While it is Joel Schumacher's ultra-camp 1997 effort Batman & Robin which is often credited for killing the Batman franchise, the blame can actually be traced back through the two Tim Burton films to the sixties TV series, a foregrounding of the wild and wacky villains over the much less interesting hero himself. With Batman Begins Nolan has taken an obvious yet so far original approach, he has made a film about Batman.

When we first meet Bruce Wayne (Bale) he is fighting for his life in a Bhutanese prison until noticed by the mysterious Ducard (Neeson) who offers to train him. After facing his fears as part of an intense training regime, Wayne returns to Gotham City where he takes on the image of the bat to strike fear into the hearts of the criminals threatening the city.

Nolan could be accused of making a film with too much Man and not enough Bat as the caped crusader's outings are few and far between, and yet Batman Begins is a superior film for this very reason. Finally Bruce Wayne's decision to become a costumed vigilante is not treated as the inevitable side effect of a childhood tragedy and is instead traced back through his whole life. The result is an intelligent, character-driven film in which costumed antics and explosive set pieces are secondary to the drama. While the Spider-man films attempted a similar formula Batman Begins has a strong element of realism, both in the story and most notably the action with its sparse use of CGI. As Nolan rightly says, "The idea of grounding the film in reality is about making the audience believe in the events of the story".

Bale describes the film as �a graphic novel based movie much more than a comic book, and this alternative source material shows. Despite spanning a number of years the carefully structured script, co-written by David S. Goyer (the Blade trilogy), still rounds itself off to a neat conclusion without feeling forced. The theme of fear as both a hindrance and a weapon is carried through from beginning to end.

Nolan has assembled a fantastic ensemble cast all of whom treat their respective roles with a seriousness and dedication not usually present in superhero films. Caine, Oldman, and Freeman all give strong support but it is relative newcomer Murphy (28 Days Later) who stands out with his creepy, unnerving portrayal of the Scarecrow. The only disappointment is Holmes, perhaps through no fault of her own as despite being the only woman in the film with a speaking part she is given very little to do. Ultimately, the film rests on Bale's performance and while his Batman is far more reserved than the action heroes we are used to it is this that adds a layer of mystery to his character, and a sense that he is forever walking a tightrope between hero and villain.

Batman Begins is not a perfect film, it is overlong, there is still the odd cliche or repetition that has slipped through Nolan's reality net and the fight scenes are shot in a rather lazy combination of close-ups and shaky-cameras, foregrounding Nolan's lack of experience as an action director. However, Batman Begins does succeed in reinventing not only the franchise, but also the whole superhero genre and it achieves this by taking it seriously. As Bale states the film is, �a finely made movie in itself, something that can be considered on its own merits quite outside the shadow of the Batman mythology.