Batman Begins again, but not from the actual beginning. If you watch the original Batman movies, from Tim Burton's classic(s) through to Joel Schumacher's Mister Freeze monstrosity, you'll notice that barely any time is given to Batman's origins. Each have their flashbacks and conversations with Alfred, but the action jumps straight into a fully-formed (rubber suited) Batman, already operating in Gotham City and certainly no neophyte. Probably for the best, given all that nonsense with the Joker. This is set to continue in Batman V Superman, in which adult Bruce will presumably be plagued with nightmares of his parents' murder. Short, and to the point. And that, frankly, is all we need! With Batman Begins, we got the origin tale Gotham deserves and, atmospheric flashbacks aside (drop a pearl necklace to the ground, by all means), that's all we need from now on. The casting of 42-year-old Affleck would seem to suggest we'll be spared Bruce Wayne: Training Day, instead letting the series concentrate on a good old fashioned Bat-tale of Batman punching the criminally insane about the face. Besides, we already have the TV series Gotham if we want to go through all that again...
A film critic and professional writer of over ten years, Joel Harley has a deep and abiding love of all things horror, Batman and Nicolas Cage. He can be found writing online and in print, all over the Internet and in especially good bookstores.
