Movie: Batman Begins (SF)

Batman Begins had everything I wanted in a Batman film, plus a little I didn't. This really is the beginning; we see flashbacks of Bruce Wayne as a child and an angry youth, and the hurts and fears of his younger years have definitely affected the man he is today.

The beginning of the film was a little too Karate Kid for me, with BW learning mystical martial arts from a guy (Liam Neeson) who shouts platitudes like "become your fear!" This whole scenario was overlong and borderline silly, but it did allow for a Defining Moment in Bruce Wayne's life.

When he returns to Gotham City, he discovers his family business has been taken over by an Evil Corporate Type (Rutger Hauer). His childhood friend-who-would-have-been-more (Katie Holmes, who does a better job here than others had led me to believe) is dating someone else. He finds an inside source (Morgan Freeman) for cool technogadgets (enter the Batmobile), gets his butler Alfred (Michael Caine) to help him set up the Batcave, and starts hunting bad guys.

In Gotham City, even the police are corrupt--with the lone exception of Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman). Batman faces multiples bad guys at a variety of levels, from low-level thugs to evil masterminds, including the Dr. Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy), a disturbed psychiatrist with a penchant for overmedicating.

The visuals themselves are dark, with several scenes reminiscent of Blade Runner in their look, angles, and subject matter. Not a perfect superhero film, but close enough. Grade: B