VernonPope

Quite simply - this is the Batman movie true Batman fans have always wanted to see. It begins with the experiences of young Bruce Wayne as he encounters true fear for the first time, then witnesses his parents murder. Then it flashes forward to the day his parent's murderer is released from jail after turning informant for the DA's office. We see Bruce struggle to find meaning in the fact he is robbed of the chance to get revenge when the object of his hatred, the murderer, is assassinated by a mob boss's lackey just before Bruce would have killed him with a gun. Thus begins Bruce's 7 year journey to understand the criminal mind, and his concurrent search for the skills to combat criminality and true evil with justice.

I had no trouble at all watching this on DVD. The plot unfolded nicely, and answered all the questions I raised as the story progressed. I was a little disappointed by the ant-climax after the final battle, but it works because who would expect a career murderer (Van Helsing - played by Hugh Jackman) to actually walk away with "the girl."

The use of CG in this film is better than anything I've seen, and the information in the DVD extras about how it was done is great. This period fantasy piece does push the envelope of CG technology, raising the monsters to a level of realism almost believable, and the performers seemed to have had fun making the film.

I found this to be very entertaining, and so did my wife. We will be adding it to our permanent collection soon.

First, let me acknowledge that there are some unanswered questions. First, just what did Creasy do that caused him to feel so completely down on himself before he met Pita? That question is never answered, only vaguely hinted at, at best. OK, so he was a professional assassin. No big deal - he did what he was paid to do, and he was good at it.

So, what happened? Did he accidentally kill a bus of Catholic School girls when completing an assignment? I wish we knew.

Other than that, the movie did make a lot of sense to me. It had a believable plot, and moved in a logical way. Yes, Creasy's desire for revenge is predictable, but looking at the character, in his state of mind, it would also be his only shot at redemption. He is using this terrible gift he spent 18 years training to refine to close the books on people who make a living causing harm and pain to innocents. The only other choices he seems to have are to run away to the US, or go to Mexican prison for killing 2 "off-duty" cops that were in uniform at the scene of Pita's kidnapping.

The biggest problem I had with the whole story was the ending. In the last minute, there should have been a pan shot of the bad guys driving away, with Creasy's dead body in the back seat, going to a wide-angle view of the two cars rolling down the highway - and erupting into flame just after Creasy's watch "alarm" beeps. Mission accomplished.