Hollywood seems to be exceptionally inspired by large-screen adaptations of comic-book films.

I have never enjoyed a single one of these bombastic optical orgies. Comic books on screen are essentially lies. They try to create an illusion of multi-dimensionality for what is predominantly a uni-focal experience. The characters therefore appear more chic and stylish than substantial.

Jack Nicholson's infamous villain "the Joker" in "Batman Returns" was a raging aberration of on-screen diabolism. We were compelled to look at him not as a person but as a grotesque caricature.

And now, look at what "Batman Begins" does! It humanizes one of the most celebrated comic-book heroes, imbues the heroic character with assets that transmute his essential uni-dimensionality into a prismatic metaphor on the quest for truth, justice and other aesthetics of a meaningful and full existence.

Rightly, the villains in this by far the finest and most insightful segment of the Batman legend, are comparatively sketchy. We meet them in passing....as director Christopher Nolan (who showed his first-hand familiarity with the language of disoriented morality in "Insomnia") takes us into the traumatized mind of Bruce Wayne.

As played by the compulsively watchable Christian Bale (remember him as the traumatized kid in a Japanese concentration camp in Steven Spielberg's "Empire Of The Sun"?), Bruce's transformation into Batman becomes a celebration of those amazing alchemic processes that make existence such a passionate puzzle.

Nolan uses the grandeur at his disposal to lengthen the shadows that lurk in the protagonist's mind. He portrays Bruce/Batman as symptomatic of those counter-destructive forces that manoeuvre modern lifestyles into a state of propelling self-destruction.

From the point when young Bruce's parents are killed in a ghastly mugging incident, revenge and justice become stirring bed-fellows in this riveting debate on morality and the modern man.

When the killer of Bruce's parents is let off by the courts, Bruce uses the gun in the court's yard. "Sometimes revenge and justice are the same," he tells his girl (Katie Holmes) who, conveniently enough, is also the District Attorney in the judiciary system.

Nolan's view of morality and nemesis are bleak but finally rewarding. His hero relinquishes his business empire, becomes a petty criminal, goes to jail, is rescued by a mysterious benefactor/guru/vigilante( Liam Neeson) who tries to wean Bruce into making him a peculiarly hypnotized moral machine.

But Bruce rebels. He returns within his multimillion-dollar empire to work as the caped crusader in a city that has gone completely to seed.

The process of self-realization is compelling. Throughout we look at Bruce not as Batman but a man going batty over issues that go way beyond individual indignation. There are spurts of satirical splendour in the narrative, which jump out like balls of fire to inveigle us into a sense of illusory happiness...only to make us jump back with a start into the narrative's main motivating thrust of anguished consciousness.

The entire cast performs with endearing conviction. But Christian Bale is a revelation. His portrayal of the flying vigilante is mesmerising. What makes "Batman Begins" the best take on the legend of the caped crusader is its agonized view of a civilization that has lost the spirit of moral self-renewal.

We need a change. It is up to the popular arts to show us the way. "Batman Begins" does just that.