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Someone mentioned the other day that they couldn't relate to the relationship of Leonardo DiCaprio and Marion Cotillard in Inception because it felt forced. I think that's the summation of every relationship I've seen Nolan create onscreen, which is why it doesn’t bother me in Inception. I am used to this by now when I watch his films. When Maggie Gyllenhaal is getting blown up in The Dark Knight, I'm not believing that Batman cannot go on because he has lost the love of his life. There isn't any heart in the moment. I am, however, blown away by the genius of having The Joker be so malevolent as to tell his nemesis that he can save the one he loves the best only to kill that person while Batman knows he's been duped. Nolan's ideas are the gold standard in the industry right now. I just wish that there was some soul to his work. This is how I ultimately view Nolan’s work prior to Inception save for his best feature, Batman Begins.

As someone who felt that Batman as a movie character would be better served as a part of a team such as in the oft-rumored Justice League or, better yet, placed somewhere in the future in Batman Beyond, I was caught offguard by the pristine quality of Batman Begins. As I recently stated in MMQB, I believe that the discussion for best comic book adaptation of all time centers upon three films, Spider-Man 2, Iron Man and Batman Begins, with Iron Man probably not in the class of the other two. Spider-Man 2 is a Shakespearean triumph as a struggling but talented teen in search of a father figure sees not one but two of them fail him on a fundamental level. Also, it kicks ass, something that produces of most gratuitous comic book movies forget. Iron Man is a star turn of epic proportions for Robert Downey Jr. and the rare title in its genre that wants to have fun. As much as I love both of those titles, however, I believe that Batman Begins has them beat.

Nolan’s decision to highlight the aspect of Batman that makes him one of the greatest fictional characters created, that anyone with the bank account and the motivation could become him, would work on its own. The implementation of the phantom immortal Ra’s Al Ghul, however, is the reason why I’m always going to admire Nolan’s work even when it doesn’t move me. Simply by casting an actor as established as Ken Watanabe, coming off of his sublime performance in The Last Samurai, he immediately gives the character the oomph required in order to perform the sleight of hand that has embodied Nolan’s career thus far well beyond his exploration of the subject in The Prestige.

By hiding in plain sight that the star of Taken is too good an actor to be the first lieutenant, the random henchman, Nolan was able to entice viewers into believing something that common sense would have told them to be false. It is one my favorite cinematic reveals as well as an excellent representation of what Nolan wants to accomplish as a director. Whereas the Michael Bays of the world have dogs and robots hump legs in order to appeal to the lowest common denominator, Nolan wants to challenge the most passionate and intelligent of movie goers, forcing them to evaluate their own preconceptions about cinema. Was I more willing to believe Ken Watanabe as Ra’s Al Ghul because he’s Asian? I think so. Did The Prestige lose me because I knew it to be pointless prestidigitation? Am I willing to forgive Inception for sharing the same behavior as The Prestige in this regard? Apparently so.

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