Someone got it right

Rating: 9/10 (11 July 2005)

What, another superhero movie? I remembered all too well what the last two Batman installments had done to the "series", so it was only after hearing a lot of praise of Batman Begins that I decided to maybe give it a try.
As the movie opened, I was surprised at how straightforward and well-structured it told the story of Bruce Wayne's transformation to Batman. Jumping back and forth between crucial events in Wayne's childhood and his training in Asia, we quickly learn of Bruce's deepest fears, and that the murder of his parents still haunts him as an adult and becomes the driving force in his battle against injustice. Not a second goes wasted as the story is told very tightly, not a dull moment passes. And though Batman Begins has its share of cheesy one-liners and stereotypical moments, here they're all used effectively and never seem silly.
Unlike the previous Batman movies, this one takes itself seriously. Young Bruce Wayne grows up to be a quite troubled youth, and does some cowardly things before being shown the right path. Also, Gotham City is designed to resemble a real city this time around, which makes sense given that the movie's back-story tries to fit in with actual history. This approach is refreshingly different from the comic-book like, Gothic Tim Burton movies.
Wayne's reasons for his return to Gotham are laid out plausibly, and it's fun to watch him prepare for his descent into the crime-infested slums. Bruce's first target is a major mob guy called Falcone, and as Batman intercepts a drug shipment, he does not yet know he is tinkering with the business of someone much more dangerous.
The action scenes fit in well with the story and are never overdone. Also, there is no visible CGI, that's another plus. In some of the fight scenes, the camera was a bit too shaky as you couldn't tell who was kicking whom in the face. But then again, Batman is trying not to be seen.
Bale was a good casting choice  he definitely has he physical presence to play Batman (Holy crap, was he really the guy in The Machinist??), and can be likable at times, unsympathetic at others. Also, Cillian Murphy was surprisingly convincing as a minor villain. Tom Wilkinson as the mob boss somehow didn't work for me, but then his part wasn't that big anyways.
All in all, Batman Begins turns out to be the best of all the recent superhero flicks. Just for the sake of comparison, the tiresome romance that took up most of the first Spider-Man movies and will come back to haunt us in the third one, is here resolved in two or three powerful minutes. That's it. And while the action scenes aren't quite on par with comparable movies (since this time, the good guy actually has an interesting story to tell), I'm sure there'll be more in the anticipated sequel. How they will try to outdo the great Jack Nicholson, I have no idea. But then again, before this movie, I almost had myself convinced there was no hope for Batman on the screen, so I can't wait to be proved wrong again!