A Good Start

Rating: 7/10 (17 July 2012)

'Batman Begins' is Christopher Nolan's first major film and it has worked really well.
His idea to make the films less comical and more realistic has made this series of films extremely successful. Compared to its sequel, 'Batman Begins' is not quite as good but does work.
The plot obviously tells us how Batman became Batman; it is explained in a way that can be a little confusing at some points - there is a section where Bruce Wayne flashes back to an incident before he began training which can be a bit confusing because they don't explain that it is a flashback very well. Aside from this the plot is very well written and acts as a great platform to Batman's new era on-screen.
The acting from the majority of actors is really good; Christian Bale plays a great Batman and shows how he is capable of acting in major blockbusters as well as smaller film roles. Liam Neeson and Cillian Murphy play the villains in this; Neeson's character is more subtle but equally as menacing as Murphy's Dr. Crane/Scarecrow. Murphy really does scare you with his manic performance, it's a shame he was not given more screen time in this film because his role felt too short. Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman and especially Michael Caine are all great characters and provide a lot of miniature comedy moments which carry the film. Katie Holmes is probably the weakest in the film but even then she is not terrible; there are just some moments where her performance needed a lot more.
I would really recommend this film if you've not seen it yet. The final film in Nolan's series is about to come out and the first two films have been fantastic. This is a series of films you need to see.