Batman Begins

I'll just go ahead and get this out on the table right now: Batman Begins is the best comic book movie out there. It is the best Batman movie out there (although, after Batman & Robin, anything would be better). If you thought that Marvel was the king of all comic book movies, then prepare for the king to be overthrown. In one fell swoop, DC Comics has claimed its stake with what will hopefully be an endearing series of movies.

Many of you may know that Chrisopher Nolan is the widely acclaimed director of Memento. Also, many of you may know that David S. Goyer is the outstanding screenwriter for Blade. Throw these two talented men together to come up with what is easily the darkest, grittiest, and most meaningful Batman movie to grace the silver screen. Nolan decided to skip the theatrics and get to the heart of what makes Bruce Wayne the Batman. The story mostly surrounds the situations on how he became Batman and his motivations for doing so. The previous iterations never really seemed to capture this, and Batman Begins pulls this off flawlessly. Nolan also chooses to focus on the fact that everything is not perfect when he starts---the bat cave is just a dingy old cave, his ride is a tank/car, and his suit needs work. Still, it never would have worked without Christian Bale.

Christian Bale is my Bruce Wayne now. It used to be Michael Keaton ("I'm Batman...I'm Batman"), but Bale surpassed my expectations and threw his character into such a demonic and angry conotation, that I knew why Bruce Wayne wanted justice. The supporting cast is equally as impressive. Gary Oldman plays Lt. Gordon, Michael Caine is an outstanding Alfred, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson, and Cillian Murphy. All very important to the story and the screenwriters make sure that we never lose focus on the world that we are immersed in.

Without knowing it, this is the Batman that I have wanted to see since 1989. I find it ironic that the title for this movie sums up what should have happened years ago. Batman Begins truly gives us a fresh start and a good foundation to build on.