Bat-tan-fucking-man-fastic

The interesting, or I should say one of the many interesting things about Batman is that he is the most re-interpreted, cross-media renditions of a contemporary character. People tend to think of him as a 'comic book character', but that ceased to be true a long time ago. It's true that there are thousands of comics out there, but when you pile on the live-action TV show, the four animated series, and now six movies, you realize the concept has become something more than it was.

Just as Hamlet is re-interpreted by each person who directs a new stage version, Batman in his various incarnations runs the gauntlet from campy day-glo silliness to a bleak abyss-stare into a deeply insane man, but always maintains certain core elements that seem to have struck some kind of chord with a society that often has to examine the line between justice and revenge.

While I will always have a soft spot for Bruce Timm's incredibly well-realized animated series, I'll have to bow my head and say that Batman Begins is the most perfect realization of the myth I've ever seen. It's also the best movie I've seen this year, by a country mile. I can't think of a single thing I'd change about it (okay, maaaybe I'd trim one of the Katie Holmes scenes). But it was odd watching it, as well, because I was a watching a story I'd seen many times before, in many different incarnations. I knew what was going to happen, it was just a joy seeing how it all unfolded.

That joy was to be found in almost every aspect: the acting (some of the casting was not exactly what I expected, but they managed to make it work); the music; sound design; production values; they were all pitch perfect. If there was CGI in this movie, I didn't see it. The Batmobile rocks. I thought I was going to hate the Batmobile, because in still frames it looks really stupid. In motion it's fucking great. It looks (and sounds) like a real, weighty vehicle that could really do all the crazy shit it does.

In fact, weighty is a pretty good way to describe the whole film. Almost every line in the first quarter seems dripping with double-meaning (although the kid who plays young Bruce Wayne wasn't very good at playing 'shock'. They should have got that kid from Empire of the Sun). Wayne's first few stumbles as the Bat seem plausible and realistic. They were definitely pushing for realism in this film, which I think was ultimately a good choice, but it does make it harder to 'buy into' some of the more unrealistic aspects of the film (as opposed to Batman & Robin, which was so relentlessly silly that Batman could air-surf out of an exploding missle and it seemed par for the course).

It takes itself seriously, sure, but that doesn't mean there isn't room for humour, action and explosions. They try and slide a little romance in there, but it's forced and unneccesary. Most of the time, the film is a serious look at fear, how it can motivate and control; how it can hurt and help. Maybe it does try to do to much. Maybe half the audience will get bored of the psychoanalysis, while the other half will find the extended action sequence at the end tedious and derivative. I thought they got the balance exactly right.

Most movies I usually leave the cinema scratching my head, wondering if I liked it or not. When this one ended, me and my friends all turned to each other with huge grins and big thumbs up. It rules. Bring on the sequel.