Batman Begins

—Overview
—Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections

Okay let me make a couple of things clear, I am a comic book fan and have been for years. While Batman may not be at the top of my list, he is among my top three comic book heroes of all time right there with Captain America and Spiderman. I have said it before and will say it again, comic books are as much for adults as they are kids and in some ways even more so for adults. Batman is a perfect example of that and thankfully, the new movie Batman Begins does justice to the character of Batman created by Bob Kane.

The person Bruce Wayne has a life filled with tragedy, heartache, and horror. He has gone through life blaming himself for the tragedies of his childhood. He is a character that many can relate to. The truth is, that unfortunately many have experienced tragedy and end up blaming themselves for those tragedies. While on the surface the concept of fear is approached, the story of Batman is about so much more than that. It is about each individual learning to deal with the tragedies of their youth, and discovering hope within their own lives and then doing something with that fear and hope for the humanity we can serve. Fear is just an obstacle that gets in the way. It is not the underlying theme or problem though and that is the mistake many make. While fear is in each persons life, just as in the life of Batman, it has to be attacked and conquered. For Bruce Wayne, overcoming fear would be a wonderful drama but it would not be a complete story. What to do once one has overcome fear, is the challenge and struggle that each of us must face. That in essence becomes the story of Batman. There must be a purpose in addressing fear. That is the struggle that Bruce Wayne faces and is what the story of Batman is all about.

One of the associations that many have to fear is darkness, it is a technique used by filmmakers and is a technique that is similar to the recent review I did of High Tension. Not just as a lighting effect, but as a story line. Don’t expect to leave this movie feeling great. The techniques are not comedy, brightness and wonderful events. The events include tragedy, despair, difficulty, death, and destruction. Notice the usage of darkness in this movie. There is not much hope or happiness. Corruption and greed run Gotham and we need to realize that Gotham don’t just represent New York City as many have implied, Gotham represents the world we live in. We are all residents of Gotham. The earth is seen as a place that is dark, greedy, and influenced by evil people, often times the evil that they do overpowering the good that others do. Just turn on the news and you will see an example of this. Kane in his original story line addressed all of the current problems of the time. Just as the time needed a hero in the inception of Batman, it still needs one, it needs one who will help society overcome fear, and return evil with good.

Without some personal comment one will not understand my own struggle and journey with the character of Batman. Please forgive me and let me give some of my life lessons. There are many reasons I identify and love the character, and journey of Batman. I won’t go into a ton of detail other than to say that as a child I was abused in every way you can imagine and grew up in a dark desolate place. A place filled with poverty, abuse, and crime. I became a part of that world, as much out of necessity as anything. That story is well documented and has been told around the country, yet, I still had hope, I still had dreams, not many, but they were there. I have never known a father, a similarity to Bruce Wayne. Having to grow up without father places a large amount of stress and thoughts into the mind of a young boy, just as it did Bruce Wayne. At some point in my life, things looked pretty dim and bleak. Then I developed a relationship with Jesus Christ and I found my own deliverer, my own Batman if you will. All of the principles that I have spoken about thus came into play. I had to overcome my fears, my own darkness and then do something about it.

Finding a way to overcome fear, and doing something about it is something most people face. It might be changing jobs, a death in the family, abuse, maybe a whole host of things. Truth is that we often attach large-scale things like dying, robbery, and the like to fear. My experience is that the small things also contribute to that attitude. It is often the little things that have the largest impact on our lives. Fear has not boundaries and must be attacked or it is just like we are told in the Bible; “it will consume us,” just as it almost consumed Bruce Wayne. Batman Begins is a wonderful story that illustrates that journey beautifully for Bruce Wayne. He is like a savior who continually reminded those he comes into contact with, “Don’t be afraid.”

Bruce Wayne begins his journey early in life, it is only when he has had a willingness to give up his own life that he identifies and understands his purpose. He must lead a life of serving others, and helping them overcome their fears. It is not just about overcoming fear though, it is about giving hope. He decides to take on a new, hidden identity to do good. He does not need the attention and he is not in it to be self serving. He understands that the bigger picture is about more than just him. He takes on a false identity. While we assume that the false identity is Batman, the truth is that the false identity is really Bruce Wayne. Batman, once his fears has been overcome, and he has discovered his purpose is really who he is. The old Bruce Wayne is but a reflection of his old character. The old Bruce Wayne has been put away, and he has become a new creature, the new creature of Batman. It is a concept that the old television series never seemed to get and understand. This movie gets it though. The character of Batman is about battling evil, and fortunately, he is a character that understands the difference between justice and revenge, otherwise he would be no better than the evil he is battling.

Fortunately, for Batman, there are those along the way to help. He has understood the importance of having support. Just as we must as we face the things we fear and then overpower them with hope. These individuals play critical roles in helping Batman along the way and will do so for us. They are examples of those that will need to help find purpose in life.

Enough on the sermonization of this movie let me say a few other things about it. Technically, this is a wonderful movie. I went in hoping that it would be as good as the first Batman with Michael Keaton, it was! The supporting cast, all of the way around, is better. There are many that are not “Big Name Stars” in title roles, with the exception of Michael Caine who plays an absolutely brilliant Alfred, Liam Nelson who plays a deliciously evil Henri Ducard, and Morgan Freeman who plays the tart character of Lucius Fox. There are others like Gary Oldman who plays Lt. Gordan but as a whole, the primary characters are not “big name actors.” That will soon change though because the supporting cast is brilliant. Regarding the cast, I must say that Christian Bale is Batman/Bruce Wayne!. He does a brilliant job in this role and I would have never dreamed that he would do as well as he has. There is also the villain of The Scarecrow/Dr. Jonathan Crane that is played wonderfully by Cillian Murphy. He is as wonderful in his role as Bale is at his.

In brief, how is this Batman? Well it has the best car, the best story, the best Alfred, the best villains, the best story, the best effects, and the best Batman. It is also the darkest, longest, most character development of any Batman. That being said, I’d say pretty darned good. I never got bored in the 2 ½ hours I was at the theater. It is well worth watching and well worth contemplating. Then after doing that, applying the lessons to your own individual life.

On a scale of 1-10 for the fact that I still think the two Spiderman Movies are better in their totality, I’ll give this one a well deserving and enjoyable 9.

—Overview
—Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections

High Tension

—Overview
—Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections

Just returned from seeing High Tension, also known as Haute Tension in it’s original French Format. This film, dubbed and edited from the original French version carries a understandable ‘R’ rating and is being billed as one of the most violent movies ever made. Even the girl selling me the tickets to see the movie warned me; “Oh man, that movie is really gory and gross.” I wasn’t looking forward to the gross part but was looking forward to the “intensity” the movie trailers seemed to portray.

Speaking of Intensity, from the previews I was amazed at how much the story line resembled the Dean Koontz story of Intensity of which Fox Television did a miniseries in 1997. When originally seeing the trailers at the theater some months ago I said to my wife; “That looks just like Dean Kontz’s Intensity.” “Yea it does to me too.” She replied. To say the least I am shocked that more haven’t made this comparison. After seeing the movie, I am even more shocked.

Let me make something perfectly clear here, right off the very start. I believe that High Tension is a direct rip off of the Dean Koontz story Intensity, and unfortunately, I haven’t seen this referred to in the press, or comments regarding this movie. Almost line for line, without the character detail, and story development, High Tension is exactly out of the Koontz story, that is until the very ending of the story. From the opening harrowing scenes, to the closing confrontation on back wood streets, the story is directly from Dean Koontz.

With that said, I must say that knowing this and seeing this I was disappointed throughout the movie, so my opinions were already prejudiced. Prejudiced from the perspective that Koontz is a wonderful story teller who tells stories that are intense and riveting. He always develops heroes or heroines that the reader can appreciate. While complicated, they are someone that can be admired. Without giving much away, that can not be said for High Tension. While we are looking for heroes we eventually come to a place of confusion where we see individuals fighting within their own lives over the power of love and the power of evil.

The search for love and the recognition of evil within each individual is in part what this story is all about. It is the reality that all persons are evil that helps hit that message home, and hit it home hard during the conclusion of this movie. The search for understanding, and the need to be loved is the only characteristic that can break down evil within any individual. This component reminded me of the passage out of Romans that states that; “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” The message of even our heroes being evil or having the potential of evil is delivered in thought provoking way here. The message for the need of love of each individual also hits home. It is one of the things that makes the message of Christ so important. The old John 3:16 passage still has meaning. “For God loved the world so much that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him will not die, but will live forever.” The sacrifice of Christ came at a terrible ! cost. The cost which included a great deal of blood. “Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin.”

High Tension does not go easy on the blood that is shed during this movie. It is gory, and gross. It is excessive and a movie that I would strongly recommend that parents keep young children away from. To be honest, I don’t think I would even take my 15 year old to see this movie. That does not change the fact though that youth will flock to see this movie. They will devour the gore, and unfortunately likely not understand the twist at the end or the message of each person struggling with their own battle trying to identify the good, and the evil within each of us.

Technically, this movie is done quite well. While it is a direct rip off of the Dean Koontz version of Intensity, it is still a story of an individual searching for love, and an individual willing to search deep within to find the courage to take on the evil around them. It is a story resembling in some ways of Flannery O’Conner’s story A Good Man Is Hard To Find. We see that with the face of evil, good people die, and even innocent children often times get caught up in the crossfire of that battle.

Is this a story that everyone will enjoy? Heck no, you might even say that very few people will enjoy it. I didn’t and wouldn’t want to see the movie again. I found myself cringing at the extreme usage of violence and found myself appreciating the mini series of Intensity far more. Don’t get me wrong, the intensity is still in High Tension, but I preferred the intensity in Intensity, without all of the gore.

I won’t recommend that you see this movie, that doesn’t change the fact though that there are valuable lessons we can all learn from it and talk to others about who do see the movie. Helping each person understand that they themselves are struggling and battling the good and evil within them is a worthwhile discussion. Helping them understand that love conquers all is a good topic of discussion, and ultimately helping them understand the one who delivers ultimate love is an even better topic of discussion.

On a scale of 1-10, for the number of people who die taken away from 10 I leave a disappointing 4

—Overview
—Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections