New, improved, and Schumacher-free!

Rating: 7/10 (28 June 2005)

Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins" plays the dangerous game of taking itself seriously, and gets away with it. By toning down the absurd visuals  taken to hysterical extremes in the embarrassing Joel Schumacher installments  and focusing instead on the comic book themes of the Dark Knight, Nolan has injected a fresh energy into a franchise that seemed down for the count just a few years ago. Even the watchable Tim Burton efforts gave us a Batman who rarely seemed to be more than a male Paris Hilton; too much money and too much time on his hands. Christian Bale, though, brings a ferocity born of anger, confusion, and fear to the Caped Crusader. Batman is suddenly cool again.
Nolan takes his time with this origin story, and packs in enough noir-ish plot to make Howard Hawkes proud. That can be a downer, especially in a summer spectacle (see "Mission: Impossible"), but the result here is a film that doesn't need to rely on over the top set pieces to keep us involved. There are, of course, a fair share of explosions, escapes, fisticuffs, and cars jumping across Gotham rooftops, but they nearly always serve the story, rather than delay it. Even the gadgetry is kept to a supporting role. All the expected Bat-gizmos are here, but aren't given scenes included specifically to showcase them. They're almost refreshingly mundane.
"Batman Begins" is smartly most interested in Bruce Wayne himself, rather than the wacky cast of villainy that opposes him. We meet him in one of those dreary Asian gulags that have housed countless action heroes over the years. After being released by a mysterious stranger (Liam Neeson) who talks like a fortune cookie writer, he finds himself training in the mountaintop fortress of the League of Shadows, an ancient vigilante group dedicated to revisiting onto the world's evildoers the cruelty with which they victimize the innocent. Creative differences soon lead our hero back to Gotham, though, and before you can say "plot to destroy the city," he's locking pointy ears with a burlap-wearing menace called the Scarecrow who likes to sprinkle a fear hallucinogen on folks as if it were pixie dust.
The film is well-cast all around, with the awkward exception of Katie Holmes, who's far too girlish and pouty to be believable in such a grown-up atmosphere, much less in her role as a crusading assistant district attorney. Gary Oldman surprises as Sgt. (and future commish) Gordon, perhaps the most normal, well-adjusted character he's ever played, and Morgan Freeman predictably hits all the right notes with an effortless insouciance that lightens the proceedings just enough. Despite the silly affected growl he uses while in disguise, Bale is a good choice for Batman, easily convincing as a scion of wealth while hinting at a repressed, raging darkness.
"Batman Begins" signals its intent to break completely from the recent earlier films, and indeed implies that villains dispatched in previous editions may make new appearances in future installments. Ignoring such wayward predecessors is a smart strategy, particularly with the establishment of such a solid new foundation. Batman is back on track. Keep Schumacher away from him.