{"id":10450,"date":"2005-06-17T14:37:27","date_gmt":"2005-06-17T14:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/samhilliard.com\/wordpress?p=10450"},"modified":"2005-10-28T11:17:40","modified_gmt":"2005-10-28T15:17:40","slug":"batman-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.samhilliard.com\/wordpress\/2005\/06\/17\/batman-begins\/","title":{"rendered":"Batman Begins!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For every generation, a hero rises.  For every hero, there&#8217;s a story.  This is the story of Batman.<\/p>\n<p>Everything that was wrong with the franchise, including the director, production team and  approach has been discarded.  This is a fresh, clean look at one of DC Comics longest running, and most intriguing, characters.<\/p>\n<p>Gone are the codpieces, the soap opera grade acting, the gratuitous butt shots and nipple rings.  Goodbye Joel Schumacher, Tim Burton and George Clooney.  Hello Dark Knight, we&#8217;ve been expecting you.  Welcome darkness.<\/p>\n<p>This is a serious look at the origins of Batman, the first film that answers questions like &#8211; How and where did he get all those wonderful toys?  Who taught him to kick ass?  Why is the bat his symbol?  Patience, all is revealed in a stunning two hour and fourteen minute narrative.<\/p>\n<p>What works about Batman:<br \/>\n1) Actors.  Every actor is perfectly cast and directed properly.  There&#8217;s no stiff delivery or overeager method crap here.  Bravo, Christopher Nolan!<br \/>\n2) Narrative.  The story flows, never drags, and always entertains.  A sign of the narrative&#8217;s strength: based on what we&#8217;re shown, the plot is feasible.  It&#8217;s not a question of wanting to believe in Batman and giving the movie the benefit of the doubt.  Rather, this is Batman, check him out on the screen.<br \/>\n3) The Batmobile.  Best bat transport vehicle yet.<br \/>\n4) Tone.  This is not a soap opera drenched with glib jokes and carnival colors.  Under the reign of Schumacher I thought everyone might break out in song and touch themselves ( and perhaps the audience too ).  Instead, it&#8217;s a serious look at Batman&#8217;s origins, with the proper blend of humor and drama.<br \/>\n5) Gotham.  A great looking Gotham, and the first that feels like a real city instead of a set.  Real, but with an edge and tinge of comic book netherworld.<br \/>\n6) Score. We all love Danny Elfman, but it was time for a new sound.  This classical themed backbeat is the finishing touch that takes the film to the next level.<\/p>\n<p>Verdict:  Theater full price.  Buy the DVD and invite me over.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For every generation, a hero rises. For every hero, there&#8217;s a story. This is the story of Batman. Everything that was wrong with the franchise, including the director, production team and approach has been discarded. This is a fresh, clean look at one of DC Comics longest running, and most intriguing, characters. Gone are the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.samhilliard.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.samhilliard.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.samhilliard.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.samhilliard.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.samhilliard.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.samhilliard.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10450\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.samhilliard.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.samhilliard.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.samhilliard.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}