Summer's here and the time is right, as the old song said, for blowing up crap. Oh, it was "dancing in the streets?" Whatever, here are some not-so-explosive opinions on BATMAN BEGINS and RIZE.
First, my opinion of Katie (future Mrs Tom Cruise) Holmes. Not that my opinion of her was so great at the outset, but after her tepid performance in BATMAN BEGINS, I feel I can safely say she should quit her day job when she gets married. Happily, she was one of the few weak points in this new Batman tale, which overall was an enjoyably dark and interesting telling of the roots of Gotham's Caped Crusader. (The other weak point, BTW, was the tank-like Batmobile. Is it just me, or should Batman not be driving a really hot car, like a Maserati? With wings? And rocket launchers?)
The story is set in a dark, corrupt city where money changes hands under the table and everyone's for sale -- kind of like Washington, but without the monuments -- which lends a sense of dense foreboding and psychological tension to the movie that serves Batman's tale well. We all kind of know that Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) was orphaned as a child when his wealthy, civic-minded parents were murdered, then he grew up and decided to clean up his hometown of Gotham City. What's new here is some insight into the guilt and anger he's been carrying since his parents' death, an emphasis on his family's civic instincts, and a look at how he's spent his junior year abroad in a Chinese prison (well, France is so over this year). Oh, and why he's afraid of bats. He accepts training from a ninja group run by a really tall non-Asian guy (Liam Neeson), who has a bit of -- okay a large -- God complex. Unfortunately, while they share a love of sneaking up on enemies and deadly swordplay, they disagree on to what ends to use these skills. So he calls Alfred, the Wayne family's trusty major domo (Michael Caine), flies home, cooks up some really cool stuff with a tech wizard from Wayne Industries (Morgan Freeman), and voila! Batman begins.
There's more to it, of course. A devious and creepy villain (28 Days' Cillian Murphy) has a dastardly plan for Gotham's residents. The 'Bat Man' finds an ally in Officer Gordon (welcome back, Gary Oldman), and you can see the seeds of what you know will be a long-term friendship built on respect and trust. Bruce's childhood friend is now Assistant District Attorney Katie Holmes, and she's on the villain's trail and, naturally, his hit list. There's a giant, loud, and to my taste too long train-wrecking battle for Gotham's soul, which is only partly resolved, leaving room for sequels.
You have to love any movie that has both Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman playing sly, wise, witty sidekicks, and Christian Bale is sufficiently edgy to play both the damaged Bruce Wayne and his alter ego Dark Knight. Then there's the nice touch of Gary Oldman in a good-guy role. Of course, Katie Holmes' ADA is about as welcome as that new girl on Law & Order, but her role is small and for part of it she's unconscious. And I think director Christopher Nolan could have brought a bit more of the nuance he showed in Memento. Batman Begins is not perfect, but it's a good start.
Next, my opinion on RIZE, a documentary directed by fashion photog David La Chappelle that focuses on competing dance crazes that have sprung up in South-Central LA, an area that has been torn by riots and today is still probably the closest thing we have in LA to downtown Baghdad. The competing dance styles are "Clowning" and "Krumping" -- the latter a more aggressive offshoot of the former, which itself is an improvisation on something the kids call the "stripper dance." All involve a lot of hip shaking and rolling, wild arm movements, jumping, and intense abdominal muscle work (oy, you should see the 6-packs those kids have) that made me think the whole thing was kind of like hula hoop with dark overtones. The dancing is wild -- don't try it at home -- and expresses some primal, angry energy that demands an outlet. The background to the dancing is the constricted lives these kids live in a neighborhood torn by drugs, violence, broken homes, poverty, and reduced expectations. We get to know a few of the key players in the 'hood, especially Tommy the Clown, a guy who says prison saved his life by getting him off the streets and giving him the time out he needed to make a break with his angry past. He gets young people involved in the dancing, encourages them to get good grades and stay out of gangs and trouble, and is an inspiration to several generations. The climax of the movie is a dance-style showdown that is far more exciting to see than DANCING WITH THE STARS. To me, Rize was both uplifting and deeply sad -- you couldn't help but be inspired by the kids' tales of overcoming tragedy and expressing themselves in dancing, but at the same time be saddened by the circumstances in which they live and how they don't seem to see that a way out might be just across town, a bus ride away.