Steyn on Batman BeginsHe didn't enjoy it as much as I did,
although we have a lot of the same criticisms:
But not here. In 1939, Bob Kane told the Batman’s origin in 12 panels — mugger shoots mom and dad, young Bruce Wayne vows in his candlelit bedroom to avenge their deaths ‘by spending the rest of my life warring on all criminals’, works out at the gym, and then, just when he’s in need of a secret identity, catches sight of a bat. Boom — and we’re off and running. Nolan’s ‘reinvention’, by contrast, consists mainly of making a meal out of everything. We don’t see the Batman until the second half of the movie, and then only in the briefest of glimpses as he takes on the hoods and punks who work for crime boss Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson). Meanwhile, we spend inordinate amounts of time watching him fine-tune the synthetic fibre on his body suit.Yep, that was my problem as well--the long build-up at the front end of the movie. Steyn does point out one problem; that it's all stuff we've seen before. I'd forgotten to mention the car chase scene, but it was pretty banal and unbelievable at the same time; after seeing the car put through its paces earlier in the movie it's simply not credible that police vehicles would be able to keep anywhere near it.
