Batman Begins

He just had to tick off the boss...

Yet another origin story, Batman Begins is set in a slightly different universe than other Batman series. Christopher Nolan wanted to take a step away from the super-beings present in many other story arcs, and set this series of Batman movies in a more realistic world. Batman Begins follows Bruce Wayne in his training with The League of Shadows, an organization run by Ra's Al Ghul, who are essentially ninjas who strive for balance in the world. In the grand scheme of alignments, The League falls under True Neutral, striving for balance between good and evil, law and chaos, regardless of cost.

After time in harsh physical and psychological training at The League's hands, Bruce returns to Gotham City to find it in a terrible state. Crime and corruption run rampant throughout the society and Bruce begins to take steps to becoming the Batman in order to bring the city back to order. Being a billionaire certainly has its perks when funding a one man assault on crime. Using his company's resources, Batman is born.

This is a very technical Pew-Pew gun. For... spelunking... yeah...

After taking on a crime lord in the city, Batman finds his first rival in the form of Scarecrow, a master of psycological chemicals and poisons. Scarecrow uses a toxin that induces horrible visions into it's victims, chemically induced fear. His true purpose in Gotham is later revealed, as well as his accomplices.

Someone forgot to hold their breath

Visual: 5 out of 5

  The use of fear inducing chemicals plays a fair role in this movie, and the way it is portrayed is very well done. The action sequences are amazing to watch, as should be expected from a Batman movie. Cool gadgets, ninja combat, and high budget explosions. What more could you ask for?

Story: 5 out of 5

  Seeing Batman as a true human, not someone who trained in magic, not fighting alongside Superman, his enemies using chemicals instead of sorcery or mythical powers, is refreshing. He bleeds, gains significant injuries, and is limited to (movie) physics. The story of his training with The League mixes nicely with his first battle for Gotham's soul.

Overall 5 out of 5

I'm always a sucker for Batman movies and Christopher Nolan does an amazing job of creating a Batman series set in a realistic world. If you're looking for a DC movie to watch, this particular trilogy has an amazing start with Batman Begins.

Batman: Year One

I've always been a fan of the Batman series. Something about having an entirely mortal man fighting crime in a city with chemically, magically, and cosmically enhanced heroes and villains. However, it's easy to look over the fact that as a human, Batman didn't always kick as much butt as he does now. He's come a long way from his first days as a crime fighter. Batman: Year One is an animated movie that shows exactly that, his first year of being Batman in Gotham.

In a style of production that reminds me a lot of the Sin City movies, Year One is supported by a large amount of narrative. Bruce Wayne covers a fair amount of it but surprisingly, this movie focuses more on James Gordon. It shows a lot of James' struggle with the corrupt police force and his first interactions with Batman. It also is an interesting view of Gotham, pre-Batman. It looks incredibly dirty, shady, and sad. 

She knows that long hair is how you get dead

The movie tweaks a lot of details that are different than what I know about the Batman universe (HUGE disclaimer: I haven't read the comic books, so I don't know that mythos. Don't rip into me for this please). One example is that the idea for using a bat as his symbol comes to Bruce when a bat literally crashes through his window instead of from a traumatic interaction as a child. Another small detail (That could be comic-accurate, I don't know) is that Batman trusts Harvey Dent before he trusts James Gordon, or the fact that Catwoman is a prostitute before becoming a master thief.

From his humble days of getting solidly decked by a hooker, to dodging the unavoidable death beams from Darkseid, Batman has certainly come a long way.

Look at that hook! Not like she just jumped out of a two story building...

Story: I'm a sucker for Batman stuff, so getting a larger view of what Gotham was like before Batman cleaned it up was a great time for me. It's also somehow satisfying to see Batman get his butt kicked in a street fight, no super villains involved.

- 5 out of 5

Visual: Some of the scenes are a little disorientating because of the older style animation getting crossed with more modern movement animations for backgrounds. It does do a very good job of emulating the old style of animation.

- 4 out of 5

Overall: It's a nice addition to the Batman universe, and worth the time to get a little more background on just how cool James Gordon is.

- 5 out of 5

He holsters the gun and gives the other guy the bat. Because he's awesome.

Toodles!