Chuck's Top Ten Movies of 2005 - Number 7

We continue with the top ten movie list of 2005, courtesy of renowned movie watcher, collector, and critic, Chuck Fournier. Here's Chuck's number 7 review:

Batman Begins
After the horrible failure of Joel Schumacher's Batman and Robin, Warner Bros decided to do something unthinkable in Hollywood today - make an unusually smart comic book movie with a lot of depth. In other words, make the Batman movie that they should have made in the first place.

This film isn't a comedy out to please a general audience. This is a serious, intelligent, and thoughfully written story. Don't get me wrong - I love Tim Burton's two movies, especially Batman Returns, but Batman Begins is the first movie that fully explores one of comics' most famous heroes with accuracy and class.

The story explores Batman's origins - how Bruce Wayne's life was changed from childhood, growing up in fear and hatred because of the death of his parents. Then later, trying to take on the criminal underground himself, only to be thrown in prison and then brought under the wing of a mentor who would train him in the ways of combat, stealth, and the pursuit of justice.

This is a Batman who is a tough, ruthless bad ass, and not some campy joke. I loved how he was written, and how well he was portrayed by Christian Bale. The other characters are also very well written and acted, and there are some respected stars in supporting roles, including Micheal Cane, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson, and Gary Oldman.

Hollywood has finally done Batman justice by taking him back to his comic book roots, and making an epic and entertaining action movie that was this summer's best.