5 thoughts on “Special Features 021: Considering the Themes of Batman Begins (2005)”

1. William Rowan should stop referring to movies he hasn’t seen, such as the Fast and the Furious, when referring to movies devoid of theme or value aside from action sequences. He has undoubtedly, in decades of watching film, actually watched a movie that was inadequate in these departments and could refer to one of these instead, no? I would usually leave this sort of comment alone. However, Mr. Jr. has made reference to the Fast and the Furious twice recently. All I’m asking is that film critics watch the films in which they are critiquing before they pass judgement.

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   • Inbred Coop,

     Thanks for listening and taking the time to commit.
     You have a good and fair point that I should try to criticise movies I’m more familiar with. If I can remember them on the spot I will do my best to do so in the future.
     In my defense though… I have seen the first Fast and the Furious and half of the 3rd one and I went on the “Fast & Furious – Supercharged™‎” ride at Universal Studios last month… so I thought I had enough to work with.
     But the real reason I decided to use the Fast and Furious franchise as a good example of a movie constantly stating the theme but not putting a lot of creative effort into showing the theme through all the other elements of filmmaking… is because I knew that Jason likes those movies (and I really don’t), and it’s fun for friends to rag on each other about stuff like this.

     I would love your recommendation of which Fast and the Furious movie does a good job of showing the theme of the movie.

     Thanks,
     William Rowan Jr.

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2. I’ve never really liked Batman Begins. The seeds that grew into The Dark Knight (which I think is magnificent) are there, but none of it really hangs together. I blame David Goyer, actually, for a lot of what (at least for me) doesn’t work. The writing and storytelling get a lot better when it’s just the Nolans handling the screenplay.

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   • Cody,

     The real question is… do you like The Fast & Furious Franchise and if so why?

     William Rowan Jr.

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     • I’ve seen 1, 2, and, somewhat randomly, 5. So three different directors and, between those three films, six total screenwriters (and different writers for each film). It’s weird that there’s any tonal or thematic consistency at all, really. Generally speaking, I’m not a huge fan. I actually reviewed the 5th one, back in the day, for the Daily Herald: http://bit.ly/Fast5byCody

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