Ever watched a film the second time around and have to radically modify your opinion about it?Sometimes watching a film only once gives you a certain impression of it, but upon a second viewing you see it differently in a dramatic way. That’s what this month’s feature is all about.
Welcome to Revisionist History, where we take a look back at films whose opinions we’ve changed radically on.
One of the films in my library whose opinion I changed radically on was 2005’s Batman Begins.
Directed By: Christopher Nolan
Notable Cast Members: Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy, Katie Holmes
Summary: The story of how Bruce Wayne (Bale) became Batman.
Initial Thoughts: It’s not too often one can write a review of something and be wrong. It’s another to have it posted on IP and then come back to it six months later and try to figure out what the heck you were thinking. When the film was released, I hadn’t rewatched the original Batman series and remembered what I had felt about the original series. I didn’t hold them in high regard and initially thought the film was good, but didn’t think it was “great.”
My main problem with the film is that I thought it just didn’t hit that whole “great” atmosphere to it. It was good, but I didn’t leave the theatre impressed like I had thought I would. I dug the story line, but I felt there was a lot lacking to it. I especially thought Katie Holmes took a lot away from the film to the point where I dinged it pretty badly.
Final Thoughts: Viewing the film on DVD gave me a bit of a different perspective on it all. I also hadn’t seen the original Batman films in quite some time, and coincidentally reviewed the Batman Anthology after I saw Begins. And I kept seeing just how superior the Nolan version of the Batman universe was and after watching his version of Batman again, it was clear. I was wrong. Nolan, by turning up the realism and turning down the comic book nature of the films, made a great film about the origin of a hero and the hero quest.
Illumination: Part of what separate the new Batman from the films that began the franchise is that we aren’t given a hero right away. Batman Begins is Nolan’s meditations on the arc of the hero and seeing it on the small screen allowed for a better interpretation of it. It’s a film, like Casino Royale last year, with immense replay ability. After watching it for a third time, I finally got where Nolan was taking the character all along. Bale has quietly become one of the actors I will pay to see on opening night now and I got where he was taking the character. Bruce is a man whose confident and what he wants to do and is willing to do it himself if need be. The arc of the hero, with him adapting the methods of some of his enemies but bringing with it a sense of justice, is a lot clearer now. In retrospect the film should’ve been in my Top 5 of 2005 as opposed to being a solid honorable mention.
