There are many reasons to get excited about this weekend's release of The Dark Knight. One of the reasons I'm excited is that it gives me an excuse to publicly gush about its star, Christian Bale. I've been a fan of his since I first saw him sing, dance and fake a horrible New York accent in the Disney musical Newsies (luckily my taste in films has matured along with his career), so this column is an event sixteen years in the making. Now, let's get to the gushing! Here are five reasons we love Christian Bale:

1. It's been fun to watch him mature: From the young boy in Spielberg's Empire of the Sun, to rebellious swing kid, to prince of costumed period pieces (Little Women, The Portrait of a Lady), to indie star (Velvet Goldmine, The Machinist), to thinking man's superhero, Bale's career has taken one of the most fascinating trajectories of any actor working today. His upcoming projects include Michael Mann's Depression-era crime drama Public Enemies (co-starring Johnny Depp) and the role of John Connor in Terminator Salvation. He's tackled every genre of film imaginable except for comedy. But that's okay. Life would be really unfair if someone that talented, intelligent and handsome got to be funny, too.

2. He's mysterious: In this modern era of celebreality TV and stars selling pictures of their newborn babies for truckloads of cash, Bale is the rare star who bothers to keep up an air of mystique. He keeps his family out of the public eye and rarely speaks to the press himself. This makes it easier for his fans to get lost in the characters he's playing when he's on screen, instead of thinking about something we've read about him in Us Weekly.

3. He just might take acting a little too seriously: Speaking of getting lost in his characters, Bale does exactly that with every role he plays. He's earned a reputation as a hardcore Method actor who isn't afraid to go to psychological or physical extremes to get into character, with the most notable example being his drastic weight loss for The Machinist. It may not make him a fun guy to hang out with on set, but at least when you go to see one of his movies, you can rest assured that he didn't phone in his performance.

4. He's a genre elevator: One of the pleasant effects of taking acting too seriously is that Bale's intense performances tend to elevate the movies, and sometimes even the entire genres he performs in. Batman Begins was more psychologically intense than any superhero movie has a right to be, largely due to his layered portrayal of the Caped Crusader. He turned what could've been his big sell-out role into an introspective performance that reinvented an iconic character. Anyone else excited to see what he's going to do with John Connor?

5. Fine. I give in. He's pretty nice to look at, too: I didn't want to put this on this list, for fear of negating any of the "deeper" reasons to appreciate him, but it's hard to ignore that he's brought a certain swoon factor to roles as varied as Little Women's gentlemanly Laurie to the tortured Bruce Wayne. Many people have probably had the "is it normal to be attracted to Batman?" discussion with their friends and/or therapists over the years. But with the talented Christian Bale underneath those pointy ears, you don't have to feel weird about that crush anymore.

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