A few weeks ago, I finally watched all of the Christopher Nolan Batman films. I’d resisted them for perhaps the same same reason that Susan resisted seeing the Star Wars trilogy – potential enjoyment was exceeded by the exclusivity of being one of the few who had never yet seen the film(s).

And so I watched Batman Begins. I felt this was perhaps a comic-adaptation masterpiece – the best I’d seen. Great balance between action, feeling and concept – I felt many of the emotions I’d first realized as an adolescent reading Batman comics.

The Dark Knight (movie #2) was a mess – shame on everyone who thought it should have been nominated for (let alone won) Best Picture. I have no argument with Heath Ledger’s performance, but the concept is overblown and let’s face it, the fascists win. Strange movie, no failure, but it was at least 30 minutes too long and punishingly didactic.

The Dark Knight Rises was thrilling for 30 minutes and it featured a great performance by Anne Hathaway (Christian Bale is a nonentity throughout the series – who cares who plays the role, even Ben Affleck?) It also had a great coda, for which the groundwork had been carefully laid.

Overall, better than I’d expected – Batman Begins is a great movie. Skip the other two and go right to Inception.