A solid film from start to finish

Rating: 9/10 (17 June 2005)

Batman Begins moves along at a brisk pace. Although it is quite a long film, and as stated, the Batman "character" isn't finally revealed until the film's halfway point, the movie is bolstered by solid performances and an engaging and interesting script.
Christian Bale brings a greater degree of depth to Bruce Wayne (and definitely cuts the most imposing, not to mention frightening, Batman) than the screen has seen yet. Michael Caine is delightful to watch as Alfred, although he plays the character as, well, Michael Caine. Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, and Liam Neeson (in full blown Qui-Gon Jinn mode) are also strong. To say that Katie Holmes' performance is weak is perhaps a bit unfair as she's given very little to work with here. Relative newcomer Cillian Murphy playing the "surprise" villain comes off like Tom Welling channeling Hannibal Lecter.
Christopher Nolan's decision to weigh this story heavily in "reality" is certainly an interesting one. While it works well here, it could ultimately prove to be a double edged sword; Batman has always been one of the single most mysterious superheroes in pop culture. Nolan goes to great lengths to answer many of the questions that have been asked by fans about the Dark Knight for decades, and this decision might do a great deal to demystify this character.
The grand irony here is that Nolan's initial claim to fame, Memento, is a film in which the anti-narrative creative editing demanded its viewers to ask more questions than it was willing to answer. In Batman Begins, he does the opposite, spelling out each "bat-gadget" with its own logical, scientific explanation (a la James Bond). It will be interesting to see if and how he can build upon this new franchise from this point.
Overall, this is a solid motion picture; a great pop corn flick.