Holy Hotcakes, Batman

It seemed like everyone I talked to this week was asking me if I had seen Batman Begins. And it was always followed by either, “It’s really good,” or “Tell me if you go, I want to see it again.” And having read Greg rave about its arrival to the big screen for the last couple months, I couldn’t deny the allure of a promising action flick.

So today after work I went out Greg and Angie (both of whom had seen it already) to watch the Batman Begins at the Neptune. And yeah, it was good. It was all very comic book (see water-vaporizing microwave emitter), but surprisingly not in a nauseating way. There is the ocassional plot hole and overly complicated villain scheme, but the movie as a whole was fun to watch and often had me quite literally at the edge of my seat (and well, admittedly, hiding behind my knees that were tucked against my chest, haha). Personally, my favorite parts were anytime bad guys got snatched into the shadows to be pwned by our caped hero. I mean, how cool is that? Not to mention their portrayal of the Scarecrow was top notch. It makes my skin crawl thinking of him. Gah, so disturbing.

But on a more thoughtful note, it really added a level of depth to the Bruce Wayne character that the previous movies were unable to do. They did a great job with all the Batman elements: the corruption-saturated state of Gotham city, Bruce’s all-consuming desire for justice, kick-ass bat-stuff, etc. It was all very true to the dark essence of that which is Batman.

So yes. Batman. It’s good, it’s fun, it’s nothing like the last dozen Bat-movies. And yeah, it’s oh oh so ninja. Yeah, that’s “oh” twice.

Next up is Mr. and Mrs. Smith on Saturday. Am a little nervous for that one, but my fingers are crossed. And with that, here’s to summer movies.