Batman Begins

Just got back from seeing Batman Begins with Monica. It was good - and that's saying a lot, considering that I paid NINE DOLLARS AND FIFTY CENTS for a ticket. The last couple Batman movies have been boring, run-of-the-mill action flicks - muscly bad guys, plastic girls, cool gadgets, and big stars. But this movie is totally different in it's approach: it fleshes out what the first Batman movie only begins to hint at; how Batman went from a little kid whose parents got murdered to an un-killable crimefighter. It starts off a little jerky, but all the loose ends get tied together by the end, and I left the movie feeling like the good guys won. And it wasn't because they'd annihilated all the bad guys - it was because Batman stood for something, and he refused to compromise himself. He's definitely not without his problems, but his character's deep love for his father and his commitment to justice struck a chord in me.

I felt like this movie was compelling and engaging in the same way that Star Wars: Episode III was intriguing - it reveals the humanity, the struggle, the pain of characters that are very complex, which echoes deeply in us because it reminds of our own humanity and contradictions. In Episode III, we see Anakin's struggle with "ends justifying the means" so clearly and heart-wrenchingly that we empathize with his plight, and feel the pain of his poisioning by the "dark side." In Batman Begins, we see Bruce Wayne struggle with guilt, fear, and anger as he seeks to define himself and fight for justice. We see his humanity, and that's real. People today don't want fluff and smoke - they want substance, reality, truth.

Watching movies for me is similar to a way that I've heard people talk about reading parables - don't overanalyze them to death. These two are quite different in the respect that parables come from a book I believe to be the divinely inspired Word of GOD, while movies come from Hollywood (Nuff said.) I've had thoughts on some of the lines that Batman says with passages of the bible that deal with revenge, but I don't think I can read that deep into it without the whole movie falling down on top of me. Kinda like "The Matrix," which is full of biblical parallels, but the second two movies don't harmonize at all with the biblical connections of the first film.

I love how movies remind me of GOD's truth, but you can only read into a movie so far before it all comes apart. And so in thinking about the movie, I thought I'd keep it simple. Here's what I thought: There's a true way to live; a holy way. And though it may feel lonely sometimes, I know that there has gone one before me who has made the way straight, and it is his memory that pulls me ever onward in righteousness and holds me fast to those who are walking this path along with me. For Bruce, it was his dad, but for me, it's Jesus. And though I feel alone, I know that I'm never alone - thou art with me.

A gallon of gas: $2.39
Two movie tickets: $19
15 minutes of previews: boring
Being reminded of GOD's eternal truth through a movie from a broken world: priceless

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:1-3)