The Hindu Business Line : A weak beginning for Batman!

THE good news about movies reliving legends and comic strips is that they are going back to the story at start, which spawned the action-adventure we got used to. From increasingly tiring special effects to a trip back to human roots.

The bad news is that the human angle promised to make heroes believable appears wanting in a narrative style for the big screen. Makes you wonder, if for all the entertainment Batman Begins dishes out, did it miss out on an opportunity by not saying that story earlier?

As a film spanning Batman's human moorings to his super powers, the latest in the series feels weak. Better gizmos were on show in previous films and as for the hero's early history, it is said without a scene or a moment to hold on to. The film covers the first chapter up to The Joker's entry, but can you blame yourself for expecting an intense portrayal of the most important word in the title - "begins"? Trying that may have become complicated in 2005 with several legends already told in palpable fashion not to mention a rather human Darth Vader yet to fade out of sight.

The studio's take on Batman Begins: In the wake of his parents' murder, disillusioned industrial heir Bruce Wayne travels the world in his quest to educate himself on the ways of the criminal mind. A mysterious man called Ducard mentors him in the physical and mental disciplines that will empower him to fight the evil he has vowed to destroy.

Bruce's close childhood friend Rachel Dawes, now an Assistant District Attorney, is not able to secure a conviction of Gotham City's most notorious criminals because the justice system has been deeply polluted by the likes of crime boss Carmine Falcone.

It doesn't help that prominent psychiatrist Dr Jonathan Crane bolsters insanity defences for Falcone's thugs in exchange for favours that serve his own devious agenda.

Wayne then unleashes his alter ego, Batman.

So does Batman Begins hold together? Fact is, it does, courtesy some well-portrayed characters. From quite early in the film, Liam Neeson impresses as Henri Ducard essaying the role with sword edge precision. Tom Wilkinson revels as Carmine Falcone, oozing sleaze from the moment he debuts. Michael Caine is a trifle soft as Wayne's butler, Alfred, while Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox is his usual self - no matter what he does, a dignified act. Wasted is Ken Watanabe as Ra's Al Ghul, a bit role that could have been played by someone much less than The Last Samurai.

Both Bale and Katie Holmes (as Rachel) are restrained, making for a movie worth watching. Persistent weakness is a certain lack of care for storytelling, uninspiring frames, even a hurry to get through to the end of the beginning. After all most beginnings if you remember, are made brick by brick, piece by piece. It is that patience which is amiss in this celluloid effort to tell Batman's early phase. Despite the suggestion in its title, the film fails to suffuse its frames with a thematic quality.

Batman Begins releases here in English and Hindi on June 17.

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