'Batman' looks even better accessorized

Batman is the only movie franchise where we can't wait for the main character to go car shopping.

Once Batman Begins safely establishes itself as a smart, biting overhaul of a series shuttered and condemned by neglect, we can settle in with a happy shiver for what Michael Caine might call the good bits.

A key pleasure is watching Christian Bale accessorize for his first foray as the Dark Knight. Body armor? Very good, Sir, would you prefer black or black? Self-retracting high-tensile climbing wire? Designers at Bechtel are doing very exciting things for the spring collection. Transportation? These little babies from the Pentagon are flying off the lot.

Batman Begins works in large part because the winged crusader's cast of supporting salesmen hangs as tightly as, well, bats in a cave. Bale is a major force, serious enough for a hundred tortured superheroes. But he would look stale and silly without amiable backup.

Director Chris Nolan (Memento, Insomnia) admired how Superman in 1979 employed giants like Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman and Ned Beatty for secondary credits, and Nolan makes a good imitation here.

Morgan Freeman craftily hands Batman the tools he needs to soar through the night, looting his own Wayne Enterprises for spare parts. Caine is the indomitable Wayne family butler, Alfred, shrouding the dour Batman and the grim proceedings in warm, hip humanity. Even in a small role as the future commissioner Gordon, Gary Oldman brings a sad, workmanlike nobility to being the one good cop in a city ruined by decay.

"I wouldn't presume to tell you what to do with your past, sir," says Caine, always in service but never servile. "Just know there are those of us who haven't given up on your future." That's just good writing, and good acting, and it's what brings Batman Begins closer to the Superman and Spider Man ideal than a host of pending pretenders.

Nolan and co-writer David try to bury the awful excess of Batman and Robin and Batman Returns by searching for the avenger's roots. In the interest of preserving plot enjoyment, we'll boil it down to this: Caves. Creatures. Phobias. Confronting nightmares. Vengeance. Justice. Villains who talk too much.

Discuss.

There remains a bit of mange in the fresh fur for the franchise. Katie Holmes has spirit, but it's of the indie sort, not yet the mega-budget female face. Liam Neeson needs to drop the swordplay for a while after running out of moves in The Phantom Menace and Kingdom of Heaven. His take on the "snatch the flower from my hand" school of Asian fighting is tiresome here.

And Nolan left in 15 minutes too much of speechifying villains, laughable pseudo-science and the tour of Gotham by monorail.

There is plenty here to build on, though, if Warner insists on stretching out the Batman saga it took over in DC Comics. Does anyone believe they won't try? Here's a legend sometimes proved true: Sharp writing and thoughtful directing make the oldest tales seem new.