Batman Begins

Amazing things can happen when you hire real actors to appear in action films. They invest characters that are sometimes underdrawn into full-bodied people. Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins ups the ante but not only hiring first-rate actors but actually giving them something to play. This is a solidly written and directed film that, although it can't quite transcend the superhero comic-book origin story formula/genre, does offer a first-rate entry in the form. In his short career Christopher Nolan has shows a gift for working with actors and a solid sense of story structure. These two abilities make him a credible threat to make a great film in any genre.

There is much to admire in Batman Begins but I want to focus on the actors, especially Michael Caine. Claude Rains is for me the epitome of the supporting actor. See his work in Casablanca and Now, Voyager in order to understand what the phrase "supporting actor" means. Michael Caine delivers the kind of performance that would make Claude Rains proud. He never overshadows the proceedings, but he claims his physical space, his moral and emotional presence, and provides humor all without overshadowing the rock solid Christian Bale. Caine doesn't steal the scenes, he elevates them. Morgan Freeman, the best smile in Hollywood, is allowed to play his every scene with that fantastic twinkle in his eye. Cillian Murphy looks like a bad guy who has stepped right out of the pages of a DC Comic. Tom Wilkinson's menace is palpable. Gary Oldman is a credible honest cop who knows of the corruption around him, and is affected but not broken by it (I hope he gets the kind of scenes in the sequel that Caine got in this film). Liam Neeson's intensity in the opening passages grounds the film in its dark emotional landscape. Nolan marshals all of this remarkable talent and puts it in service of a story that, while not exactly groundbreaking or new, does offer the chance for a quality summer moviegoing experience.

I hope Nolan doesn't continue making these films at the expense of others he may have in his head, but if Nolan can come back to this material every three or four years that should allow him to make whatever he wants in the intervening time. And a final cautionary tale for Nolan and Bale. Your Batman comes sixteen years after Tim Burton and Michael Keaton's Batman. The same summer your film opens Burton is offering a second screen adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Keaton is co-starring in Herbie: Fully Loaded.