Puts the series back on track. A masterpiece!

Rating: 10/10 (28 June 2005)

After the bitter disappointment (understatement, I know) of Batman and Robin, something special was needed to prove that Batman could still be a viable movie series. This is the film that not only proves it, but puts would be pretenders such as Spiderman and X-Men in the shade with a superb piece of film-making that puts script and characters above action sequences (although there are plenty of those too). What is so satisfying about the movie is that while Christopher Nolan is undoubtedly putting his own statement on the character, he has also reverted more to the style of the first Batman movie of 1989, by making the universe are characters inhabit a plausible and real one, even in the presence of bat-caves, gadgets and over the top villains. The city of Gotham doesn't look like the neon lit cartoon world of the Joel Schumacher years, instead looking like a real world, one that could exist. It is these types of choices that make the film a joy.
The casting is pure perfection. While Michael Keaton was a great Bruce Wayne/Batman, his casting was quirky and strange, even though he got over those problems masterfully. Christian Bale on the other hand is quite possibly the perfect embodiment of Bruce Wayne/Batman, he has comic book good looks (black hair, square jaw line) and like Michael Keaton, has a psychotic look in his eye while at the same time having a sense of humor that is a joy to watch and laugh with. Likewise Michael Caine as Alfred. Initially I would have preferred Anthony Hopkins, but Caine ends up as the better choice putting in a performance as touching as it is boisterous and hilarious. Add to this Gary Oldman as Sergeant Gordon (the future Commisoner of Gotham City), Cillian Murphy as The Scarecrow and Katie Holmes as the love interest, and not forgetting about Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, Batman Begins is a glorious piece of summer film entertainment. I left the cinema in a buzz I haven't felt since the first Matrix film, everything works so well here, the dialog, the script, acting, direction, even the music from Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard is fantastic, with Zimmer taking the action cues and Howard the more intimate moments.
As all good comic book movies should, the end only leaves us with more (espcially a mention of one of Batman's most famous villains, which I won't give away here) and its good to know a sequel will be with us in the next few years. All that I ask of Nolan and Warner Brothers is not to screw it up this time because this could be the beginning of something special indeed.
Bravo Christopher Nolan, bravo Christian Bale.