, I thought it was funny watching this big bad guy for the whole movie do the "kickin' chicken" with sparks flying off him.  

If you assume Gotham is basically New York, and a dystopian version at that, what makes you think she could get a CHL anyway?  Why would it be BETTER than real life, and allow lots of private citizens to be armed?  She armed herself with SOMETHING, and picked up a gun later without hesitation.  Seems pretty neutral to me.

Bruce Wayne's dad was a good guy because he tried to help people with his money of his own free will; I don't remember anything about him lobbying for higher taxes and more government spending.  All the positive results of what he did, including his post-death influence on others, was shown as people VOLUNTARILY doing good stuff.  The government as a solution for anything was hardly talked about, and you had 1 cop and 1 DA in a sea of government worthlessness.

Wayne Enterprises made lots of military gear, almost all of it presented in a *positive* light.  The inventor of all the stuff was a major good guy in the film, and his hobby was making "keep soldiers alive" stuff.  When is the last time you saw THAT in a movie?  The doomsday device thing was a R&D project that got shut down, and the prototype *stolen* sometime later.  The one corporate bad guy got taken out by capitalist means by the rightful owner.

[TarpleyG]

The one corporate bad guy got taken out by capitalist means by the rightful owner.

One of the best parts of the movie IMO.

Greg