selenak

I saw Batman Begins today and liked it quite a lot. This has to be the first Batman film which is actually more interested in its hero than in its villains (not that those weren't fabulous, too), and Christian Bale as young Bruce Wayne so surpasses Keaton and Clooney combined that it's not even funny. Also, as someone who loved Batman: Year One and Jeff Loeb's The Long Halloween, I was thrilled that the film obviously took them as inspirations.

Starting with the pearls Bruce's mother wears on the fatal night. And Carmine "The Roman" Falcone. And the transition from Gotham as the corrupt city in the hands of traditional gangsters to Gotham as the city of costumed supervillains, as indicated in the final scene, with Gordon even asking the same cause-and-effect question about Batman attracting the later that he poses in The Long Halloween.

Speaking of Jim Gordon, Gary Oldman was great in the part; he so often plays extroverts and/or villain that it's great to see him in rare low-key good guy mode. Heck, everyone, save Katie Holmes, was great, and she wasn't exactly bad, it's more that her part wasn't very interesting, the virtuous love interest. Plus one regrettable leftover from the other Batman films is that Bruce reveals his identity to his love interest every freakin' time, which is just wrong. (The only time I was okay with it somewhat was with Catwoman, but then she was also the only love interest who was a good character in her own right.) But on with the praise: Michael Caine as Alfred was concerned, sarcastic, capable and to be underestimated at one's peril. I guessed the truth about Liam Neeson's character due to the iron rule that if we see the future hero train with someone who keeps beating him all the time, this someone has to be beaten by the hero at the climax of the film, but it was nonetheless a nice play on the mentor rules an action movie audience would associate him with, i.e. the trusted mentor types. And he never went over the top with it, either.

It's probably just a strange coincidence, but it does amuse me that the Alias season 4 finale and and Batman Begins give their villains basically the same plot. Who'd have thought Elena Derevko watches comic movies?

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New Alias fanfic from yours truly, both responses to challenges.

"In Flight"

"Lessons"

"In Flight" is about Emily and Irina during Truth Takes Time in season 2, no spoilers beyond that, whereas "Lessons", featuring Elena Derevko, has spoilers for the entire four seasons.

Meanwhile,