Batman Begins, FINALLY!

Rating: 10/10 (20 June 2005)

This is THE Batman movie. Everything before it was a waste of time and everything after it will have a lot to live up for.
Of the previous four Batman movies, the only one that comes close is the first. This movie basically rewrites the whole franchise and it rewrites it the way it SHOULD have been written the first time.
Basiclaly, this movie captures the spirit of Batman like no other movie. Exceptional acting by all parties certainly helps, but the key strength of this movie is the writing and directing.
The story is very well written (though I found the bit about training with some secret Ninja society a bit weird for Batman, I guess they wanted to explain his excellent martial skills). The story starts slowly and nicely to introduce you to the personality of Brude Wayne, but it is not cheesy or over simplified. The biggest Achilles-heel of modern Comic book adaptations (like Spiderman, Hulk, Daredevil) is that, with the exception of X-Men, they are written with 12-13 year-olds in mind. The dialog is watered down and many of the details are ignored and sacrificed for high-octane computer generated action scenes. This movie does the right thing, it tells a solid good story knowing that it will be loved by grown-ups and kids as well. The movie has no shortage of cool gadgetry and nice action scenes mind you.
The directing is where the movie gets a 10. The movie succeeds in capturing the spirit of Batman comics. Batman is always there, always watching, brooding, creeping. The creepy, chilling sense of some of the comics, the scary moments, the deadly efficiency of the Dark Knight is in full display. The hallucinations induced by the doctor in the movie will scare you pretty good while the clever sarcasm of Alfred will bring a smile to your face.
The outfit is probably the best similarity to Batman ever, the supporting cast (especially Michael Caine) offer a wonderful refreshment throughout the dark (and rather far-fetched) plot that unfolds. And of course, the main dish, Christian Bale is amazing. He does the best Bruce Wayne/Batman combo ever.