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Batman Begins Our rating: Your rating: 1 2 3 4 Your Comments: see all MPAA rating: PG-13 (for intense action violence, disturbing images and some thematic elements) Theater release: July 18, 2008 by Warner Bros. Directed by: Christopher Nolan Runtime: 2 hours 20 minutes Cast: Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne/Batman), Michael Caine (Alfred Pennyworth), Liam Neeson (Henri Ducard), Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox), Gary Oldman (Lt. James Gordon), Ken Watanabe (Ra's Al Ghul), Katie Holmes (Rachel Dawes), Cillian Murphy (Dr. Jonathan Crane/The Scarecrow), Tom Wilkinson (Carmine Falcone), Rutger Hauer (Richard Earle) Related: Talk About It/Family Corner

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. This is the tale of two Batmans.

One Batman is DC Comics' Dark Knight—a wealthy man so torn by grief, revenge, fear and anger that he chooses to build his empire not only above the streets of Gotham but also underground in a cave. He studies, he trains, and he builds himself into a superhero by pure resolve so he may do what others cannot: defend the defenseless and give hope to the hopeless.

The other Batman was born in the 1966 movie and TV show and showed up again in Batman Forever (1995) and Batman & Robin (1997). He's the Kitsch Batman. These style-over-substance campy portrayals show just the basic outline of the real character—he's a guy in a suit with lots of toys but none of the internal drama. But, hey, he has enough Bat Shark Repellent and bat nipples to spare.

Young Bruce Wayne witnessed the murder of his parents—starting his quest for justice

The real difference between these two Batmans comes down to a seemingly simple question: Why does he do what he does? What really drove him to become the Caped Crusader who lurks in the night? Dissecting the issues involved in what pushes a man this far—compassion, fear, choice, anger, revenge and justice—makes Batman more than a campy caricature. Sadly, that question has rarely been asked in Batman movies. Thus, we don't see who this guy is: a gritty and tough creature of the night who has as much going on in his head as with his fists. The only time we've really seen this Batman in film was in Tim Burton's 1989 version when two crooks sat on a roof and told a ghost story of a man-bat who can't be killed. But then, the Batman franchise slipped back into over-stylized visuals over story. The Dark Detective was gone.

Until now. There is a scene in Batman Begins where a group of thugs on a dock hear a noise. And then … one of them is gone. Vanished. The crooks realize they aren't alone. They pull their guns—too late. Another one of them is gone. A shadow in the dark is hunting them. As they shake with fear, we know we've seen this before in horror films—but this time, we aren't scared for the prey. We're rooting for the crafty attacker who uses fear as a weapon against, not for, evil. He's the boogieman for lowlifes. This is Batman.

A buff Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne, training for the job

Yes, the Dark Knight is back. But merely resurrecting a Batman true to the comics is not really the biggest success for Batman Begins. Instead, the film's greatest achievement is in how fully it answers the question of why Gotham's favorite son would take to the night to fight thugs. By showing us why he's dark, why he chooses a bat costume, and why he chooses fear as his weapon, director Christopher Nolan pushes so deep into the person of Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) that this bizarre character suddenly becomes real, understandable, and truly heroic. This is a gritty and smart personal drama more than an action film. And it is what a Batman film always should have been.

A natural storyteller, Nolan (Memento, Insomnia) begins Bruce Wayne's journey by intersecting three key times important to Bruce's destiny: The day his parents were killed, his return from Princeton for an important criminal hearing, and his training under a mentor (Liam Neeson) who sees great promise in the lost and searching young man. As these tales unfold, we see the birth of something new in Bruce Wayne. From a destitute, angry victim of evil, Bruce slowly and methodically finds himself and a purpose.

The key component to Batman's development and emergence is fear—feeling it, confronting it, conquering it, and using it. During his training with Neeson's mysterious Henri Ducard, Wayne learns to confront his fears and go a step further—use it to his advantage. "To conquer fear, you must become fear," Ducard says. "You must bask in other men's fear. You have to become a terrible thought."

Michael Caine is marvelous in the role of Alfred

When Wayne leaves his training, he is no longer lost in fear and anger. He now believes that by being an example, maintaining integrity, and showing compassion, one man can help Gotham—a city he'd previously left to rot. However, he knows that as a flesh-and-blood man, he can only do so much. He needs to become that "terrible thought." He needs to become a symbol of fear. But how? For the answer, Bruce only need look at his own nightmares. "Bats frighten me," Bruce says to loyal butler and father figure Alfred (Michael Caine). "This time, my enemies will share my dread."

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