Batman Begins - (Nolan;2005;USA) - ***1/2
After his parents are killed, Bruce Wayne goes through some soul-searching and training, soon deciding to take on crime in his own way.
I was almost gonna give this four stars, but there are some notable flaws such as cuts to comic relief distracting from the action, or some dialogue, but overall, by far, this is the greatest comic book adaptation since Burton's Batman Returns and the second best of the Batman franchise. Nolan doesn't insult the audience by having justice served to all, and unlike movies like Spiderman, the main character is compelling and has a good actor. The cast is great, save for an average Holmes and some of Murphy's scenes. Bale, Caine, Neeson, Oldman, and Watanabe were a delight to watch. Some fight scenes in the second half are a little too confusing in moments, but good. The realistic approach on Gotham, while not better then Burton's Gotham, is great on it's own right. A great film, and thankfully, Christopher Nolan has not let me down as I thought this film would. As it's been said, this is the most psychologically compelling comic book film. Unlike the shallow The Punisher, Wayne is explored much better.