Twenty-one years ago, cute eight-year-old Gus Lewis (as Little Bruce Wayne) swipes a trinket from cute eight-year-old Emma Lockhart (as Little Rachel Dawes). Instant karma gets the boy. He immediately falls down a well. And, that well is filled with BATS! Thus begins the future Batman's great fear. After a related family tragedy, we take three giant steps to muscular Christian Bale (as Grown-up Bruce Wayne). First, he is seen in a Chinese prison. This is to begin Mr. Bale's expert training in combat, Asia being most obvious location. Bale fights and fights for mentor-like Liam Neeson (as Henri Ducard)...

Later, Bale develops his "Batman" identity. He gets funny ears. Bale and trusty butler Michael Caine (as Alfred Pennyworth) discover a huge cave under stately Wayne Manor. The caped vigilante's once little girlfriend develops into attractive district attorney Katie Holmes (as Grown-up Rachel Dawes). This all-new character was not present in DC Comics' new "Dark Knight" Batman and is inappropriately weaved into the hero's origin story; possibly, she is intended to cement the final removal of the character "Robin" from Batman's potentially naughty influence. After the origin and Asian stuff, we get to a real Bat-Film...

"Pow!" "Sock!" ""Ka-Boom!" Batman must rescue Gotham City from the clutches of "Scarecrow" Cillian Murphy (Dr. Jonathan Crane) and crime-lord Tom Wilkinson (as Carmine Falcone). Best villain is surprisingly not Ken Watanabe (as Ra's Al Ghul), but Mr. Murphy's ghastly "Scarecrow". They should have made him more of the focus. Also noteworthy is director Christopher Nolan's use of rising and falling; note how the well and ice drops are replaced by up-and-down Bat-action. The art/set designers create a great-looking Gotham, and Wally Pfister photographs it well. The ending strongly suggests a sequel...

****** Batman Begins (6/10/05) Christopher Nolan ~ Christian Bale, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Cillian Murphy