A Perfectly Cromulent Movie

Rating: 8/10 (22 July 2005)

I must say, I think the market for comic book movies is becoming a bit saturated. Fortunately "Batman Begins" is able to distinguish itself from the majority through a well-written story and solid acting(I'll begrudgingly acknowledge even Katie Holmes was alright). With the exception of the first Spiderman and the original Batman, you'd be hard pressed to find a better comic adaptation on film. What I found particularly interesting was the focus on Bruce Wayne rather than his alter ego, Batman. For whatever reason previous Batman movies had revealed little about Wayne himself, choosing rather to focus on the heroics of the superhero he created. I think what makes this movie more enjoyable is that the audience sympathizes with Wayne whereas previously they had simply admired him for his bravery.
One problem I did noticed that has been mentioned pretty frequently is that the action is sometimes difficult to follow. I found this to certainly be the case. Batman tends to have a much darker streak than other comics and you can understand Christopher Nolan's desire to be true to this trait. He does himself a disservice, however, with narrow shots of various fight scenes as it leads to some ambiguity as to what is actually happening. I would imagine that this problem will be corrected in the sequel.
This movie is definitely worth a viewing if you enjoy comic-based films, or even just action films in general. Christian Bale, in my estimation, surpasses Michael Keaton as the best Batman and Liam Neeson plays his supporting role as Wayne's mentor well. While Michael Caine isn't really tested, he is still a pleasure to watch. "Batman Begins" leaves me, and I'm sure many others, eagerly anticipating a followup.