Batman Begins

Truth be told, comic book movies are quickly loosing their appeal for me (or maybe they're just getting worse). Fortunately, this is less a comic book movie and more a superhero movie -- the best superhero movie since Paul Verhoeven's underrated RoboCop. The Batman of this film doesn't have super powers -- he's a man with some good training and high tech gadgetry. Christian Bale plays him as a tortured man over the childhood death of his parents and the seemingly unstoppable crime rates of Gotham City. The special effects are excellent -- perhaps because you never need focus on them, the focus remains squarely on the characters. The script is a little bit hokey at moments, but it's also on of the films strengths, along with Chirstopher Nolan's direction who brings a touch of artsy weirdness that aids immensely in my appreciation. The amazing thing is that it's a superhero film, yet it develops itself so well that the actions scenes (including a car chase and the climactic fight on an elevated train) are the scenes that seem most out of place. The few action movie cliches stick out horribly, but at this point, that's a minor complaint. Everything else more than makes up for it. The cast is uniformly excellent including Michael Caine as the loyal butler, Alfred, Morgan Freeman as Batman's Q, Liam Neeson as yet another mentor character (see Star Wars: Episode I, Gangs of New York, and Kingdom of Heaven), Ken Wattanabe as a mysterious warrior, Rutger Hauer as a shadey corporate mogul, Tom Wilkenson as an old school crime lord, and the two standouts: Gary Oldman as an honest, good guy cop (who'd of thought?), and Cillian Murphy as a questionable psychiatrist and occasional villain known as the Scarecrow.