The recent premiere of Batman Begins, directed by British filmmaker Christopher Nolan resuscitated the fledging franchise that was thought to have been destroyed by George Clooney. Armed with a stellar cast comprising of Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Ken Watanabe, Katie Holmes and Christian Bale as Batman, there is little wrong Nolan could have done there. And indeed he excels magnificently! Gone were the campy dialogues, two-dimensional villans and a pouty Batman/Bruce Wayne. What use of the Dark Knight if he isn’t, well, dark? And this Bruce Wayne epitomizes dark.

Batman Begins tells the story of how Bruce Wayne becomes the icon, the legend of Batman. Through a bout of intense self-loathing, guilt and anger over his parents’ murder, he grasps the hands offered him by mentor Ducard (Liam Neeson) in Tibet, learning the ways and means that will enable him to embrace and become the Dark Knight. Upon returning to Gotham, he sets about trying to restore the city to order, with the help of pre-Commissioner Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), inventor Lucious Fox (Morgan Freema) and trusty butler Alfred (Michael Caine).

Growing up with a brother and father who are massive Batman comic fans, I was bombarded with tales of how Bruce Wayne is the secret identity of Batman, not the other way around. And more than ever this film sets about this very idea: Bruce Wayne is moulded out of a neccesity not only to retain the Wayne family name but to divert attention from the real character of Batman.

As far as comic book adaptations go, this is by far the best of the lot that’s available out there. Even Spiderman pales in comparison. The character development is solid: even the bat signal appears muddled at first. None of that slick gadgetry of the previous films of the franchise. Gotham feels real even though the city is fictional under the guise of Chicago and London. One of the downside of comic book adaptations is often the cartoonish villainy of the villains but the character development in the film made me forget for a while that unlike other superheroes, Batman is set in a totally fictional world. From reading other people’s feelings about the film elsewhere, I know some were bothered with the action sequences. I, on the other hand, felt it was suitable to the mood of the film.

CGI was minimal, and the fighting scenes were shot in close-ups, making it somewhat heady at first to get used to. But when you think about it, this is a character study piece on the creation of a legend - through Bruce Wayne’s resourcefulness and determination, and technological help from Alfred and Fox. It is not about slick kung-fu moves; rather the fight scenes betray a hint of the darkness that lingers underneath the broody Dark Knight. The one bent on revenge, on getting revenge, on restoring Gotham to the way his parents envision the city to be.

Which is a world of difference to the CGI-and-effects-leaden Revenge of the Sith. For underneath all the visual spectacle, the story and character development falls short. A good screenwriter Lucas is not - there is a reason why Return of the Jedi remains the best out of all the films! It wasn’t written by Lucas.

I am a child of the 70s, who grew up with the Star Wars phenomenon. Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Leia, Chewie, Darth Vader and others are household names - modern legends. But to follow through mediocre Episodes 1 and 2 to see Anakin Skywalker donning the Darth Vader suit only to hear him chort out an ‘impassioned’ “NO” upon learning he had killed Amidala and his children after all the choking and shocking revelations of Episodes 4 through 6, let me tell you: THIS is not the badass, conflicted Darth Vader I recognise. And if it is, his reasons for turning to the Dark Side is just plain lame. And lazy!

Visual wise, the film is a treat compared to the previous two. But if Lucas had wanted to show the different races and their home planets, he was failing miserably. Especially now that audiences have Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy - one source of inspiration for Star Wars anyway, according to Lucas himself - to compare with.

Like Batman, Darth Vader is an icon of a generation. But while Batman Begins truly resurrects the myth and legend of the Dark Knight, Revenge of the Sith, for me anyway, kills the icon that epitomizes the Star Wars series in my book.