Batman Begins

Excellent, in no small part thanks to the perfectly cast and brilliantly acted Gordon, Alfred, Fox, and Ra’s. There were a couple of notable down points, though. Scarecrow was just done wrong. I have a lot of love for Cillian Murphy but it didn’t work here. I think a significant reason for this is the writing. If the film was a Scarecrow film, rather than a Ra’s one, it might have worked better but he came off as incredibly unthreatening. Even in his strongest moment in the film he’s taken down by an untrained DA with a taser—disappointing for a Scarecrow fan. I also think Rachel and Bruce’s relationship wasn’t sufficiently developed for a lot of the moments to hit as they were intended to.  Overall, very well done but noticeable, though not overly significant, disappointments stop me giving it the full 5 stars.