Batman Begins

[felipef]

The Knight Soars Into Legend
BATMAN BEGINS

RATING: A

Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson, Rutger Hauer, Ken Wantanabe and Morgan Freeman. Music by James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer, Edited by Lee Smith, Production Design by Nathan Crowley, Director of Photography Wally Pfister, Based on Batman Created by Bob Kane, Story by David S. Goyer, Screenplay by Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer, Produced by Emma Thomas, Charles Roven, Larry Franco, Directed by Christopher Nolan.

Rated PG-13, Running Time 140 mins., 2.40 to 1 Anamorphic Scope Aspect Ratio.

With the arrival of the "Blade" and "X-Men" films a few years back, it appeared that a new age of superhero films was upon us. Fresh young directors were given a shot at realizing comic book adaptations as serious pieces of art and drama, not campy summer entertainment. There have been a few misguided efforts in between, but with today's visual effects technology, the comic book characters that have brought us joy over the decades can now be fully captured on the big screen. While many of those hits gave new life to Marvel Comics, DC Comics hasn’t fared so well. Its greatest franchises, “Superman” and “Batman”, were nearly destroyed due to bad sequels. Christopher Nolan, director of such intelligent psychological thrillers as "Following", the "Insomnia" remake and the cult hit "Memento" may seem like an unlikely choice to re-invent "Batman", but then again so was Bryan Singer who went from "The Usual Suspects" to "X-Men". With studios actually listening to the ideas of intelligent filmmakers like Nolan and Singer it seems as if Hollywood is returning to the era of the seventies when an auteur was pretty much left alone with no creative interference from the studio.

Today's high production budgets keep a studio from not completely interfering, but it’s a welcome change to see filmmakers of immense talent allowed to create new visions that respect the material. I'm reminded of Kevin Smith's story where "Batman" sequel director Joel Schumacher told him, "You see kid, it's all about the toys." You're absolutely wrong, buddy. Sure, promotional tie-ins like toys, fast food and print media add to the profits, but the bottom line is that it's all about a good story, not toys. Chris Nolan obviously knows this because with "Batman Begins" he has crafted a bold and visionary piece of comic art that's not just a good comic book movie but a damn fine film, period. It’s not just the best summer movie, but the best film of the year and what I feel to be the best comic book movie ever made. With this film we are in a new age for DC comics and fans of the character have something to feel good about again.

Nolan not only brought his own ideas to the table to redefine Batman, but listened to the hearts of fans, by bringing aboard "Blade" screenwriter David Goyer and loosely basing the story on "Sin City" creator Frank Miller's classic comic series "Batman: Year One." Faced with the impossible task of casting the right actor to play Bruce Wayne/Batman, he has exceeded expectations by choosing fan favorite Christian Bale, best known for his terrifying turn in "American Psycho." The film opens with Bruce Wayne coming to the end of a journey that has brought him across the world. His self-imposed exile from his home in Gotham city is the result of the guilt and anger that has tormented him since his loving parents were gunned down in front of him as a child. He's trained his mind and body in various methods of self-defense, but it isn't enough. Immersing himself in low brow underworld activity to better understand the criminal mind, he lands in a Bhutanese jail where he's approached by a mysterious man known as Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson).

Ducard is a representative of the enigmatic Ra's al Ghul (Ken Wantanabe) the leader of a secret vigilante group known as The League of Shadows, greatly feared amongst the criminal underworld. He's sees great potential in Bruce because of his desire for vengeance and offers to train him to be a force for justice. "You know how to fight six men, I will teach you to defeat six hundred," he proclaims. The training is not just physical, incorporating various forms of combat, but also mental, as Bruce must achieve perfect harmony between his body and mind in order to "turn fear against those who prey on the fearful." To manipulate the fears of others you must first master you're own," Ducard explains as Bruce begins an inward journey to control the rage and guilt that haunt him. He must also confront his great fear of bats, the side effect of a childhood discovery of a cave. Ducard also teaches Bruce that he must defeat his enemies psychologically as well as physically. "Theatricality and deception are powerful agents," he demonstrates with clever tools that Bruce will one day incorporate as Batman.

When his training is complete Ra's al Ghul offers Bruce the chance to lead his army in the destruction of Gotham which has reached its peak of corruption and social disorder. Bruce must first prove his worth by executing a condemned prisoner, but he refuses, choosing to let the man live to face justice at the hands of the law. This is the important turning point in the Batman mythos that resonates to this day. Tim Burton's original Batman film may have been the most successful but it had many flaws, chief amongst them was Batman blowing up a factory of goons instead of bringing them before the law. The decision to use non lethal force is a code that Batman continually refuses to break and it defines him as a character to this day. When Bruce refuses Ra's offer he barely escapes with his life and after a seven year absence returns to Gotham with his new abilities.

Awaiting Bruce in Gotham is his devoted butler Alfred Pennyworth, the man who practically raised him since his parent's death, gloriously portrayed by Michael Caine. Alfred sees a change in Bruce immediately and despite his outrageous ideas for preserving law and justice, he agrees to aid him on his mission because he sees the legacy of his altruistic father within his eyes. "As a man, I'm flesh and blood, I can be destroyed. But as a symbol I can be incorruptible," Bruce explains. Returning to his birth right, the billion dollar corporation known as Wayne Enterprises, he discovers that his father's company may not have been left in the right hands. The once philanthropic family business is now teeming with corruption at the hands of CEO Richard Earle (Rutger Hauer.) The ideals of the Wayne family business have been tossed aside in favor of making heavy arms manufacturing its cornerstone.

Bruce sees an opportunity in the company's Applied Science division and recruits the services of scientist Lucius Fox, an old friend of his father's who helped him design and build the city's elevated subway system. Fox's workshop is filled with various tools and weapons designed for non lethal warfare including a set of body armor deemed too expensive to mass produce for soldiers and an interesting tank/car hybrid known as "The Tumbler" that has the ability to travel across almost any terrain. With his new weapons and vehicle Bruce sets out to combat evil and corruption in the city under the guise of a bat, the nocturnal creature of his nightmares. His first target is organized crime boss Carmine Falconi, ingeniously played with a "New Yawk" accent by Oscar nominated British actor Tom Wilkinson.

Falconi rules Gotham with an iron fist, controlling businesses, the police and even the court judge who allowed Joe Chill, the man who murdered Bruce's parents to be set free. Anxious to dig up some dirt on his prey, Batman seeks out Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), the beat cop who offered him solace as a child at the time of his parent's death. Now a Sergeant, Gordon is one of the few honest people left in Gotham, along with Assistant District Attorney Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes), Bruce's childhood friend. Rachel was there for Bruce at a time when he was filled with rage and wanted to shoot his parents’ killer dead in an act of revenge. "Justice is about harmony, revenge is about making you feel better," she warned him. Her harsh words and attitude towards Bruce's desires where the right words he needed to re-evaluate his life and purpose. Now her investigation into Falconi's activities has put her in danger, but Batman discovers that his problems are just beginning.

Falconi has been engaging in suspicious activity with Dr. Jonathan Crane (Cillian Murphy) a prominent psychologist and head of the institution known as Arkham Asylum. Crane's unorthodox methods involve the experimental use of a fear toxin he's developed that paralyzes his victims with fear and is enhanced when he dons a burlap sack that makes him appear as a "Scarecrow." Batman barely survives a confrontation with the Scarecrow but quickly discovers that Crane's employer is the most dangerous adversary he'll ever encounter. He plans to use Crane's toxin to destroy Gotham and restore balance to society. He is cunning, intelligent and a man Bruce Wayne thought he destroyed in the Himalayan Mountains: Ra's al Ghul.

"Batman Begins" is a breathless piece of entertainment that takes the comic book genre and filmmaking to new heights. I have not felt this enthusiastic about a film in quite some time. Chris Nolan's vision is not only visually stimulating, but dramatically moving with a humanity beating at the center of it. This is the first Batman film shot in an anamorphic widescreen ratio (as comic book movies should be) and Nolan fills his frame not just with haunting imagery, but incredible performances. I knew this film would work when the top notch cast got bigger and bigger. Just about every actor in this film has either won or been nominated for an Oscar and the fact that they signed on is an example that they trusted Nolan as a filmmaker as well as the incredible screenplay.

Liam Neeson brings forth the warmth and confidence we've know him to exude as a mentor, but there is also a bit of danger beneath his performance that’s completely enjoyable. Ducard becomes Bruce's friend, but he also shares an opposing and destructive viewpoint, one that Bruce finds unacceptable. "Every time a civilization reaches the pinnacle of its decadence, we return to restore the balance." It sounds like cheesy super villain talk, but coming out of Neeson's mouth it’s believable. Neeson's strength as a protagonist is handsomely fortified by Wantanabe, who made a lasting impression in "The Last Samurai" and does so again here; using the power of his eyes and speaking very little dialogue.

Bringing a bit more villainy to the table, it's good to see character actors like Rutger Hauer, Cillian Murphy and Tom Wilkinson in supporting roles that give them more than the average amount of screen time. Hauer oozes a type of sleazy Donald Trump appeal, while Wilkinson feels right at home in the skin of a man who knows the ins and outs of Gotham city. Wilkinson is not only a perfect Batman villain, but the complexities of his character could have fit right into a period gangster picture. There's a sense humor to his menace because he truly enjoys what he does. Then there's Murphy, the young actor that broke out in "28 Days Later” who develops a weapon that could turn Gotham's citizens into the savage zombies of that film. For such a young performer he has a lot of power behind his eyes that makes you question whether this practitioner of psychology is actually the crazy one. "I respect the mind's power over the body; it's why I do what I do.”

Morgan Freeman's role as Lucius Fox is minimal, but he makes every scene count and has the difficult task of conveying the science of Batman. I don't think someone other than Freeman could have made the plausibility of Batman's abilities believable or interesting to listen to like he does. It seemed like a fairytale wish come true that Nolan scored Michael Caine as Alfred, but then again a friend of mine once stated Caine goes where the money is. With the exception of Efrem Zimbalist Jr.'s vocal work on the animated series, Alfred has never been correctly portrayed before. Caine has made the clever choice of playing the role straightforward. Any occasional wisecrack about Bruce's activities is done with intelligence not as a wink to the audience. He may seem rather stiff, but that's exactly who Alfred is -- an English gentleman who often hides his emotions because he’s the moral rock that Bruce depends on.

Another bit of perfect casting is Gary Oldman's Jim Gordon, the only law man Batman feels he can trust and that we know will go on to become the Police Commissioner of Gotham. It's evident from their first meeting that Gordon and Batman are forced to trust each other, but also that they have chemistry. They put themselves on the line for one another because they share a common goal and it's "the beginning of a beautiful friendship." I enjoyed the arc of Oldman's performance and the fact that he's initially not sure about this nut in a bat suit, but realizes he's trying to do the right thing. The most powerful moment they share is their dialogue in the last scene of the film which resonates long after it’s over.

Katie Holmes may seem like a former teen TV star thrust into the role of the damsel in distress, but surprisingly it’s the best female performance I've seen in a superhero film in many years. I truly hope that her current media coverage as the new arm candy of a major Hollywood actor doesn't cause audiences to fail to notice what a talented performer she really is. Let's not forget the credibility she established with the mature performances she gave in "The Gift" and the indie favorite "Pieces of April." She has the difficult assignment of being the moral center of the film and the impressive determination behind her ideals makes the hero's evolution more realistic. I enjoyed how she cuts a younger Bruce Wayne down to size when she discovers he plans to shoot his parents' killer by slapping sense into him. "You're father would be ashamed of you."

Linus Roache is an actor vaguely familiar to American audiences but his brief appearance as Bruce's father Dr. Thomas Wayne carries emotional resonance. From the moment he comforts his son after suffering a broken leg from his fall in the bat cave to the moment of his death, you understand why Bruce felt tremendous guilt over the loss of his father. Here was a man who was a philanthropist that nearly bankrupted his fortune in an effort to aid the people of Gotham during a financial depression. He even found time to work as a doctor at a hospital as well as be a loving father and devoted husband. What's incredible about Roache's performance is that you feel his presence throughout the film long after his death.

The incredible performances are backed up by some amazing action sequences that are ingeniously designed with realism as well as imagination. The new Batmobile may look a little rough around the edges, but it’s more practical and threatening than the custom made Corvette with airplane engine from the Tim Burton films. It's showcased beautifully in an incredible action sequence that leads to a police chase across rooftops and over a freeway. The fighting style of Batman incorporates a close quarter combat style known as Keysi that's impressive but not showcased very well because of tight camera angles. Still, there is a method to the fighting and it shows that Batman is not completely invincible.

What I enjoyed most was the science of Batman, the explanation of how all of his tools worked. His cowl is made of hard graphite and the body armor he employs is a prototype survival suit designed to withstand bullets as well as electrical weaponry. $300,000 was deemed too expensive for Wayne Enterprises to spend on each suit for soldiers, but its right up Bruce's alley. There’s also a bit of wry humor in the fact that Bruce and Alfred have to make separate orders for many of the custom made pieces of his costume in order not to attract attention. The costume itself turns Bale into a winged shadow and his facial features often disappear within it. We always see Batman using cables and grappling hooks to travel across rooftops, but his ability to soar is given a dose of reality with the material his cape is made of. The cape is composed of something Freeman calls 'memory cloth' a material that alters its shape when it receives an electric current from a device in Batman's glove. To be realistic all of this is really science-fiction nonsense, but the fact that the filmmakers thought it through shows their commitment to make everything as real as possible. None of this would work without a good story to back it up.

The heart of Batman is the journey of Bruce Wayne to confront his internal demons and evolve into a force for justice. He becomes a symbol for hope and law & order in a city that exists in shadow literally and judicially. The problem is he dresses up like a bat to do it. Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne speaks the truth when he jokingly states that “A man who dresses up as a bat clearly has issues,” but I can’t think of a single actor who could convey the drama of the character’s existence and his physicality. Batman is crazy; he’s a loon, a schizophrenic that grew out of the manic depressive dreams of creator Bob Kane.

Bale plays the character on various levels as we see him evolve from a frustrated young man, to an eager pupil, to a vigilante and eventually a dark avenger for the people of Gotham. He also has a knack for being humorous when he has to be, particularly when Bruce Wayne must act as a drunk and spoiled playboy. Even his vocal performance, the animalistic low octave his voice drops to as Batman is impressive. It’s amazing that in such a short time he was able to pack on the 63 pounds he lost to play an insomniac in “The Machinist” plus an additional 20 pounds of bulk to convincingly be a superhero. He has been the fan favorite for this role and although he was once rumored to play Anakin Skywalker, I think Batman is the edgier and better written role he deserves. Bale is the center of the picture and he holds it together very well. The previous Batman films made the mistake of having the villains outshine the hero and their outrageous antics ruined the stories and made those films feel dated. The villains here are real, flesh and blood individuals, not colorful and flamboyant show-stopping characters.

Chris Nolan has once again brought onboard his cinematographer Wally Pfister, who shares his roots in independent cinema. They’ve painted a broad canvas and have various technological tools at their disposal, but I was amazed that they decided to stick with realism. Many of the film’s visual effects are practical and there is just the slightest bit of CGI for Scarecrow’s nightmarish visions and the impressive Gotham city skyline which resembles a combination of New York and Chicago. The film is also saturated with a rusty brown color scheme that has a mesmerizing effect on the subconscious. The score composed by James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer has no real theme like Danny Elfman’s operatic cues from the original film, but that’s okay. This is the beginning of Batman’s legacy and within this story he hasn’t become completely defined yet. I do wish that Howard had scored the film alone since Zimmer tends to write his music with a bit of that big brass "Bruckheimer" sound.

There isn’t much more I can say about “Batman Begins” and I’ve said a lot. I’ve said a whole lot, but my enthusiasm for something this good sometimes gets the better of me. The film is a cinematic masterpiece that redefines the way movies should be made. Christopher Nolan has crafted a piece of old-fashioned film making that at the same time brings a new flavor to the pot. It’s inspiring and gave me a newfound optimism towards the way movies should be made. Every aspect of the production, from the script, to the casting, photography and editing has been executed like a grand battle plan that was obviously well thought out and done with great care. It’s refreshing to see so many talents come together and show so much respect for the material. Whether you’re making a drama, comedy, action picture, or even a TV commercial, this is the perfect example of how everyone in their respective departments should work together in harmony. I would never have thought this would be my favorite film of the year so far and I’ve seen a lot. Watching the film I couldn’t help but wonder how the late Bob Kane would have felt. I think he would have.

 http://www.latinoreview.com/films_2005/wb/batman/review.html

felipef38509.9020717593

[felipef]

Reviewed by Nev Pierce

bold and brilliant superhero movie, Batman Begins is the best outing ever for the Caped Crusader. Officially Batman 5, it reboots the franchise, going back to the birth of the Bat. Christian Bale stars as millionaire orphan Bruce Wayne, recruited by the mysterious Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson) to join vigilante ring The League Of Shadows. But while their ninja training comes in handy, Wayne has his own ideas about combating crime. And they involve a bit of fancy dress...

Styling himself as "something elemental, something terrifying" Wayne uses his company's cutting edge technology to fashion a fearsome masked vigilante. Fear is the film's theme: confronting it, conquering it and using it. It is Batman's greatest weapon, but also that of Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy), one of Gotham's many enemies.

"THE FRANCHISE IS REBORN"

Murphy is superb as the chilling villain, but then Memento director Christopher Nolan has smartly stocked his picture with excellent, established actors: Michael Caine as Wayne's wise butler Alfred, Morgan Freeman as his business ally Lucius Fox and Gary Oldman as Batman's weary friend Detective Gordon.

While the film is far from po-faced, Nolan takes the material seriously, nailing the emotion in the story of a damaged child who grows up to work out his demons through violent retribution. Bale plays Wayne as a wounded, determined human and Batman as a raging, relentless beast. Influenced by Frank Miller's seminal comic Batman: Year One, this is easily the most engrossing and faithful screen adaptation of his adventures. It is also the most intelligent and entertaining. The franchise is reborn. Embrace the Dark Knight's return.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2005/06/06/batman_begins_2005_rev iew.shtml

[felipef]

Não vou ler mais nenhuma internacional. Só a do Jeff, Mas continuarei postando para ler tudo depois. felipef38509.9041898148

[Big One]

 

Curiosidade eh f***...não pude deixar de dar uma rápida olhada no review acima, e acabei achando um comentário sobre o joel schumacher, que eu não poderia deixar de destacar...

 

 

 

 

 

"I'm reminded of Kevin Smith's story where "Batman"

sequel director Joel Schumacher told him, "You see kid, it's all about

the toys." You're absolutely wrong, buddy. Sure, promotional tie-ins

like toys, fast food and print media add to the profits, but the bottom

line is that it's all about a good story, not toys."

Latino Review

 

 

 

 

Big One38509.9222337963

[O_Imperador]

Quantos reviews hein???

As positivas falam que é o filme do ano O filme do Morcego (teve um aí que até disse que é o POderoso Chefão dos quadrinhos); as negativas que preferem a do burton e criticam ferozmente o tema realista do filme!!!

 

A coisa tá pegando!!!

[felipef]

Big, você disse que não ia olhar... Trapaceiro.

 

Imp, até agora você resumiu todas as críticas.

O Poderoso Chefão das HQs é forçado. O cara não precisava mandar essa... Ai ai...

felipef38509.9384490741

[felipef]

Nolan:

Q: Batman Begins seems darker than the previous film. Do you think kids will be into it?

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN: I think there has been this increasing misperception that kids will not respond to something because it's also for adults. I think that often that tends to get underestimated.

Q: Do you want to do bigger movies after this one?

NOLAN: To be honest, I really couldn't do much bigger than this one. I would certainly love to do something on this scale again, because I enjoyed it. But I would also be interested to go back to something smaller. I think there are advantages to different scales of filmmaking. You wouldn't want to do just one thing.

Q: This film seems to deal a lot with the underlying issues of what makes Bruce Wayne become Batman.  How much of his anger is really under control by the end of this film?

NOLAN: Well, I think when it's harnessed, and that is a form of control, that doesn't mean it's not there and it doesn't mean it's suppressed it's channeled and it's harnessed. And that to me is what keeps him as a character frightening to his opponents and all of us to some extent.

Q: What was the creative mandate going in for a new audience?

NOLAN: The creative mandate was really to do something fresh and original. And that was coming straight from the studio. And if it wasn't, I wouldn't have gotten involved with the project because it's pretty rare to have an iconic figure that's owned and controlled by a studio that's asking you to do something different with it. That really was the mandate. For me, what that became was my desire to do something we hadn't seen before, a superhero story told in a realistic fashion. And doesn't step outside itself and acknowledge the form and the medium it's coming from, but one in which the audience is just immersed in the reality that's going on.

Q: What was your inspiration for the look of Gotham City?

NOLAN: We tried not to be too specific. When Nathan Crowley, my production designer, started discussing the look of the film with me, we immediately rejected any reductive notions. The driving force was not to, "OK, they've done an art deco city, we'll do a modernist city," nothing like that. We wanted something that reflects the reality of a large modern city which is a tremendous variety of architecture. A tremendous variety of periods in which things were built. We wanted a history to the place as well as a contemporary feel. What we wound up doing, is that the way that we approached Gotham as an exaggeration of New York, an exaggeration of a modern American city was to look at interesting geographical features of different cities of the world. A lot from New York, some from Chicago, a lot from Tokyo because of elevated freeways and monorails. From Hong Kong we took the walled city of Kalhoon is the basis for the narrows which is this kind of walled in slum. So what we really did was putting together the elements that let you exaggerate all the socio-economic factors that feed into Gotham as an exaggeration of the modern American city.

Q: Are you up for making any sequels?

NOLAN: Well, I enjoyed making this film very much. So, I would be open to it. But I wouldn't want to jump into it straight away.

Q: How hard was it to co-ordinate all the practical effects in the movie?

NOLAN: The challenge wasn't really to me, it was to the stunt co-coordinator and the physical effects guy. And they rode to this admirably. In a day and age when so much is done with computers they really rose to the opportunity. They really enjoyed the opportunity which is performing amazing feats and building amazing things that can actually work in the real world. To me, once I set that all in motion it was really just a question of filming it and trying to be disciplined about not listening to the little voices in your ear that says, "Well, you could do this with visual effects. You could leave this for now." You could move on and not [be] effective. I'm very glad we held to that discipline, because it meant in post production when we did get into our visual effects components we had all the right materials to make that stuff look great and not have to do too much of it. And we had the time to do what we did do. We had the time to perfect it, because we weren't doing four to five times the number of shots we said we were going to do which is what happened on a lot of these films.

Q: What is the next comic book character that you would like to tackle?

NOLAN: I don't know what I want to do next. My brother is actually working on a screenplay that is based on a comic called The Exec that you know we're quite excited about. But I really don't know how I'll end up choosing my next project; it just kinds of happens.

Q: What kind of approach did you take with the actors?

NOLAN: My approach with actors is to try and give them whatever it is they need from me. Direction to me is about listening and responding and realizing how much they need to know from me and how much they have figured out for themselves really. And this was a very, very talented bunch of actors and they were very specific in what they wanted to do. What was nice about that is that they were very relaxed with the notion that I had a lot of other things to worry about, because of the scale of the film. In the past with my films I've been able to concentrate very, very much with the performances of the actors. With this film there were all kinds of other things to take into consideration. But as very talented and generous actors, they allowed me to do that without feeling shortchanged. They seemed to accommodate that very easily.

Q: If you were to come back for a sequel, have you given any though to the story? It seems like the last scene sets things up for one.

NOLAN: Yes, it does but for me that was just a way to send the audience out with a sense of possibility and sense of excitement about where this character could go. I certainly share that sense and we've certainly talked in vague terms about how you could follow on from this film absolutely. But at the same time, it's very important that this film stand on its own.

Q: What was your visual agenda for the film and how much was discovered in the editing room?

NOLAN: Well, you always discover a lot in the editing room. Particularly the action, because you have to over shoot a lot and shoot an enormous amount of material because many of the sequences have to be discovered in the editing and manipulation of it. But for the rest of it, my shooting style was the same as it's been on previous films. I don't think there was any accommodation. [i think] one of the trickier things was having the guts to build colossal sets and not shoot them. To just shoot the scene the way I thought it should be shot. But everybody was ok with that. It worked out.

Q: Can you talk a little about Katie Holmes and her appeal?

NOLAN: I think she's got a wonderfully, warm and generous presence that's very glamorous. Very girl next door at the same time. But she also has this maturity beyond her years which the character really needed. Because Rachel really is Bruce Wayne's conscious in a sense. She has to stand for a couple of things. She has to be the life he might have had, what he lost, but she also has to be the voice of his conscious and keep him on his toes. And I think Katie did those things very well.

Q: Did you give Christian Bale direction on expression through his mask more?

NOLAN: Yes, to a certain extent, but he was also very specific in what he wanted to do and he drew from a lot of certain influences that I agreed with in terms of the graphic novels. A lot of what he was able to turn into performance comes from that material.

 

-- Jeff Otto

 

http://filmforce.ign.com/batman/articles/622/622719p1.html

[adam_jones_1]

só to de saco cheio de ler tudo em inglês.

 

 

 

e continuo batendo o pé!!!

 

xingo esses manés sim, não importa quão respeitados

 

sejem! (os ditos críticos cultos)

 

 

 

e voce felipef, quis dizer o que então,

 

com seu emoticon batendo palmas cada vez

 

que sai um cara falando mal????

 

 

 

achei bastante correto o que imperador falou e só.

 

 

 

e bell, quanto aos caras da mtv, conte sempre com

 

meu apoio pra cagar em cima desses inúteis que acham

 

que sabem dar opinião de filmes!!!!

 

 

 

só digo uma coisa, não digo nada.....

 

 

[felipef]

Você que saber mesmo sobre as minhas ? Mas não falarei!  E não atire em mim com esse emotion da metralhadora.

 

Da entrevista, destaco:

"Q: Did you give Christian Bale direction on expression through his mask more?

NOLAN: Yes, to a certain extent, but he was also very specific in what he wanted to do and he drew from a lot of certain influences that I agreed with in terms of the graphic novels. A lot of what he was able to turn into performance comes from that material."

[adam_jones_1]

a metradalhadora não está com a mira apontada pra voce,

 

engraçadinho, fica tranquilo.

 

ainda.

[felipef]

Não me mate.

 

Q: If you were to come back for a sequel, have you given any though to the story? It seems like the last scene sets things up for one.

NOLAN: Yes, it does but for me that was just a way to send the audience out with a sense of possibility and sense of excitement about where this character could go. I certainly share that sense and we've certainly talked in vague terms about how you could follow on from this film absolutely. But at the same time, it's very important that this film stand on its own.

Hmmm...

felipef38509.9528240741

[adam_jones_1]

new yorker sucks....

[Big One]

 

Bolsa de Valores Rotten informa:

 

 

 

Vamos lá pro sobe e desce da cotação de Batman Begins na Bolsa Rotten Tomatoes...

 

 

 

BB caiu agora de 83% para 71% com a entrada de mais um review negativo...são 2 negativos, contra 5 positivos.

 

 

 

 

RATING: FRESH  READING: 71% (FRESH = 60% or Greater)

Reviews counted: 7 Fresh: 5  Rotten: 2 Average Rating: 6.4/10

 

 

 

 

A crítica negativa q foi postadao no rotten eh da New Yorker. Segue trecho:

 

 

 

 

 

  "In Memento,

Nolan and his editor, Dody Dorn, created a new syntax for movies. It’s

depressing to see Nolan now relying on the same fakery as everyone

else."

 

 

-- David Denby, NEW YORKER

 

 

 

 

[Big One]

Fotos da Premiere de Los Angeles..

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.superherohype.com/forums/showthread.php?t=180538& amp; amp;page=1&pp=25

 

 

 

Esse foi outro que indicaram lá no SHH do Premierer, mas nem peguei de

tão absurdo que foi a qtdde de fotos q dedicaram ao casal

Katie-Cruise...nada menos que das 99 fotos, 83 eram do casal, umas 3 do

Morgan Freeman, 1 do Lian e outras 2 ou 3 dos Michael Kaine...e do Bale

??? Bale ??? quem ???

 

 

 

Isso q eh F***...esse hype em cima do casal tira o focu do filme...

 

 

 

Se alguém quiser conferir...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Big One38510.0466087963

[adam_jones_1]

esse rotten é uma piada isso sim....

 

alguém por aqui já olhou os filmes top do rotten?

 

cada piada que eles puseram na lista...tudo com 100

 

de aproveitamento positivo da crítica....

 

 

[emadeira]

Li três críticas do filme no aintitcool e foram só maravilhas.

Eu que não estava a fim de ver o filme (não sou muito fã do herói), depois dessas críticas estou com grandes expectativas.

[Aragorn]

ae galera, querem psotar textos enormes em inglês, o façam...mas façam

pelo menos um resuminho básico em português após o texto

original....citando os aspectos mais importantes!!

 

 

 

 

 

e as críticas negativas, o que elas falam?? reclamam do roteiro??

 

 

 

[Big One]

 

 

 

 

Li três críticas do filme no aintitcool e foram só maravilhas.

Eu que não estava a fim de ver o filme (não sou muito fã do herói)' date=' depois dessas críticas estou com grandes expectativas.

[/quote']

 

 

 

Eh bom ler a opinião de quem não eh muito fã. Era isso q eu estava

falando de como o pessoal que não está muito interessado no filme está

vendo tudo isso.

 

 

 

Com relação as críticas negativas..bom, pelo q me lembro elas

críticaram alguns pontos que justamente acho positivo no filme e

acredito que o pessoal daqui tb.

 

 

 

Vamos á algumas...

 

 

 

1. Muito escuro..

 

2. Não eh pra crianças...

 

3. Batman demora pra aparecer...

 

4. As lutas (muito de perto e rápidas)

 

5. A voz do Batman

 

6. Diálogos Auto ajuda

 

 

Pra fechar umas fotos que o Jett do Batman On Film tirou á caminho de assistir ao filme.

 

 

The building across from the theater had it’s entire from side covered in a BATMAN BEGINS ad, making it a huge Bat-billboard!

 

 

 

 

 

Greeting me at the door was a full-size Batman costume from the film.

 

 

 

 

Big One38510.0649421296

[Aragorn]

 

 

 

 

Com relação as críticas negativas..bom' date=' pelo q me lembro elas

críticaram alguns pontos que justamente acho positivo no filme e

acredito que o pessoal daqui tb.

 

 

 

Vamos á algumas...

 

 

 

1. Muito escuro..

 

2. Não eh pra crianças...

 

3. Batman demora pra aparecer...

 

4. As lutas (muito de perto e rápidas)

 

5. A voz do Batman

 

6. Diálogos Auto ajuda

 

[/quote']

 

 

 

mas isso é elogio pra um filme de Batman!!!!

 

 

[adam_jones_1]

putz não acredito que o boi do jett vai soltar essa

 

crítica a prestação....putz até ele tá de avacalhação

 

agora....no mínimo na parte 2 ele vai relembrar o

 

porre e a decepção pelas quais ele passou com as versões

 

anteriores....

[adam_jones_1]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Com relação as críticas negativas..bom' date=' pelo q me lembro elas

 

críticaram alguns pontos que justamente acho positivo no filme e

 

acredito que o pessoal daqui tb.

 

 

 

Vamos á algumas...

 

 

 

1. Muito escuro..

 

2. Não eh pra crianças...

 

3. Batman demora pra aparecer...

 

4. As lutas (muito de perto e rápidas)

 

5. A voz do Batman

 

6. Diálogos Auto ajuda

 

[/quote']

 

 

 

mas isso é elogio pra um filme de Batman!!!!

 

 

 

 

rolaram outros lances também...tipo:

 

 

 

não pode ser considerado como adaptação de história

 

em quadrinhos, pois segundo os críticos que falaram

 

mal, foge ao estilo das hq´s.

 

o batmóvel destruidor que passa por cima da polícia

 

pra não ser pego foi criticado.

 

a gotham a la cidades reais foi bastante criticada...

 

e relembraram que era muito melhor a neo gotham de

 

burton. não a considero ruim, porém não a quero pra

 

esse filme.

[LincK]

Com relação as críticas negativas..bom' date=' pelo q me lembro elas
críticaram alguns pontos que justamente acho positivo no filme e
acredito que o pessoal daqui tb.

Vamos á algumas...

1. Muito escuro..
2. Não eh pra crianças...
3. Batman demora pra aparecer...
4. As lutas (muito de perto e rápidas)
5. A voz do Batman
6. Diálogos Auto ajuda
[/quote']

mas isso é elogio pra um filme de Batman!!!!

rolaram outros lances também...tipo:

não pode ser considerado como adaptação de história
em quadrinhos, pois segundo os críticos que falaram
mal, foge ao estilo das hq´s.
o batmóvel destruidor que passa por cima da polícia
pra não ser pego foi criticado.
a gotham a la cidades reais foi bastante criticada...
e relembraram que era muito melhor a neo gotham de
burton. não a considero ruim, porém não a quero pra
esse filme.

A questão é: adaptação do personagem batman ou adaptação de HQs?

Críticos q reclamam, dizendo q não é uma adaptação de HQs, deveriam pelo explicitar o que é uma adaptação de HQs??? Falando desse jeito, eles elegem um gênero por si próprios, sem qualquer fundamento ou base, apenas por gosto ou ponto de vista pessoal...

Qto a cidade, realmente acho q poderia ser suavemente mais gótica...afinal o nome da cidade é GOTHAM...e os diálogos auto-ajuda, hummm, vamos ver, mas se for verdade isso realmente é um ponto negativo....de qq modo, esse filme, pelas críticas e cenas q saíram tem MUITO mais a favor do q contra...

[[Neo]]

 

 

 

E dá lhe THE TRUMBLER!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carro feio' date=' parrudo e esquisito, SIM! Graças a Deus!!!

Porque quem gosta de carrinho bonitinho e cheio de frescuras, é Penélope Charmosa!!!

 

 

[/quote']

 

 

 

 

 

Seria o circuito de Hockenheimring na Alemanha ??? Onde tem a F1, aliás F1 + The Trumbler, ninguém merece...

 

 

 

A 2° foto, seria CGI ??? hauhuahuahua...

 

 

 

Duka*** essas fotos..demais...

 

 

 

 

 

EDITANDO:  Na verdade estas

fotos foram tiradas duranter os treinos livres da Formula 1, no

circuito de Nürburgring, na prova que aconteceu no último dia 29 de

maio.

 

 

 

Caraca, eu acompanho a F1 e não fiquei sabendo...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ae domingo dia 19/06 vai ter a corrida dos EUA em Indianápoliso os treinos começam sexta dia 17... será que o The Trumbler vai dar as caras por lá???

 

[felipef]

Eu gosto de ler críticas negativas. Essa aí é a do Harry (AICN). Um dos piores do mundo! Eu NUNCA gostei desse excroto! Por isso, NÃO VOU LER ESSA MERDA! Mas para quem quiser se irritar, tá aí:

 

 

BATMAN BEGINS review

In May of 1988 I got the script to Sam Hamm’s BATMAN and dreamt of a Batman movie that was to never be. This wasn’t to be a cartoon or a tv show… but an epic Batman movie on an enormous scale. In late April of 1989, I came to Austin to go to college. Moved in with my father and to earn a living and my way through college we began selling our Silver Age and Golden Age comics at conventions all over Texas and all anybody anywhere could talk about was BATMAN. When I finally saw Burton’s BATMAN – I walked out of the theater depressed. It was ok. Hell, it beat the living sh*t of the last two SUPERMAN movies, it was even a pretty good BATMAN movie… but it wasn’t a hair on the ass of Sam Hamm’s script. Anyone that read that legendary draft, a script that Tarantino has been heard to say it was one of the best scripts he’s ever read. As the subsequent Batman movies strived to be bigger, sillier and cuter… I began to get pissed.

Some of the earliest and biggest coverage that the outside media has ever given Ain’t It Cool News was for the coverage we gave to BATMAN & ROBIN. A film so awful it still forces a reaction out of any and all film & comics lovers. That film was so bad that every time there’s a new superhero film, it’s the monkey on comic film fan’s back… whispering in our ear, “psst… it could be BATMAN & ROBIN bad.”

Like many of you, the second I got my hands on David Goyer’s draft of BATMAN BEGINS – I read it through – and I liked it… Liked it fine. I loved that it got Wayne out of Gotham, that it had Batman as a detective, undercover man, billionaire playboy, shrewd business man… and, um BATMAN. What Goyer nailed was Batman and Batman’s world… what it was that made Batman Batman. What really seemed to be missing was emotion, atmosphere and… for a story involving Scarecrow it didn’t read scary.

Well… I just got out of the BATMAN BEGINS screening and Holy sh*t! This is the BATMAN movie we’ve been dreaming of for a long time. I know it is the Batman film I was dreaming of in May of 1988 when I read that script. Batman is scary. He’s scarier than the Scarecrow. Sure, the Scarecrow has his fear toxin… and when you see his face after the toxin got a hold of you… it’s scary, horrific and terrifying… But man… When you’re a corrupt cop upside down looking at a 17 story drop, hanging by god knows what staring into the face of some lunatic in a Bat mask interrogating you with a voice forged out of f**king hell… I realized… It isn’t the chin or even the eyes that make Batman… it’s that hideous scary as f**k voice and that he holds your life on a press of a button – and to that criminal… you have utterly no idea what his ethos is… He’s not in a uniform, he can’t be bought and there’s something utterly unhinged about him. Something insane, methodically insane. This isn’t a jokey Batman… This Batman is all business.

The way Nolan shoots Batman… he doesn’t pull back to show you how Batman does his tricks and torments. Instead he focuses on misdirection, quickness, ferocity and the end result. No longer will you see clumsy half-assed martial arts routines… and one point early in Wayne’s training Liam Neeson, before kicking Bruce’s ass says… “This isn’t a Dance,” when Wayne tries his learnt Kung Fu. Liam’s Ducard takes him down and begins to kick the sh*t out of him. It’s scary, fierce and unforgiving. And that’s exactly who and what Batman becomes. This isn’t fancy Fred Astaire neatly choreographed fights… This is brutal, tight and mean. Just incredible.

Half the time you never know where Batman is coming from. The focus is on the victim (criminal) instead of the hunter. Sometimes the blackness that grabs them comes from above, behind, beneath, beside… but never where you expect it. The first time Batman is full on hunting criminals is on a dock and this is scary. This isn’t some slow moving lunk in an all white Captain Kirk mask… you don’t see what’s hunting you… you can hear this flapping sound, something heavy moving beyond the edge of light and no matter where you fire, when you stop, you hear that sound somewhere else entirely, then suddenly BAM he’s got you. In many ways, this is a horror film for criminals. A ghost story that scum tells each other late at night… after a job, before a job. And man, I hope to God that somebody at Warners has signed everyone involved in this film on a 20 film contract… cuz this is a fierce Batman movie that just is unrelenting.

Ya know… right now if you think about the single best element of the previous series of Batman movies – I think you’d probably agree that the most consistent and best performance was their Alfred played by Michael Gough. I just kind of accepted that that was Alfred – and that it was the best Alfred I’d ever see. When Michael Caine got cast – there was a part of me that thought… that’s too big of a name. Caine would overshadow anyone. Same feeling I had when they cast Gary Oldman as Gordon. And then there was Morgan Freeman, Rutger Hauer, Tom Wilkinson and Liam Neeson. As much as I like Christian Bale – man – he was surrounded by some of the very best actors alive today. But – what Nolan does is he has all of them play internalized performances, tightly wound characters that are not showboating – and no actor seems to be setting out to call attention all on them. Instead, they’re serving their characters more than their own egos – and for the very first time… The focus is clearly on BATMAN. Burton was always more interested in the villains… why not? They’re delicious, but Nolan & Goyer… They’re focused upon Bruce Wayne & Batman.

And why not?

Here’s a man that could have anything he wanted, could grow up to be anyone he wanted. Instead, he risks life and limb, his very freedom… He risks everything for the single-minded obsession with the ideal that one man can make a difference. And here we see a man bent on saving the city his family helped build and make great from doom.

Many critics are trying to differentiate this film from “those other superhero yarns” by declaring this a real movie. Oh f**k you, ya pretentious bastards! This is a fantastic, spectacularly wonderful film. Rich nuanced characters given a great deal of depth and an attention to realism. Like this is something proprietary to the world of film. Personally, if you read a good 1000 issues of Batman stories – I think you’ll find that he’s a great deal more nuanced than this film has him, not in a single story – but in whole. And this film gives me the hope that at last they’ve really hit upon how to deal with the character and his world.

His Gotham is an extraordinarily beautiful city, but it isn’t necessarily an impossible story – though gosh, I’d love to see one with the audacious elevated trains that Gotham has. Outstanding. Gone is Schumacher’s Fey-topian Neon Hell. Now we have a real metropolitan Gotham. I city of different eras and architects. Shot in Chicago, London and enormous stages – and then digital paintings. The result is breathtaking… and plausible. The city feels honest. I know somewhere there is an abandoned rundown exhibition for some World’s fair. I haven’t seen it yet, but I know it is there. There’s the shadowy docks, the slums, the socialite corners and through it all… gosh darn, it is a gorgeous city.

Then there’s that damn Car. The roar of that engine is enough to make you grunt like the car drooling mechanical machismo bastard you are. I really must praise the sound design here, as wonderful as that car moves – the sound design of it is awesome. And it’s cool enough to make Michael Bay’s dick hard. It’s that sort of glorious mayhem inducing throttling. Crashing through concrete barricades, over police cars, from roof top to roof top… and it was that last part that scared the sh*t clean out of my body when I read the script. I imagined this as looking utterly ridiculous… but Nolan shoots this sequence that gives it the feeling that instead of observing it happen… you are inside feeling and hearing it move… never really seeing a full take off and landing, instead you just get the rush of propulsion and the visceral thrill of the crash down. It’s fantastic. It should absolutely have been ridiculously terrible, but it dares to magnificent. Dares to be a thrillingly cool.

BATMAN BEGINS is the very best beginning to a Superhero franchise I’ve ever seen. This first film sets up the foundation to build the exploits of one of the great serialized characters in creation. By the time this film ends… there is no ending. There are no bodies of departed villainy. Evil isn’t necessarily stopped as much as it is contained to a minimal amount of horror. It isn’t stopped, in fact I’d say at the end of the film the city may very well be worse off than it was at the beginning. And as Gordon discusses at the end, he dares to quandary about ESCALATION. I don’t think there’s a Batman fan in the audience that will believe this is an end. No, when the last scene closes it’s eye to black – you’ll know that this is merely the end of the first time, the second time, the third time or perhaps the 50th time you’ll see the movie. This is just the end of Batman’s beginning – there will be an endless supply of them, so long as this level of superb artistry and thrilling storytelling and this level of class is given to this character.

I’ve given Warner Brothers nearly 10 years of strife regarding the handling of their Superheroes. Well, they finally made a great one. Bravo! May we dare to dream that we’ll have another great hero tale from the pages of DC next summer. Let’s see more, but they shouldn’t rush things. If Nolan wishes to do films in-between… have patience. There really is no need to hire Brett Ratner…

http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=20395

[felipef]

BATMAN BEGINS
Reviewed by Harvey S. Karten
Warner Bros
Grade: B+
Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Written by: Christopher Nolan, David S. Goyer, story by David S. Goyer, from characters in DC Comics
Cast: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Nesson, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Ken Watanabe, Katie Holmes, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson, Rutger Hauser.

Fear, guilt, and anger are explored in Christopher Nolan's adaptation of David S. Goyer's story, but even more heady (for a comic-book movie), Nolan and Goyer toy with philosophic concepts drawn from Eastern religions as well as from Western existentialists: "You are not what's underneath, but what you do that defines you," according to Batman's childhood friend–who fails to attribute her counsel to the likes of Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre.

"Batman Begins" is Nolan's way of getting back to the roots of one of the major super-heroes of my own comic-book days. The Batman legend had been explored previously by film-makers Tim Burton in 1989 and 1992, by Joel Schumacher in 1995 and 1997, and by Eric Radomski in 1993. Nolan takes us back to the Depression era when Bruce Wayne, billionaire playboy determined to shed his high-society mask for a darker one, was eight years old and unable to conquer his fear of bats. Fearful of bats? You'd be too, if you fell into a well, attacked by hundreds of the vulgar, flying beasts, but there's a compensation: if he could conquer his fear–and not just overlay his cowardice by anger as so many anxiety-ridden neurotics would do today--he might meet it head-on and even put it to ones own service.

"Batman Begins" offers everything its targed audience of young men could want: explosions, car chases, gas attacks, a James Bond-like weapon that current managers of the axis of evil would like to get their hands on, a masked man who could swing across buildings like Spiderman and yet unlike Superman, threatened only by kryptonite, a mortal fellow counting on his bat suit to ward off his enemies' bullets.

Using frequent flashbacks to good effect, Nolan opens his tale on the eight-year-old Wayne who, suffering bat-phobia to such an extent that he is unwittingly responsible for the violent deaths of his parents at the hands of a mugger. With vengeance on his mind, the adult Wayne (Christian Bale) winds up in a horrendous Asian prison (a repeated viewing might straighten out how he got there) where he meets a strange fighter, Ducard (Liam Neeson) who takes Wayne under his wing. Understanding the young playboy's need for vengeance, Ducard tutors his charge in the Eastern fighting arts, expecting to use him as a pawn in Ducard's unusual quest. As a member of a thousand-year-old society devoted to destroying cities that have become like Sodom and Gomorrah, Ducard is now intent on destroying all of Gotham City, a corrupt municipality in which most of the cops, judges and D.A.'s are in the pay of gang leader Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson–who trades his king's English for a Brooklyn accent).

Wayne, a tragic hero, ultimately learns that Ducard's extreme idea–to destroy civilizations in order to save them–is best tempered with justice. Making good of use of Wayne Enterprises' Applied Sciences division's Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), he sets himself up with a keflar suit and a batmobile that looks like the kind of hummer that the coalition forces could use in Iraq.

Just as there are two Bruce Waynes–who plays the part of the womanizing playboy to disguise his real self, Batman–there are two major villains in this well-executed film. One is Carmine Falcone, a mobster who runs a city that has turned a blind eye to his importation of drugs; the other, the more menacing dude, is Ducard–who'd destroy not only Falcone but the entire town.

With editor Lee Smith's sharp cuts during the fight scenes (a technique we've seen too often in martial arts films); Wally Pfister's lensing to give Gotham the needed noir ambience; and James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer's loud and sometimes intrusive music, "Batman Begins," which was filmed in Iceland, England and Chicago, stands up ahead of its predecessors by subordinating campiness and production design to an exploration of the mind of the titled figure. Katie Holmes lends her apple-pie looks as an idealistic assistant D.A. who was Bruce Wayne childhood friend and who, like Lois Lane, has vague suspicions of the human identity of the superhero. Other side roles are well-cast: Gary Oldman against type as the one good cop in the town; Ken Watanabe as the mysterious cult leader Ra's al Ghul; Rutger Hauer as corporate head Richard Earle, Michael Caine as the Wayne family's butler, who looks the same when chatting with the 8-year-old Bruce as in helping him some twenty years later; and especially Cillian Murphy as the spectacled psychiatrist known for getting vicious criminals out of jail and into the more relaxing confines of mental institutions. The movie does take itself too seriously, yielding only four of five laughs, the best one being when Wayne, inviting good cop Lt. Gordon to take over the controls of the batmobile, asks: "Can you drive a stick?"

http://www.azreporter.com/?itemid=422&catid=10