Review: Batman Begins

Thank god! The ghosts of Joel Schumacher's travesties can finally be laid to rest, and even Tim Burton has been blown out of the BatCave. Sing hallelujah! They've finally managed to do a decent, nay, brilliant Batman film!

Christopher Nolan has got the tone, the cast and the whole goddamn feel of the thing absolutely spot-on. Christian Bale makes both a dark, brooding and driven Bruce Wayne, and a well cool Dark Knight, both at the same time (well, not exactly at the same time, but you know what I mean...) Heck, everything was right. It was dark and brutal and there wasn't a single sight of a day-glo Batarang or bat-credit card.

And the support cast did exactly what they were supposed to do. Liam Neeson, Michael Caine and Gary Oldman (as a textbook study of Jim Gordon) were all fantastic, and actually acting their socks off, as opposed to chewing the scenery at every opportunity. And that's not even mentioning the new Batmobile...

The best thing was that it all made sense. It was never explained before how Bruce Wayne managed to accrue all these gadgets, without arousing suspicion (even if that means ordering 10,000 bat-ears from China). But this film lays it all out, logically and sensibly.

The first in a proposed trilogy, Batman Begins feels like three films in one itself. The story keeps building and building, from Bruce Wayne's training in the far east, to the creation of Batman in Gotham, to the finale, and the set up to the next film, and the treat of a villain who leaves a certain playing card at the scene of his crimes... Bring It On!