Begins.

Our parents are always there for us, our mothers ready to bandage a cut and our fathers ready to encourage us. “Why do we fall?" asks Thomas Wayne (Linus Roache) of his young son. “So that we may learn to pick ourselves up again."

It's fitting that I saw Batman Begins on Father's Day since fatherhood is such an important theme, one of many in a complex and perfect profile of a legend that hasn't been as accurately portrayed since the Batman: The Animated Series and even Burton's Batman. No, the entire preceding sentence was NOT a typo. And, for the record, lest anyone think me a bad son, I got up early yesterday, carried a 30-foot ladder up from the basement and cleaned the gutters, and mowed the lawn before going to the movie. I offered to take my dad but he wasn't really interested, and later treated him to dinner when my mom got back from her job at the arboretum. Three hours waiting to go to dinner in my room watching a DVD wouldn't have been all that different from three hours a few towns away at a stadium movie theater, so there's no guilt to derive from spending some “me" time on my dad's day.

My dad has always been there for me(as has my mom). I know when they're gone, I'm going to have a hard time surviving, even at my age. Hard as it is to lose a parent as an adult, it's unthinkable to lose one let alone both as a child. Yet for those familiar with the Batman mythos, that's precisely the catalyst that drives Bruce Wayne to don the cape and cowl and wage war on crime from the shadows of Gotham City. The film embraces Bruce the man(and the boy) for the entire first half, leaving Bruce the Legend for later. Spider-man was really the first superhero movie to embrace the importance of the alterego, the man within the superman, since the original Superman. Treat the character as a relatable, REAL human being and your audience will accept the rest. It's where Smallville succeeds in concept while failing so often in execution(or progress).

Bruce loses his father but finds so many surrogates. Gary Oldman as a young Jim Gordon shows kindness to the little boy in the police station, and plants a trust that remains when that boy returns as a grown warrior. Overseas, the ninja master Ducard(Liam Neeson) hones Bruce in body and mind, helping him to channel his anger and push aside any self-blame he felt about his parents' death. Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox provides him with the tools he needs, as well as memories of his friend, Bruce's father. Of course there's the butler Alfred, played masterfully by Michael Caine, who raises the orphan and maintains his legacy knowing he will one day return. Every encounter in the film is a learning experience. Things his girlfriend(Katie Holmes) says as well as the philosophy of a crime boss all contribute to the journey. It IS a journey, both literal and figurative, and we're right there with Christian Bale as he takes it. The cast, including Cillian Murphy as a brilliantly creepy Jonathan Crane, is superb. And though she looked a bit young for her role, I didn't mind Katie all that much. There was far too much other good stuff to look at. I WANT that car, for example.

Batman has always shunned guns, found them deplorable as weapons. Most fans know the obvious reason why, but the film even manages to add its own logical incident as well. It's remarkable, actually, how the movie is at once faithful to the source material and original in its approach. Sin City was perfect because it treated the comics as storyboards and followed them panel for panel. The joy was solely from the performances and the visuals, seeing it all brought to life. With Batman Begins, the element of surprise is added. Too many trailers give so much away these days, and when you're a fan of the source material you tend to intuit so much more. Whoever cut together the trailers for this movie deserves an award. There were things I was expecting, between the previews and my knowledge of the characters, that didn't play out the way I thought they would, leaving me more than pleasantly surprised, often at the edge of my seat, and many times grinning like a giddy idiot man-child. I can't wait to own this masterpiece on DVD, and I'm wondering if it's too much to hope that a sequel is in the card. As for you, yes YOU, stop what you're doing right now. Turn off the computer, get up, and go to the nearest movie theater, preferably one with a big screen and loud speakers. Forget work, forget the kids, whatever you're leaving will be there three hours later. Probably.

Don't take my word for it. Be sure to check out what Film Geeks, Paradoxes and Problems, and Swimming in Champaign had to say.