The nippled Bat suit is gone. The garish, make-up laden villains have disappeared. The Boy Wonder Robin is blessedly absent from the scene. Gotham City looks less like a CGI vision and more like a real city—Chicago, in fact. Holy donut holes! Batman is back with a new twist.

Owing much to the 1988 graphic novel BATMAN: YEAR ONE by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli, this latest cinematic resurrection of the Dark Knight—"Batman Begins"—brings a refreshing realism and psychological exploration to this much maligned story.

Where the Adam West 1960s television series sported a campy approach ("Pow!" "Thwack!" cartoon bubbles punctuated every fight scene) and the 90s quartet of Batman films screamed gothic spectacle, peopled by increasingly weird villains, "Batman Begins" focuses on the origins of the superhero with an emphasis on the humanity of the Caped Crusader. Indeed, nearly an hour flies by before Bruce Wayne dons his crime-fighting costume and even then, the trademark mask is merely a black ski mask.

With a script, penned by director Christopher Nolan (the genius behind "Memento" and "Insomnia") and David S. Goyer (credited with the dark legends of "Blade" and "Dark City"), "Batman Begins" satisfyingly resurrects the long given-up-for-dead franchise. Last massacred by the excessive efforts of Joel Schumacher in "Batman Forever" (1995) and "Batman and Robin" (1997), Nolan and Goyer’s approach is more introspective, exploring the "why" of Batman more than the spectacle of his crime fighting.

A beefed-up Christian Bale (with audience’s memories of his creepy turns in "The Machinist" and "American Psycho" bolstering this casting move) portrays Bruce Wayne as a tortured soul battling the rage/guilt over his parents’ murder when he was a child. Abandoning a rash scheme to simply kill the vagrant, Wayne disappears for seven years, eventually recruited by Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson) to be trained as a ninja vigilante in the League of Justice, an underground organization hell-bent on destroying Gotham City.

Wayne, disillusioned with their plan and disgusted with the notion that he will become an executioner, escapes their Tibetan hideaway—armed with the unique skills taught to him¾ to fight crime on his own terms.

Aided by the always trustworthy Alfred—played with wry humor and emotion by the dependable Michael Caine—Wayne’s alter ego slowly evolves. There are many platitudes floating about this film—perhaps too many—("Confront your fears…blah, blah, blah")—and they form the cornerstones of Wayne’s personae. A childhood fear of bats leads him to embrace that symbol, guaranteeing a fear factor in all who encounter him.

Returning to Wayne Enterprises—whose board has long ago assumed him dead¾ Bruce discovers that the company is headed by Rutger Hauer, a suspicious character from the get-go. Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman in his usual mentoring role), the engineer wizard whose office is buried in the company basement, becomes Bruce’s valuable techno-wizard and provides him with the superhero’s well-known weapons. When Fox shows him a Humvee-like vehicle, decked out in camouflage green with fiery acceleration and battle-ready extras, Bruce’s sly question, "Does it come in black?" elicits a knowing guffaw from the audience. Batman is born and the tense build-up has been worth the wait.

Gary Oldman is Lt. Jim Gordon (the future Commissioner Gordon), the only good cop in Gotham (yes, Oldman as the good guy is a unique turn). He helps Batman in a circuitous plot involving baddie Dr. Jonathan Crane (a creepy Cillian Murphy), who has devised a scheme to poison the city’s water supply. His burlap scarecrow mask that emits hallucinogenic fumes is the film’s only arch-villain bypass—its realistic construction (any mom could have made this one…) is another element that grounds the story.

The solid cast—also includes Ken Watanabe and Tom Wilkinson-- contributes mightily to the success of "Batman Begins." Perhaps the most unfortunate puzzle piece, however, is Katie Holmes as love-interest Rachel Davies. The recent tabloid hoopla over the Holmes/Tom Cruise affair makes her presence here a distraction and that is a shame because otherwise, this Batfest is a winner and a credit to Bob Kane’s original 1939 DC Comics creation.

Holy sequels! We can’t wait.