BATMAN BEGINS tells the humble beginnings of the dark knight from a young Bruce Wayne to his rise as the initially disturbed and heroic BATMAN. After the groundwork is complete in a rather gruesome first half in which the sun (literally) never shines, BATMAN saves Gotham City from certain ruin with the help of one good cop (Gary Oldman in a rare ‘goody’ role) and his love interest Rachel (Katie Holmes). The plot is (surprise, surprise), remarkably similar to SPIDERMAN.

Christian Bale (all buffed up looking again much like the stud in AMERICAN PSYCHO and less like the emaciated insomniac in THE MACHINIST) makes the most believable and youngest BATMAN - especially when he plays the other identity, millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne. Of the villains in the film (there are quite many), the best and creepiest belongs to Cillian Murphy (28 DAYS LATER) as Dr. Crane/Scarecrow.  But Michael Caine, by far steals the show as Alfred the know-it-all butler. Writers Nolan and David Goyer (the BLADE films) know better and offer Caine the film’s best lines.

BATMAN BEGINS succeeds in depicting the inner torment of the hero as a human being. The viewer is offered an excruciating journey into the depths of the troubled mind – though at times the circumstances are not always credible. Why is Wayne all of a sudden in a Chinese prison in order to study the criminal mind?  But where the film falters is the execution of the action scenes. Christopher Nolan’s first action flick lacks the thrills and suspense of an old good fashioned hand-to-hand combat. All the fight sequences from the beginning martial-arts fights are done in fast quick cuts that lack any continuity from start to finish. The same goes for the climatic train chase. The only impressive features of the whole exercise are the CGI effects and the pyrotechnic explosions at the end. The middle cops/bat-mobile chase fairs better but one notices the vehicles crossing the bridge twice. The film was largely shot at Pinewood Studios in London and pieces in Chicago and Iceland.

As for the human element, the chemistry between millionaire Bruce Wayne and Alfred works better than the (required) love interest between Rachel and BATMAN. 

As the ads indicate, BATMAN BEGINS is darker and more accurate to the DC comic book. In fact, the symbol appears at the film’s start as if to remind viewers of the filmmakers’ promise. BATMAN BEGINS passes as it achieves its goal of retelling the BATMAN tale. But my point is what the real purpose is of getting all the preliminaries so accurate while liberties are taken with other issues like BATMAN’s identity (revealed to one too many characters in the movie) and other aspects such as the awful super-speed all-terrain tank replacing the Batmobile. BATMAN BEGINS is satisfying but it not astounding.