I liked the campiness of Burton's take on the character in Batman and Batman Returns, but those were films as much about the perfectly-cast villains--and a darkly fantastic Gotham--as they were about Batman. I like even more Frank Miller's vision of Batman, which this seemed to channel at least partly. I just found a cheap copy of Jeph Loeb's The Long Halloween, on which, I understand, Batman Begins is more directly based.

Nolan's vision here is about the becoming, about the world and the people that require and spirit such a vigilante into the world. The devil is in the details, from the economic realities of Gotham to the wrought iron update of the logo and equipment. And, though I cringed when I first heard the title, I now think "Begins" is absolutely appropriate.

I'm on the fence about the fight sequences, particularly in the second and third act. They're zoomed in tight and so quickly cut together that oftentimes you're just not sure what's going on. I think Nolan was attempting to create the effect of a reverse-horror film--where Batman is the boogeyman and Nolan offers you the criminal perspective. You often see this in super-hero comics, where even though you're rooting for the boogmeyman, you get to stew with the bad guys trying to figure out what's going on. It's a neat idea, and it worked some of the time. But if by confusion it takes me out of the film during its most heightened moments, then I call that one of Nolan's few weaknesses as director.

I'm a little mixed about the Dodsen character. Storywise, they gave her essential stuff to do, but half of her tasks could have been asigned to Alfred (as moral compass and father figure) and the other half to Gordon (as force for good within the corrupt system of justice), so I'm disappointed that her character created redundancies rather than offered something new, and I'm doubly sorry since removal of her character would have let us see more of Oldman and Caine. This is a criticism about the writing of the character and not her portrayal by Holmes; as I said, there's no weaknesses in the cast. One kudos with the writing of Dodsen, though. During a triumphant moment--it involves a taser and a guy on a horse--there's no cheesy smacktalk, which really would have ruined the character for me. Thanks for your restraint, Mr. Nolan and Mr. Goyer.

I still would love to see an Aronofsky-helmed Batman, but I've got no complaints that Nolan got to the finish line first.



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