Batman Begins Nostalgia

[Azrael]

Have to admit that the visual "realism" of Nolan isn't quite "my Batman" too. The dark romanticism of Tim Burton (and his team, like Anton Furst etc.) made me like the character. Compared to how it might have turned out, however, either judging by movie news from 1999-2003, or the wishes of some other fans, it was maybe the best one could hope for in that period. Also, its commercial success owes a lot to that visual (or illusionary, or whatever one likes to call it) "realism". If you're a sci-fi/fantasy/comics etc. "geek" you are quite used to embracing fantastical concepts and maybe lose touch with how the more mainstream, general public sees things, and its them that make a franchise worth billions.

[BatmanFurst]

The main thing I remember is how universally loved this film was. Everybody seemed to be in agreement that this was the best Batman film, and Christian Bale was the best Batman. It was torture hearing all these great things about it since I had to wait a week for my parents to take me to check it out.

[The Joker]

I remember being pretty hyped about Batman Begins back around 2004 when I first got wind of the movie, and when, I think, official pictures were being released. I think the first time I saw Christian Bale as Batman was in a Wizard comics magazine, and I distinctly remember seeing the teaser for the 1st time with M Night Shyamalan's The Village. Funny enough, I also recall being the only one among my work buddies who had any real interest in the movie.  I took it as Batman & Robin's shadow still having some lingering effects since by 2004, superhero movies were definitely back in vogue with varying degrees of success. Another vivid memory was having to reiterate numerous times that the movie was a reboot and not a prequel. Course the Star Wars prequels were in full effect at this point in time, and evidently people just assumed that the upcoming Batman movie was going to lead directly into Batman 1989.

Similar to Lex Luthor's (Ral) experience, I believe I saw Begins on a early preview screening as well. Like on a Tuesday if I am not mistaken. And the reason I believe it might have been on a Tues, is because I remember going to the store early that morning to purchase the Batman Begins PS2 video game that was being released that day (yeah, I was hyped) that also included a free movie ticket. But when I went to the electronics section to buy the game, I wasn't expecting to see that the Adam West/Burt Ward/Julie Newmar/Frank Gorshin/Lee Meriwether tv reunion movie Back to the Batcave was in the new releases in the DVD section, and ended up picking that up as well. I'm pretty sure I had taken off work that day, and probably took a nap at some point, but got up later and went and watched Batman Begins later than evening if memory serves.

So yeah, bought the PS2 game, along with the Adam West reunion movie, and then went and watched Begins later that evening. Definitely a all around Batman day. To me, Batman Begins was a sleeper hit more than anything else. Obviously alot of people liked it, but it wasn't hyped up nor highly anticipated/promoted like other Marvel films just a year or two prior. Which most assuredly wasn't the case when 2008 rolled around and The Dark Knight was released.

[thecolorsblend]

I have very little in the way of nostalgia for Batman Begins. It's not that I don't like the movie. On the contrary, I rather enjoy it.

But around the time BB came out, I was reconnecting with my fandom in general and my Batman fandom in particular. I was especially rediscovering Batman Returns and how amazing that movie actually is. So oddly enough, my fan attention in the latter part of 2004 and the great majority of 2005 was on Burton's work in general and Batman Returns in particular.

Having said all that, I think BB has aged amazingly well. It remains probably the most accessible of Nolan's trilogy. It shined a light on a lot of stuff that had never been shown before in live action. It brought a different kind of visual aesthetic from Batman comics which, again, had never been shown in live action before.

I won't say it's the best of Nolan's trilogy. But it's the movie that just about anybody can watch for the first time and be expected to enjoy.

[BatmanFurst]

I remember being pretty hyped about Batman Begins back around 2004 when I first got wind of the movie, and when, I think, official pictures were being released. I think the first time I saw Christian Bale as Batman was in a Wizard comics magazine, and I distinctly remember seeing the teaser for the 1st time with M Night Shyamalan's The Village. Funny enough, I also recall being the only one among my work buddies who had any real interest in the movie.  I took it as Batman & Robin's shadow still having some lingering effects since by 2004, superhero movies were definitely back in vogue with varying degrees of success. Another vivid memory was having to reiterate numerous times that the movie was a reboot and not a prequel. Course the Star Wars prequels were in full effect at this point in time, and evidently people just assumed that the upcoming Batman movie was going to lead directly into Batman 1989.

Similar to Lex Luthor's (Ral) experience, I believe I saw Begins on a early preview screening as well. Like on a Tuesday if I am not mistaken. And the reason I believe it might have been on a Tues, is because I remember going to the store early that morning to purchase the Batman Begins PS2 video game that was being released that day (yeah, I was hyped) that also included a free movie ticket. But when I went to the electronics section to buy the game, I wasn't expecting to see that the Adam West/Burt Ward/Julie Newmar/Frank Gorshin/Lee Meriwether tv reunion movie Back to the Batcave was in the new releases in the DVD section, and ended up picking that up as well. I'm pretty sure I had taken off work that day, and probably took a nap at some point, but got up later and went and watched Batman Begins later than evening if memory serves.

So yeah, bought the PS2 game, along with the Adam West reunion movie, and then went and watched Begins later that evening. Definitely a all around Batman day. To me, Batman Begins was a sleeper hit more than anything else. Obviously alot of people liked it, but it wasn't hyped up nor highly anticipated/promoted like other Marvel films just a year or two prior. Which most assuredly wasn't the case when 2008 rolled around and The Dark Knight was released.

It was essentially pitched to me as a prequel by my Uncle. He said that the ending led directly into the 89 film. When I eventually saw the film I was confused by the ending. I was just thinking how could the Joker be leaving behind a calling card when he doesn't actually become the Joker until the 89 film?

[Silver Nemesis]

I was 19 when Batman Begins came out. I remember seeing the trailer debut on a TV show. And I remember visiting the IMDb boards to see what people were saying about it. Two things stand out in my memory from the IMDb discussions. One was a supposedly leaked picture of Scarecrow's mask which turned out to be completely fake. I can't find it online now, but if memory serves me right it looked like a gas mask with a hat perched on top.

The other thing I remember was a short-lived rumour that Bruce wouldn't wear the Batsuit. I think at the time Warner Bros had released a photo of Bale in a tuxedo, but not in the Batsuit. Nolan had also given a recent interview in which he'd said he wanted to bring a James Bond sensibility to the picture, and some fans took this to mean Bruce would spend the whole film wearing a tux. They genuinely feared Batman wasn't going to wear his mask.

As for the theatrical experience, I went to see it with my brother and my dad on a bright summer afternoon. It must have been the opening Saturday. My main memory about that screening is that I had terrible toothache at the time. But I remember thinking the film was good and a big step up after Batman & Robin (which I still hated back then).

Having said all that, I think BB has aged amazingly well. It remains probably the most accessible of Nolan's trilogy. It shined a light on a lot of stuff that had never been shown before in live action. It brought a different kind of visual aesthetic from Batman comics which, again, had never been shown in live action before.

It has aged well. Some of the dialogue's mannered, the action scenes are badly overedited, and I'm not mad on the way Batman leaves Ra's to die at the end. But other than that, it's a very solid Batman movie. I'd rank it amongst the top 5 live action entries in the series.

For all the talk of realism in Nolan's films, Batman Begins contains some great fantasy imagery.

I've always thought it struck a fair balance between realism and fantasy. Nowadays when people discuss the Nolanverse they usually think of the more grounded style displayed in TDK and TDKR. But I remember back before TDK came out, when the Nolanverse consisted of Batman Begins and Gotham Knight. The level of realism in those two films really wasn't that far removed from Batman '89.

Another thing I like about Batman Begins is that it presents a Gotham in which you can believe there are numerous comic book villains on the loose at any given time. The previous films generally adhered to the formula of one or two villains per movie. But while Batman Begins presents Henri Ducard/Ra's al Ghul as the main antagonist, it also features Joe Chill, the League of Shadows/Assassin, Victor Zsasz, Carmine Falcone and Scarecrow as secondary villains, as well as a reference to the Joker being at large.

[BatmanFurst]

I was 19 when Batman Begins came out. I remember seeing the trailer debut on a TV show. And I remember visiting the IMDb boards to see what people were saying about it. Two things stand out in my memory from the IMDb discussions. One was a supposedly leaked picture of Scarecrow's mask which turned out to be completely fake. I can't find it online now, but if memory serves me right it looked like a gas mask with a hat perched on top.

The other thing I remember was a short-lived rumour that Bruce wouldn't wear the Batsuit. I think at the time Warner Bros had released a photo of Bale in a tuxedo, but not in the Batsuit. Nolan had also given a recent interview in which he'd said he wanted to bring a James Bond sensibility to the picture, and some fans took this to mean Bruce would spend the whole film wearing a tux. They genuinely feared Batman wasn't going to wear his mask.

As for the theatrical experience, I went to see it with my brother and my dad on a bright summer afternoon. It must have been the opening Saturday. My main memory about that screening is that I had terrible toothache at the time. But I remember thinking the film was good and a big step up after Batman & Robin (which I still hated back then).

Having said all that, I think BB has aged amazingly well. It remains probably the most accessible of Nolan's trilogy. It shined a light on a lot of stuff that had never been shown before in live action. It brought a different kind of visual aesthetic from Batman comics which, again, had never been shown in live action before.

It has aged well. Some of the dialogue's mannered, the action scenes are badly overedited, and I'm not mad on the way Batman leaves Ra's to die at the end. But other than that, it's a very solid Batman movie. I'd rank it amongst the top 5 live action entries in the series.

For all the talk of realism in Nolan's films, Batman Begins contains some great fantasy imagery.

I've always thought it struck a fair balance between realism and fantasy. Nowadays when people discuss the Nolanverse they usually think of the more grounded style displayed in TDK and TDKR. But I remember back before TDK came out, when the Nolanverse consisted of Batman Begins and Gotham Knight. The level of realism in those two films really wasn't that far removed from Batman '89.

Another thing I like about Batman Begins is that it presents a Gotham in which you can believe there are numerous comic book villains on the loose at any given time. The previous films generally adhered to the formula of one or two villains per movie. But while Batman Begins presents Henri Ducard/Ra's al Ghul as the main antagonist, it also features Joe Chill, the League of Shadows/Assassin, Victor Zsasz, Carmine Falcone and Scarecrow as secondary villains, as well as a reference to the Joker being at large.

The fight scenes are easily the worst thing about this movie.

[Silver Nemesis]

The choreography's good, but they're poorly shot and edited. Back then Nolan had no experience filming action scenes. He should have let a second unit director film the fights, but he insisted on doing it all himself. He ended up shooting most of the choreography in extreme close-up and then chopped it all to pieces in the editing suite. It's a textbook example of the shaky cam trend popularised by the Bourne movies. Thankfully Nolan's ability to shoot and edit action scenes improved from one film to the next, and the shaky cam fad finally wore off around the time the first Raid movie came out.

[thecolorsblend]

The choreography's good, but they're poorly shot and edited. Back then Nolan had no experience filming action scenes. He should have let a second unit director film the fights, but he insisted on doing it all himself. He ended up shooting most of the choreography in extreme close-up and then chopped it all to pieces in the editing suite. It's a textbook example of the shaky cam trend popularised by the Bourne movies. Thankfully Nolan's ability to shoot and edit action scenes improved from one film to the next, and the shaky cam fad finally wore off around the time the first Raid movie came out.

I read somewhere that the Batman suit used in the movie wasn't really "fixed" until near the end of the shoot. Before that, the suit was said to literally fly apart if Bale (or the stuntmen) had to do anything besides stand still.

But those fight scenes had to be shot anyway so, apparently, Nolan had to be rather clever about shooting that type of footage. By the time the outfit's various problems were fixed, the Batman footage was something like 80% in the can. So there are some Batman scenes where he's shown moving around smoothly but those aren't the norm, obviously. And the fight scenes were hit hardest by these limitations, of course.

No idea if that's true but that's what I read somewhere. Wish I'd bookmarked it now.

[The Dark Knight]

This was one of the first images I saw from the early days of Begins anticipation.



After 1997's B&R my fandom was in serious decline. But I was intrigued by this.

It resembled something more like B89, and that was very promising.

As time went on we saw more. Batman dangling from the ceiling and taking down a goon really sold me this was going to be worth my time. The tone was darker, Batman was depicted as a predatory creature of the night and perhaps it was time to proudly embrace the character again.

I took the day off school to see the movie. It was that important to me. I recall sitting down and having a conversation with a guy beside me, about 30 minutes before the film started. We had the same story.

Our fandoms were dead up until that point, but Begins was something to be excited about.

The film was on the talky side, but nonetheless, I was a born again fan.