Batman

I saw Batman Begins today. It's a good movie, better than all previous Batman films, though I really only liked the first one. Michael Keaton was a great Batman, because he really made you believe that Bruce Wayne was more than a little nuts, as the character should be, unlike the smarmy George Clooney Batman or the be-nippled Batman of Val Kilmer. Well, Christian Bale is even better than Keaton, and once he dons the BatSuit, he'll creep you out. You know how in the average superhero movie you get a two-minute montage that shows them coming to grips with their superpowers/new identity? In this case, you get a whole movie of it, and it's great. This is a movie not dominated by special effects, but by storytelling, and good storytelling at that.

I have a few nitpicks though. I've got some physics problems with the "microwave generator" in the film, (which doesn't make sense to me for about 15 different reasons) and after watching some of the recent Chinese action films, the action scenes are hard to follow, because they cut so much you can't get any sense of the geography of the fight. I can understand this if you don't want to risk your star being injured, but since Batman is in a BatSuit, you'd think you could put some stunt guys in the suit and do some longer shots, no?

The supporting cast is outstanding, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Tom Wilkinson, Liam Neeson and Michael Caine, add a lot to the film, though the recently-brainswashed Katie Holmes was forgettable.

This is the Batman movie that makes you understand why Batman is Batman, why criminals fear him, why Alfred helps him, where the BatToys come from, why Commissioner Gordon trusts him, and even why he has a BatSignal.

This is the third excellent film I've seen by director Chris Nolan (the other two being Memento and Insomnia), and I can't wait for more. Please let him (and the cast) return for one or two more Batman movies, and bar Joel Schumacher, Michael Bay, or Paul Verhoeven from even coming on the lot. Want a second opinion? Roger Ebert's review is here.