Art by Jim Lee. Hosted at Batman cover gallery.

No punchlines here folks, just a straight forward review of what very frankly is the only movie I was really looking forward to this year.

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I think people know of my appreciation of Batman: The Animated Series, and Batman Begins doesn’t do much to change my opinion that B:TAS is arguably the best portrayal of Batman in any medium. I can say, however, that I believe Batman Begins is the best live action portrayal of Batman ever. In his encounter with the League of Shadows, Bruce Wayne is taught that deception and theatricality are useful weapons against injustice. This movie, however, thankfully does away with the over the top theatricality of the previous Batman franchise in favour of a solid script, good storytelling (including some great plot twists), commendable acting and actual characterisation. You feel genuinely sad when the Waynes die, even though anybody with a shred of knowledge about Batman knows that it’s coming, and the Scarecrow’s fear induced hallucinations are horror movie worthy.

True, Christopher Nolan doesn’t seem to bring quite the same manic energy that Tim Burton did and maybe the movie misses something for that, but if you really want it you could just go out and get the DVDs for Batman and Batman Returns. Batman Begins is hugely satisfying as a movie experience in itself as well as in terms of a well done comic to film interpretation. I felt that the Scarecrow was underutilised as a villain though, and he did go out like a punk bitch. While Jim Gordon is thankfully not the useless prop he was in the previous franchise, I still think that his role could’ve been beefed up even further the way writer/artist Frank Miller did in Year One and The Dark Knight Returns, especially since he’s now being portrayed by the always dependable Gary Oldman. He does however play a very important role in this movie. Something I would like to see is a movie where Batman does actual detective legwork to solve crimes and fight criminals, that just happens to have costumed crazies running about ala the Long Halloween. And while I think I will still hear Kevin Conroy’s voice and Danny Elfman’s theme anytime I see Batman in a comic, barring some minor plot points Batman Begins is worth watching for Batman fans as well as for fans of well-made movies.