BATMAN BEGINS!!!

I have been burning laser lines in this DVD since Tuesday. I missed it in the theater and it's truly a shame. I can't believe how good this movie is.

I thought that Christian Bale was inspired casting from the moment I heard he was cast. I didn't think much else of the rest of the cast. I mean, ever single actor in the movie is the kind of person you can depend on to deliver a solid performance, but I just didn't overthink it. I firmly thought it was a "Wait for the DVD" movie and now I wish I had seen it on the big screen.

*SOME MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD*
Every actor in this movie delivers a solid, excellent performance. I was so enthralled by everything. Ra's al Ghul was the perfect primary villain for the movie and Dr. Crane/Scarecrow was an excellent supplementary fare. The movie never drags (I don't think) and for the first time in any other Batman movie, Gotham finally actually looks like a real city and not s set.

Not to say that it's a perfect movie. There are a couple of drawbacks. While I think Bale was amazing as Wayne, the Batman suit needs a little work. He looked like a hunchback during a lot of the sequences. The how microwave emitter thing was a throwaway device (Hmm, so it only targets water, huh? What are people made up of like 60 percent?).

But what's cool about the imperfections is that you overlook them in the same way that you do in the comic books. Because this Batman movie, more so than ANY of its predecessors, feels like the comic book. Tim Burton's Batman movies were good and stylish but don't hold a candle to the sheer Batman feel of this movie. This movie wins hands down on feel, look, casting and script.

The real key to success, IMO, is that they followed the model that Spiderman set, and improved upon it. Very, very satisfied. Now, I wonder who's going to play the joker in the sequel?