Not only best Batman movie, but excellent crime-drama, psychological thriller...

Rating: 9/10 (7 July 2005)

It simply doesn't matter if you hated the other Batman movies, you will LOVE this film. Nolan hits gold here because he directs a film that transcends the superhero genre but is a brilliant addition to the crime-gangster genre, film noir genre, suspense/thriller genre, and the realistic drama genre. Not only is Batman Begins the best Batman film ever, this could easily be one of the top 3 best films EVER based on a comic book (move over Spider-man, there's competition in town).
The other Batman movies ranged from good to decent, but they all ironically lacked an obvious key ingredient which Begins has...a main character. The other films were never about Batman and his alter ego Bruce Wayne, but rather about the villains, special effects, the jokes, or the artistic Gothic scenery. The Burton/Schumacher franchise was doomed to early failure because the franchise had no soul, it was going to sputter out mindless clichés similar to the James Bond franchise. Schumacher took the campiness to horrible extreme in Batman & Robin which would temporarily kill the franchise. Honestly, what Schumacher did is a blessing, not a curse. If it weren't for Schumacher going to the campy nonsensical extremes, Warner Brothers would have continued spitting out more moderately silly "Batman Forever" James-Bondish caliber films that would spawn critical ridicule but make loads of money at the box office. The death at Batman & Robin allowed Warner Brothers to learn start taking the comic book films seriously.
The film explores how Bruce Wayne grows from innocent child, to traumatized, confused young adult, to martial arts student who learns the tricks of the trade and becomes the disciplined, focused crime fighter known as Batman. Christian Bale gives an impressive and best performance as Bruce Wayne. Unlike the other Batman films, you will finally understand and empathize with Bruce Wayne and Nolan will make you believe (sorta) that a man in the real world could actually wage a nocturnal war on crime. Batman Begins presents a more realistic but captivating interpretation of Batman as opposed to the fantastic, go-go gadget but soulless hero shown in the other films. Batman is the star here, not the silly flashy villains. In fact, Nolan creates a truly grimy, corrupt, and ferocious Gotham City that there is simply no room for flashy, nonsensical circus villains or bizarro plots. The villains here are realistic mobsters, realistic psychos, and realistic criminal ideologues. Sure, the Batman rogue gallery is still here (Ra's al Ghul and the Scarecrow are the main villains), but the villains are more threatening in that their motivations are given depth. What truly crept me out about this movie is the thought that characters could exist live in your own city.
Micheal Caine gives the best performance as Alfred I've ever seen...he's a surrogate father for Bruce Wayne and strict, yet lovable personal confidant for Batman. Liam Neeson gives a brilliant performance as a martial arts trainer and social commentator for Bruce Wayne. Morgan Freeman gives the same performance he usually does in most movies, as a cynical but smart and slightly humorous adviser to someone. He plays Lucius Fox, head of the military specialist department for Wayne Enterprise. Surprisingly, Katie Holmes, who I thought could have ruined this movie doesn't, and gives a convincing performance as a childhood friend. The acting is the best highlight of the movie.
The music isn't as fantastic and triumphant as Danny Elfan's classical score, but that's because that type of score would be outtaplace in this film. This movie is about a man's journey around the world, quest to discover himself, and a man's destiny to wage a conquest against evil in Gotham. The score in this film is great and gives an epic and timeless feel.
Nolan directs the story in his typical Memento fashion, presenting certain captivating achronologial events in Bruce's life simultaneously, forcing the viewer to really pay attention in this fast-paced film. Unless you have a short attention span, you should have no problem doing so, though. The latter half of the movie is chronological and shows Bruce Wayne creating the personas of Batman and cad playboy Bruce to the general public.
The only minor flaws are the addition of few cheesy one-liners and some bad dialogue, but that was obviously added to appease children or casual movie goers will short attention spans. The movie has enough light humor to give breathing room in a rather dark,..Alfred delivers the best jokes in the film.
Overall, this is a great film to kick off the new Batman franchise.