Best of the Batman films so far. Deep, dark, and refreshingly serious

Rating: 8/10 (6 July 2005)

I never thought Christian Bale could displace Michael Keaton as the best batman, but, sorry Michael, the deed is done.
Batman fans should find no surprise in the darkness of this tale depicting the early life of Bruce Wayne, his transformation into The Batman, and one of his most harrowing adventures. I avoided reading reviews before seeing this. As a lifelong comics fan, I felt this film deserved an open mind from me. After seeing one of the trailers, I became convinced that this film was going to be based on Frank Miller's The Dark Knight, a legendary take on the 1930s Batman origin story inked in the 80s by the man who later gave us Sin City. But no, this is a fresh and original Batman film, including the significant elements of the original, but adding its own very carefully thought out embellishments. While it has all of the darkness of The Dark Knight, it has all of the plot elements of the original, and more.
The familiar Batman story is told early in the film, but by the time we are allowed to focus on Wayne, he has grown into a young man. Wayne is depicted as a troubled drifter whose traumatic early life has left him seeking understanding in all of the wrong places. Bayle plays the character to the hilt - with his detachment, repressed anger and heavily depressive tendencies sustained throughout the entire film. Susceptible to any guidance that might provide him with a chance to right the wrongs he has seen, he falls under the spell of Ra's Al Ghul high in the Bhutanese Himalayas and becomes an apprentice in the League of Shadows - a secret society of ninjas who purge the world of corruption in a merciless manner. Wayne's martial arts training is where the major story arc begins.
This is easily the most serious, intelligent, and adult of the batman films. It is well filmed, relentlessly fast-paced and intelligently scripted. Batman Begins also sports a phenomenal cast. I am aware that a few people felt that Katie Holmes was miscast as Rachel Dawes, but I couldn't agree less. She did a good job as, basically, the only woman in the film. The rest of the cast did not miss a beat either. The very likable Michael Caine makes a great Alfred, though I have to admit I was concerned when I first saw him on screen (having never gotten over some of his weaker efforts).
With Sin City and Batman Begins coming out in the same year, it is easy to imagine that - after decades of struggle - the comic media has finally successfully broken into serious commercial films. Let's hope it's here to stay!