Product: Batman Begins (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (2005)
Rating: 4.0
Much better than most fifth-in-the-series movies
The first Batman film, Tim Burton's version way back in 1989, wasn't at all bad, but the three sequels pretty much sucked. No surprise: Sequels often do. The new one by Christopher Nolan largely reinvents the whole cinematic Batman genre, consisting almost entirely of the backstory. I think it's probably better than the original. Christian Bale is reasonably believable as the Caped Crusader and Michael Caine makes a good Alfred. I'm not a big fan of Katie Holmes (I don't think she's striking enough to be a love interest in an action film), but Liam Neeson and Cillian Murphy (playing "The Scarecrow") are excellent as the Bad Guys. But the real star is Gotham City, done in Bladerunner fashion, dark and rainy and thoroughly depressing. The Batmobile is pretty neat, too -- and I gather it actually did everything you see it doing, with no help from CGI. The fight scenes and the chase scenes are some of the best of recent years.