Movie Review - Batman Begins

Batman Begins (2005)

Starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Ken Watanabe, Rutger Hauer, and Tom Wilkinson

Directed by Christopher Nolan

I must admit that I watched this back in mid-August.  I had planned on a one-two-three punch of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, but that never came to fruition.  That said, with The Dark Knight Rises just arriving in the mail today, I figured I might as well briefly discuss my thoughts on this first flick in the series.

I didn't remember being a huge fan of this when it first came out in 2005 and this subsequent viewing in 2012 didn't really change my mind.  Origin tales always border on tedious for me and this proves no exception.  While I didn't mind learning the story of Bruce Wayne as a kid, once he gets older (and turns into Christian Bale) and travels to Asia to strengthen both his body and his mind, I lost interest.  As Bruce returns to Gotham, the film picks up a bit, but by the end, I found the climax to be much too lengthy.

It certainly doesn't help that Liam Neeson's Henri Ducard/Ra's al Ghul isn't a great villain, and while Cillian Murphy's Scarecrow is more menacing, I felt he wasn't exactly placed into the spotlight his character probably should have been.  Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Gary Oldman are all quite strong in their roles providing nice characters for Bale's Bruce Wayne to play off of in their respective scenes together.  Katie Holmes is fine as well (although Maggie Gyllenhaal breathes a little more life into the same romantic love interest character in the second film).

As for Christian Bale, I'm not quite sure where I stand on him.  While I respect the choices of the deep voice and stoic emotionless demeanor while in the persona of Batman, it does make the character a bit one-note.  He certainly plays Wayne as a smart (though smarmy at times) playboy which allows for a bit more fun to be injected into things, but when behind the mask, he's almost bland.

While I'm mainly listing qualms with the film, I do think Batman Begins is a pretty solid comic book adaptation and certainly one of the better flicks of the genre over the past twenty years.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - Hobo with a Shotgun

Hobo with a Shotgun (2011)

Starring Rutger Hauer, Brian Downey, Gregory Smith, Nick Bateman, and Molly Dunsworth

Directed by Jason Eisener

***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

Um...where to even begin with this one?  Well, let's start by saying that the title of the film pretty much says it all.  After he hops off a train in the lawless Hope Town, the Hobo (who, it should be noted is simply called "Hobo" throughout the flick) decides that he needs to take matters into his own hands to rid the town of The Drake (Brian Downey), a megalomaniacal crazyman who, along with his two sons Slick (Gregory Smith) and Ivan (Nick Bateman) wreak havoc on the city.  So, the Hobo (Rutger Hauer) purchases a shotgun and takes matters into his own hands.

Hobo with a Shotgun is an awful film...but it means to be.  Meant to be an homage to the violent 1970s grindhouse-style flicks, it certainly never will be mistaken for a good movie.  But, in its own ways, it's an interesting watch.  It's gratuitously bloody, ridiculously over-the-top, and horribly acted for the most part...but those are all characteristics of 1970s exploitation flicks.  The problem, in an odd way, is that Rutger Hauer's Hobo is almost too well-acted to be a part of this movie.  His gritty portrayal is quite subdued and when everything else around him is so completely unbelievable, there are too many hints of realness in his character to make him a perfect fit in the movie.  About halfway through the flick, I was hoping to spend more time with the Hobo than the rather silly villains who made portions of the flick unbearable.  In fact, by the time the film's final thirty minutes rolls around, the whole thing just becomes a bit too over-the-top for my tastes.  (Once I saw the giant octopus, I checked out.)

Still, I can imagine that this would be a funny film to watch with a group of people who have imbibed on perhaps one too many alcoholic beverages.  And while I didn't hate this movie, it's certainly not anything I'd need to watch ever again.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-