"The world is too small," a mysterious man tells the future Dark Knight near the beginning of "Batman Begins," "for someone like Bruce Wayne to disappear." But anyone who suffered through the most recent installments of the comic-book adaptation, "Batman Forever" (1995) and "Batman & Robin" (1997), might wish Mr. Wayne would try a little harder to successfully languish in obscurity.

Joel Schumacher's candy-colored butchering of Tim Burton's good '89 and '92 efforts was enough to sink a wildly profitable franchise and quash the hopes of Batman fans everywhere. If you've forgotten just how bad the latter movies were, take a moment to recall the man, currently charged with governing the most populous U.S. state, who in "Batman & Robin" played an icicle of a villain named Mr. Freeze. Two words, people: "Everybody chill!"

"Batman Begins," however, features nary a miserable pun (or an even more miserable actor). Director Christopher Nolan, evincing the distinctive gift for dark, psychological crime drama he did in "Memento," has reshaped the mythology with remarkable dexterity and creativity. Working with co-writer David S. Goyer (the "Blade" trilogy), Nolan has pieced together elements from a wide variety of Batman source material that really have only two things in common. First, none has any interest in adhering to story lines concocted in previous cinematic adaptations. And second, all coalesce to form a whole that is not only easily the best Batman movie to date, but also one that will be nearly as entertaining to audiences who've never cracked a comic book as it will be to fans.

The film only really tests your patience in its opening half-hour, when a twentysomething Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) journeys to an unnamed Asian country and lands in jail. He's approached by Ducard (the aforementioned mysterious man, played by Liam Neeson), who works for some sort of crimelord-slash-master fighter (Ken Watanabe, "The Last Samurai") named Ra's Al Ghul. Ducard gives Bruce some cryptic and sort of dumb instructions involving a rare blue flower and hiking up a snowy mountain; the whole affair skirts a tad too close to "Seven Years in Tibet" for comfort. (We even learn that Bruce has, in fact, been there for seven years.)

But when Bruce finally returns to Gotham, the story finds its pace and never really lets you down again. Gotham was once a gleaming metropolis built almost single-handedly by family company Wayne Enterprises, which since the untimely death of Bruce's parents has been in the hands of Earle (a rather portly Rutger Hauer). The city is crime-ridden and infested with corruption; there appears to be exactly one good cop, Gordon (Gary Oldman). Gotham is ripe for saving, and the newly buff and emboldened Bruce is just the man to do it."Batman Begins" is an astoundingly well-cast film, from the commanding Bale ("American Psycho"), who plays the superhero with an oddly ingratiating husky lisp, all the way down to the smallest players. (What other comic-book movie would manage to get the marvelous British character actor Tom Wilkinson to take on an ancillary role as a gangster?) Cillian Murphy, the slender, lovely hero of "28 Days Later," gets to try on a very different part as the sinister Dr. Jonathan Crane.Katie Holmes, as Bruce's love interest and childhood friend, Rachel, fares less well. The role is the weakest in the film; she's notable mainly for fulfilling the apparent erect-nipple quota set forth by Kirsten Dunst in "Spider-Man." (Bonus "Dawson's Creek" trivia: Joshua Jackson was once reportedly considered to play Batman!)One of the most enjoyable aspects, however, is that the movie finally answers the question Jack Nicholson's Joker asked in the 1989 film: "Where does he get those wonderful toys?" Nolan provides satisfying answers to the origin of all Batman's accoutrements, with the help of a Wayne Enterprises employee warmly played by Morgan Freeman.Perhaps the best thing about "Batman Begins" is that it heralds a revival of a franchise many thought dead, with most of the primary actors already having signed on for sequels. If this is how Batman begins, we can't wait to see how it ends.