Batman Begins

Batman has always been my favorite superhero. I never was much of a comic book reader, but growing up, I loved the Batman cartoon (5:30 every weekday!). What made Batman so appealing to me was that, strictly speaking (and believe me, ten-year-old boys spend alot of time thinking about these things), he was not really a superhero at all. He couldn't leap tall buildings in a single bound, or shoot spider webs from his wrists, or spontaneously sprout razor-sharp claws. Instead, he had to use his wits, his very mortal strength, and his cool gadgets to battle evildoers.

Bruce Wayne's thirst for vengeance also set him apart from the nerdy Spiderman and the righteous Superman. Batman was a troubled soul, driven by a dark, deeply personal memories of his parents' murder. For a comic book character, that is pretty deep stuff.

Unfortunately, the most recent Batman movies have neglected this more subtle portrait of the Dark Knight in favor of a cartoonish Caped Crusader who lightheartedly quips one-liners much more than he broods over his parents' deaths. Thankfully, the latest entry in the series, Batman Begins, takes itself much more seriously. The result is a far more satisfying and absorbing film.

As the name suggests, Batman Begins expounds on what led a super-rich orphan to dress up in a bat costume and terrorize criminals. The moral quandry of working outside the law to enforce vigilante justice is dealt with here, but never fully resolved (nor should it be). Gotham City is a rough, corrupt place, and director Christopher Nolan captures it in all its gothic splendor.

The performancs are very strong. Christian Bale plays Bruce Wayne/Batman, and he brings a somber, introspective tone to the role. Liam Neeson, who must be one of the world's most accomplished sword fighers by now, plays a shadowy figure who trains the wandering Wayne in the arts of vigilante crime-fighting. Katie Holmes, who in real life plays the happiest woman on the face of earth, is the damsel in distress.

Fear is the central theme of the movie. Batman Begins contains many horror movie elements, with the delightful twist that the traditional roles have been reversed. It is now the villians who walk down the long, deserted hallways, calling out in vain for their silenced henchmen when suddenly they are snatched away by an unseen adversary. The action scenes are kinetic and deliberately obscure, designed to show only the most fleeting of glimpses of Batman as he terrorizes some thug.

Amid all the darkness and suspense, the movie has its lighter moments as well. Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) and the faithful Alfred (Michael Caine) provide plenty of humor. Not all of the quips work, but most of them do.

The plot is long and complex, for a comic book movie. Suffice to say there is no shortage of bad guys. The movie is surprisingly epic in length, but the good kind of epic where you don't realize how long you have sat until the final credits roll and you look at your watch. The audience enthusiastically applauded at the end, which is a rare sight at theaters these days. The ending leaves open the possibility of yet another sequel, which I expect will be greatly anticipated.