We just came back from seeing Batman Begins tonight. A number of reviews said that this movie was closer to the comic books than any of the others since the first one and we’d have to agree.

One of the things about the Batman comics is that the character isn’t Superman. He’s not the clean ideal of a superhero that Superman is. He’s motivated by demons and he’s a dark character in an even darker world. It’s why I loved Tim Burton’s direction in the first two movies. He remained true to that character and to that world. Joel Schumacher, for all of his other accomplishments, well… he’s not exactly right for Batman. The third and fourth movies were cheesy and flashy, too much like the goofy TV shows that really had nothing to do with the comics. And I liked the TV shows. Christopher Nolan is a much better choice. If you’ve seen Memento, you know why. If you haven’t seen Memento, go see it.

Batman Begins is more story driven than the last few Batman flicks. I think that kept Heidi more interested in it than she would’ve been otherwise. I think seeing Christian Bale outside his Batman mask a lot didn’t hurt either. Then again, he actually delivered a solid performance, as did Katie Holmes, Liam Neeson, and everyone else. Gary Oldman was especially believable as a young Commissioner Gordon. The look and voice were just right.

As for the action, the movie is good but not great. This is my biggest disappointment overall. Like The Bourne Identity and some other recent action films, the camera angles were just too close to really appreciate the action. You got to see the speed but not the skill or the technique. Which is cool in its own way, but not what I like. In Batman Begins, the experience is worse because it’s so dark to begin with. You’re just seeing bad guys fall down and what looks like Batman spinning in circles. Which, I guess, is one way to convey that he’s moving really, really, really fast… but it also looks like a cheap camera trick. Oh well.

As for the mega caper of the story, the ending was not very believable either. Heidi put it pretty well… the action at the end seemed “incredible” as in “not credible.” I’m very willing to suspend disbelief but the ending was a bit convenient. Good thing is that it’s not even that important. The caper gets wrapped up, which is fine, and the main story keeps chugging which is really all that matters about the movie (the caper seems more like an incidental thing on the way to finding out how Batman becomes Batman).

And that main story is pretty damn good. Rating: 8.5/10