Batman Begins is the first film in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. The film focuses on the Caped Crusader’s origin story, battling against the Scarecrow and Ra’s al Ghul. This is simply one of the best superhero movies of all time. It’s directed superbly, the script is great, and the action sequences were well filmed. Out of all the actors that have played Batman, Christian Bale is definitely the best. While Michael Keaton and Val Kilmer were also very good (and George Clooney the opposite), Bale really fits the role. The Batsuit in this movie is also much better than the others, but I’m fine with anything as long as there aren’t any nipples on the suit (ahem, Schumacher…). The rest of the cast also does a great job. Gary Oldman is one of the best actors in this film, and he plays Jim Gordon. In the original Batman films, Gordon was played by Pat Hingle, and wasn’t given much to do. Since he’s one of the most important Batman characters, I didn’t really like that. Nolan’s trilogy gives Gordon so much more to do, and I loved that.

The writing is good, for a change. The screenplay was written by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer, and they both did a fantastic job. The story is never choppy and actually makes sense, and the characters are developed so well. I enjoyed getting to know these classic characters more, and that is one of the movie’s strongest parts. The film also serves as an effective origin story for the Dark Knight. It also gives us more insight into the death of his parents. Instead of the Wayne murders taking place after the play, Bruce wants to exit during the play because of his phobia of bats. That was an interesting take on the famous scene us comic lovers know so well.

Now, let’s move on to the villains. There are two in this film: Scarecrow and Ra’s al Ghul. I mainly enjoyed the villains in this film just because of how they weren’t so giggly, spouting one-liners and laughing maniacally. After watching all four original Batman films, I’ve come to realize how reliant the villains in those films were on those. Even the darker, more disturbed characters like Danny DeVito’s Penguin cracked those jokes. It’s just refreshing to see two villains who are being seriously bad, not joking about it in the process.

There are some seriously funny moments in this film, too. Not slapstick, just phrases and actions that made me laugh. One example is when Jim Gordon sees the Batmobile for the first time, and as it drives off, he says “I gotta get me one of those.”. Speaking of the Batmobile, I really liked its design. It looked more like an armored tank than a car, making it seem more powerful than the Burton/Schumacher Batmobiles (which it was).

Batman Begins is one of the best superhero films of all time. The script is good, the acting was superb, and the film served as an effective origin story for one of the greatest superheroes of all time. I’ll say the movie is worthy of my highest score – an A+.

Batman Begins stars Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson, Rutger Hauer, Ken Watanabe, Morgan Freeman. Directed by Christopher Nolan.