It's not who I am underneath, but what I do, that defines me.
Two movie reviews coming right up. Warning!!! Spoilers will likely be in them.:
Batman Begins...
The above quote was one of the more memorable ones I've noticed while watching the new Batman Movie, Batman Begins. As the title implies, this movie was about the very origins of the legend known as Batman. One interesting thing to note is that Batman seems to be a superhero within the hollywood superhero universe whose origins were never explained until now. With Superman you saw that he was an alien, born with super powers; with Spiderman he got bitten with a spider (BF: Spiderman is the only superhero who displays the source of his power on his costume), with the Fantastic Four, you saw that they were caught in a mysterious radiation shower. But with Batman, his power was more psycological, dealing with the fears of man.
One thing that separates Batman from the rest of the superheroes is his mortality. He has no super powers; he cannot fly, see through walls, or use super-human strength. He cannot climb walls or shoot webbing and swing with superhuman agility. He relies on Bond-type gadgets and martial arts to accomplish his tasks.
The movie starts out with Bruce Wayne (played by Christian Bale - who also starred in Equilibrium) as the son of a rich tycoon who is the founder/owner of what is called Wayne Enterprises, which has their main building situated almost in the exact center of Gotham City. While playing around with a childhood friend, Bruce falls down into a small dark, tunnel underneath their conservatory. His fear of bats is introduced when hundreds of them come flying out of the place towards him and up out of the hole. Later on, after being rescued, Bruce is with his parents at a play and is uncomfortable with it and makes them leave. As they are walking down the dark street, a robber comes and wants to rob them. Bruce's parents comply without resistance but are killed anyways. Bruce inherits Wayne Manor and stays just long enough to attend the hearing of the man who killed his parents. He is in his mid-twenties by then.
After seeing the suspect killed in a courtroom by a mob agent, Bruce comes to realize just how corrupt the city of Gotham has become. He leaves on some sort of psychological journey and, years later, we find him in some asian prison. There he is put into solitary confinement for beating up other inmates. In his cell he meets someone (Liam Neeson - Star Wars Episode One, Kingdom of Heaven) who claims to know what he has been seeking and tells him to meet him in a temple on the top of a mountain. There, Bruce finds a ninja cult called the League of Shadows. There, Bruce trains under Neeson's character to become like a ninja, using ways of deception and skill to instill fear into their enemy. After completing his training, Bruce learns of the League of Shadow's plans to destroy everyone in Gotham for purification reasons. They have trained Bruce to lead them since he is familiar with the city. Being in disagreement with them, Bruce destroys the temple, killing the leader, but not Liam's character, then returns to Gotham to try and set things right, fighting corruption within the city.
Visiting Wayne Enterprises, Bruce learns about an unfunded section of the building called Applied Science. There he meets a man named Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), who shows him various devices that were originally designed for military purposes. But once they reached the prototype stage, they lost interest. Using these devices, Bruce began to fashion himself a costume that would help him instill the same fear in those that did wrong that scared him: the bat. With the help of his butler, Alfred (Michael Caine), Bruce fashions the Bat Cave in the southeast wing of the mansion. And so Batman is created. To help him fight the crimes in Gotham, Batman enlists the help of one of the few uncorrupted Police officers named Jim Gordon (played by Gary Oldman).
For the rest of the movie, Batman uncovers a plot by the League of Shadows, who survived the destruction of their temple, to continue with the destruction of Gotham and works with Gordon to help stop it.
What gave this movie its appeal for me was the fact that it showed the origins of a hero. Batman is a human being who suffers the same wounds anyone else in his profession would do. This movie showed that Batman had a darker beginning than other superheroes. This movie also shows the start of many things. For example, you see Arkham Asylum, and how the Scarecrow was admitted to it. You also see the beginning of the Bat signal on top of the police building, as well as the relationship between Batman and Jim Gordon. At the end of the movie you see the emergence of the Joker as a hook to lead into the first Batman Movie (with Michael Keaton as Batman). All around it was a good movie with interesting plot lines and some good humour. My only complaint would be about the fight scenes. It was hard to see from a good angle what was happening.
****
War of the Worlds....
This movie wasn't as star-studded as Batman, but it was still an excellent movie. Directed by Steven Spielberg, War of the Worlds chronicles the invasion of earth by aliens who have superior firepower as seen through the eyes of Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise - Top Gun, Minority Report). In it he makes a journey from New Jersey to Boston to bring his kids to their mother (Miranda Otto - Lord of the Rings). This is being done after a fierce thunder and lightning storm disables all electrical machines in its wake and alien tripods emerge from the very ground, destroying everything they can. Naturally, the people flee and the military is brought into start this war. Early on in the war it becomes obvious that the aliens have attacked with superiour firepower as they are impervious to any attacks the humans can throw at them while they can obliterate an army of tanks, artillery, and infantry in one blast. Oddly enough, after a few days, the alien tripods start to falter on their own and fall with little help from what is left of the human military. We learn, through a narrator's voice (Morgan Freeman), that the aliens, having prepared themselves with more firepower and being able to overcome human weaponry, were killed off because of their inability to adapt to human microorganisms. They basically got sick and died.
"....by the toll of a billion deaths, man had earned his immunity, his right to surive in this planet's infinite organisms "
Very good movie...not much dialogue to rate the acting on but great special effects and storyline.
Batman Begins...
The above quote was one of the more memorable ones I've noticed while watching the new Batman Movie, Batman Begins. As the title implies, this movie was about the very origins of the legend known as Batman. One interesting thing to note is that Batman seems to be a superhero within the hollywood superhero universe whose origins were never explained until now. With Superman you saw that he was an alien, born with super powers; with Spiderman he got bitten with a spider (BF: Spiderman is the only superhero who displays the source of his power on his costume), with the Fantastic Four, you saw that they were caught in a mysterious radiation shower. But with Batman, his power was more psycological, dealing with the fears of man.
One thing that separates Batman from the rest of the superheroes is his mortality. He has no super powers; he cannot fly, see through walls, or use super-human strength. He cannot climb walls or shoot webbing and swing with superhuman agility. He relies on Bond-type gadgets and martial arts to accomplish his tasks.
The movie starts out with Bruce Wayne (played by Christian Bale - who also starred in Equilibrium) as the son of a rich tycoon who is the founder/owner of what is called Wayne Enterprises, which has their main building situated almost in the exact center of Gotham City. While playing around with a childhood friend, Bruce falls down into a small dark, tunnel underneath their conservatory. His fear of bats is introduced when hundreds of them come flying out of the place towards him and up out of the hole. Later on, after being rescued, Bruce is with his parents at a play and is uncomfortable with it and makes them leave. As they are walking down the dark street, a robber comes and wants to rob them. Bruce's parents comply without resistance but are killed anyways. Bruce inherits Wayne Manor and stays just long enough to attend the hearing of the man who killed his parents. He is in his mid-twenties by then.
After seeing the suspect killed in a courtroom by a mob agent, Bruce comes to realize just how corrupt the city of Gotham has become. He leaves on some sort of psychological journey and, years later, we find him in some asian prison. There he is put into solitary confinement for beating up other inmates. In his cell he meets someone (Liam Neeson - Star Wars Episode One, Kingdom of Heaven) who claims to know what he has been seeking and tells him to meet him in a temple on the top of a mountain. There, Bruce finds a ninja cult called the League of Shadows. There, Bruce trains under Neeson's character to become like a ninja, using ways of deception and skill to instill fear into their enemy. After completing his training, Bruce learns of the League of Shadow's plans to destroy everyone in Gotham for purification reasons. They have trained Bruce to lead them since he is familiar with the city. Being in disagreement with them, Bruce destroys the temple, killing the leader, but not Liam's character, then returns to Gotham to try and set things right, fighting corruption within the city.
Visiting Wayne Enterprises, Bruce learns about an unfunded section of the building called Applied Science. There he meets a man named Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), who shows him various devices that were originally designed for military purposes. But once they reached the prototype stage, they lost interest. Using these devices, Bruce began to fashion himself a costume that would help him instill the same fear in those that did wrong that scared him: the bat. With the help of his butler, Alfred (Michael Caine), Bruce fashions the Bat Cave in the southeast wing of the mansion. And so Batman is created. To help him fight the crimes in Gotham, Batman enlists the help of one of the few uncorrupted Police officers named Jim Gordon (played by Gary Oldman).
For the rest of the movie, Batman uncovers a plot by the League of Shadows, who survived the destruction of their temple, to continue with the destruction of Gotham and works with Gordon to help stop it.
What gave this movie its appeal for me was the fact that it showed the origins of a hero. Batman is a human being who suffers the same wounds anyone else in his profession would do. This movie showed that Batman had a darker beginning than other superheroes. This movie also shows the start of many things. For example, you see Arkham Asylum, and how the Scarecrow was admitted to it. You also see the beginning of the Bat signal on top of the police building, as well as the relationship between Batman and Jim Gordon. At the end of the movie you see the emergence of the Joker as a hook to lead into the first Batman Movie (with Michael Keaton as Batman). All around it was a good movie with interesting plot lines and some good humour. My only complaint would be about the fight scenes. It was hard to see from a good angle what was happening.
****
War of the Worlds....
This movie wasn't as star-studded as Batman, but it was still an excellent movie. Directed by Steven Spielberg, War of the Worlds chronicles the invasion of earth by aliens who have superior firepower as seen through the eyes of Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise - Top Gun, Minority Report). In it he makes a journey from New Jersey to Boston to bring his kids to their mother (Miranda Otto - Lord of the Rings). This is being done after a fierce thunder and lightning storm disables all electrical machines in its wake and alien tripods emerge from the very ground, destroying everything they can. Naturally, the people flee and the military is brought into start this war. Early on in the war it becomes obvious that the aliens have attacked with superiour firepower as they are impervious to any attacks the humans can throw at them while they can obliterate an army of tanks, artillery, and infantry in one blast. Oddly enough, after a few days, the alien tripods start to falter on their own and fall with little help from what is left of the human military. We learn, through a narrator's voice (Morgan Freeman), that the aliens, having prepared themselves with more firepower and being able to overcome human weaponry, were killed off because of their inability to adapt to human microorganisms. They basically got sick and died.
"....by the toll of a billion deaths, man had earned his immunity, his right to surive in this planet's infinite organisms "
Very good movie...not much dialogue to rate the acting on but great special effects and storyline.
