Batman begins

After a dismal Batman and Robin, Batman begins with Christopher Nolan at the helm and Christian Bale as the new Batman. The result is pretty good - Nolan has tried to liberate the movie from the trappings of its genre, though that has taken away a little bit of the excitement associated with it. Christian Bale is good, makes a convincing Bruce Wayne. Ken Watanabe is wasted in a bit role. Katie Holmes as Batman's love interest is disappointing - I mean, remember Nicole Kidman? Michael Caine as Alfred is great. Love the man. Who else can pull off cliches like "Why do we fall, Master Bruce? So that we can pick ourselves up again." Liam Neeson is a real cool baddie - "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a city to destroy". Man, what a guy! Cillian Murphy with those baby blues is creepy as Dr. Crane. Why are the villains always more sexy than the hero? Gary Oldman as Gordon and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox are great.

The movie tries to explore the fears that haunt Bruce Wayne, the guilt that drives him to fight crime in Gotham. But somehow, it never gets quite convincing, and we cant wait for Wayne to stop with the half-hearted efforts at exploring the dark side and get into Bat gear. The characters are sadly uni-dimensional and dull.

Verdict: Good, could have been more exciting.