After a series of horrific interpretations of my favourite superhero, I anticipated Batman Begins with trepidation. What could they possibly screw up this time? In the previous outings of Batman on the silver screen we got super villain by Aahhnold, music by Prince and Robin. Can’t get much worse than that!
Batman Begins is simply awesome! A Batman story as it should be told: detailed origin story, gadgets and batcave, bored playboy routine and believable villains. Direction by Christopher Nolan is spot-on and the lead character portrayed by Christian Bale absolutely believable. The audience is provided with Wayne’s motivation for revenge after seeing his parent’s gunned down as a child and his resulting self-exile to learn the workings of the criminal mind. One of the coolest villain in Batman’s rogue gallery is Rha’s Al Ghul (here also Henri Ducard), who is excellently played by Liam Neeson. The scarecrow makes an appearance too. More than likely to introduce Arkham Asylum for future sequels. And who can forgot Jim Gordon, who will eventually rise to become Gotham’s commissioner of police.
Though I don’t consider the inclusion of Katie Holmes’ character Rachel a problem, I wish Hollywood could just once leave out such diversions and focus on the core story.
So, to sum it up: the best bat flick to date, Michael Caine with some witty one-liners and the coolest batmobile you’ve ever seen! 