Batman Begins (2005)

Batman Begins is a nice kick-start to the Batman franchise. Christian Bale makes an intriguing Bruce Wayne as he journeys through his own struggles to face his fears which, in the end, culminate in the Batman persona.

What makes this movie more successful than all of the othe recent Batman flicks is that you understand where Wayne is coming from, you can empathize with his challenges. I remember watching the Tim Burton directed Batman with Jack Nicholson and Michael Keaton and thinking, as they tried to kill each other at the end of the film, that I didn't care who won... I had no emotional attachment to either... they were both freaks.

In Batman Begins, director Christopher Nolan takes time to get us into Bruce Wayne's head and the world in which Batman exists seems a lot like our current world, not totally alien like in Burton's versions. The end result is that, no matter how fanciful the events may be, they seem to be plausible to really happen.

It'll be interesting to see where this franchise heads next.