Does it come in black?

Best. Batman. Ever.

Creepy young villain, hardcore fighting and training, awesome and mostly plausible gadgetry and, well, just a whole bundle of coolness. Yes, I'm talking about Batman Begins.

Directed by Chris "Memento" Nolan, written by David S. "Dark City" Goyer and starring Christian Bale as simply the best Batman/Bruce Wayne combo ever and featuring a whole bunch of awesome peeps like Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson and Gary Oldman. The acting power in this picture could power Sydney for a year.

As the title suggests, it's an origin story and told better than almost any other origin story I've read or seen, Batman or otherwise. Gus Lewis is excellent as the young Bruce and Michael Caine's Alfred was one of the best points of an awesome film. The reaction of young Bruce and Alfred to the murder of the Waynes had my eyes prickling and I think I heard a sniffle or two from Carms. Bruce's training in the mountains of China is handled smoothly and so we see a Batman that can believably beat the snot out of many, many baddies. And beat the snot he does. Of course, not all the villains are normal, and so we have the Scarecrow turning up and spraying people with a chemical that makes them hallucinate their greatest fear.

There's other stuff involving microwave emitters and water vapour, but that's just story. Where this film really excels is in it's production. A stunning and clear production design, deft direction and smooth editting match with - in case ye didn't get it - great acting and a couple of ball-tearing stunt and fight sequences. Go out and watch this film, people, it's really good! Hell, it's worth it to see Gary Oldman play a good guy. He's Jim Gordon.

True, I would've liked the fight sequences to be shot a bit more traditionally, but the jump cutting did add to the feeling of confusion one would imagine exists in a fist-fight against 5 people. It's also possible that I thought Bale's gravelly Batman voice was a little OTT. His physical presence as Batman was flawless, but I think the grumbly voice was a bit too much. That said, these are minor points in what I think is probably number two on my all-time favourite comics movies.

Oh, and the Batmobile is, quite simply, fucking awesome!

Four and a half black-clad vigilantes with chiropteran themes out of five.