Holy caped crusader, Batman!

Batman Begins is slickly twenty-first century, but what about the pow! and bam! ?

In Batman Begins, Batman has adapted himself to the twenty-first century. Gone are the days of the fun but undeniably camp 1960s TV show, and the less fun but still quite camp Joel Schumacher films of the 1990s.

Batman Begins is all dim alleys, dark colours and brooding moments. And in a way, this is exactly what you'd expect, given that the film is directed by Christopher Nolan, of Memento and Insomnia fame.

Nolan takes us back to the very beginning: of what made Bruce Wayne Batman. We witness the death of his parents when he was a young boy, his guilt and feeling of helplessness, and the journey that takes him to the snowy mountains of China, where, with echoes of The Last Samurai and other recent action movies, Wayne starts his initiation into a sect, with the help of Liam Neeson (in a performance so steely one wonders why he bothers to do films like Love Actually) and Ken Watanabe (again calling to memory The Last Samurai).

Batman has always been the superhero without any real, "magic" superpowers, and Nolan rationalises this with his foray into Asian martial arts.

For me, though, this took away from some of the charm of the earlier films; I could not imagine a character like the Joker or Penguin existing in this Gotham. (And what on earth happened to the slick Batmobile?)

The villains, played by Tom Wilkinson, Liam Neeson and the deliciously creepy Cillian Murphy, are all too human, and even their weaponry is too rational, too cerebral.

Although there is an element of fantasy, especially near the end, within the play of masks and the distortion of reality and perception, and this, coupled with some hair-raising, truly twenty-first century action scenes, lifted the second half of the film for me.

Batman Begins does not disappoint. Christian Bale, who I started out regarding with a deep suspicion, conveys the right blend of self-doubt and idealism as the rugged, unsmiling winged avenger.

Michael Caine does a good turn as Alfred, and Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman are also cast perfectly. The only blot in casting was the colourless Katie Holmes, who seemed to fulfill no particular purpose, but she couldn't ruin for me what was in the end a great evening at the pictures.

Who's the best Bat of them all?

Batman (1989)
More than the casting, it was an inspired choice to get Tim Burton to direct the first feature-length film on the Caped Crusader. Burton, known both for the atmospheric look and feel of his movies and for his interest in protagonists who are outsiders, brought a brooding, stygian touch to Gotham City. Unfortunately the film itself suffered because Jack Nicholson's Joker diverted attention from everything else, including the hero.

Batman Returns (1992)
Arguably the best of the films so far, this sequel combined dazzling set design with fine performances by Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman and Danny DeVito as The Penguin, and even allowed Michael Keaton to briefly come into his own in the lead role.

Batman Forever (1995)
Also informally known as: "Where things start to go wrong for the series". Val Kilmer made a decent Bruce Wayne, but director Joel Schumacher's approach was painfully unsubtle. The special effects were excessive and headache-inducing, and Jim Carrey's performance as The Riddler made Jack Nicholson's Joker look like Spencer Tracy on a particular understated day.

Batman & Robin (1997)
The absolute nadir. Despite George Clooney's patented charm in the lead role, the series continued to be driven by its villains and by the big-name stars who played them. But cast Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr Freeze and give him lines like "The iceman cometh!" and you're asking for trouble. And oh, did we mention Chris O'Donell as Robin? And the nippled, metrosexual Batsuit?