Best Batman movie yet.

Rating: 9/10 (12 July 2008)

After the awful mess that was "Batman & Robin", I was unsure of a re-boot of the Batman movie franchise. Memories of Bat-Ice Skates and mid-air surfing haunted me before this movie came out, and more of the same would have squashed any dreams in my head of a real, quality Batman film.
But I figured, okay, it could be good, I've heard good things about this Christopher Nolan, I'll go see it.
One of the best decisions of my life. What Nolan has done (and what he is about to do again in "The Dark Knight") with the Batman film franchise has given me and Bat-Fans the world over the origin movie we have been yearning for. It shows fans and general audiences alike the quest of Bruce Wayne to become something criminals fear: Batman. Yet when you see this movie, it doesn't have the comic-book superhero popcorn movie feel to it like you get from the "Spiderman" movies or "Iron Man" (not that that is a bad thing). No, Nolan makes this movie feel like a legitimate work of film art and not something you just go see to fill up your summer time with, and I hope I get this same vibe from "The Dark Knight".
But, this film had one minor flaw that keeps me from giving it a 10: the fight scenes. I understand what they were trying to do with them: they wanted us to feel like we were right there in the middle of the action. I appreciate such an attempt and I can see why a director might try it. But I could not tell who was doing what to whom in "Batman Begins"'s fight scenes, all I knew was that Batman was fighting someone, but that was it. It could be an issue of taste, but I just like to see what exactly is going on.
"Batman Begins" still easily takes the cake for me when I think of the best superhero movies, though. I'm sure when viewed from the spectrum of the upcoming "The Dark Knight", this movie will seem even better.