Title says it all. I never got around to batman begins, but I don’t see myself missing Heath ledgers last movie; sooo, do I need to do the homework first??
You’d probably enjoy the movie more if you had seen the Batman Begins, but no, it isn’t absolutely necessary.
Like he said. If it’s not a big inconvenience it will probably be more enjoyable to see the first one first. If you know for sure that you’ll never see the first one then you might take ten minutes to read the synopsis. There’s a few things that might seem a little odd if you don’t know about them from the first movie, but they are mostly minor things. The major story about the villains doesn’t require any background. Some of the supporting characters, Bruce’s friends, might make more sense if you already know who they are, especially Lucius Fox and Rachel Dawson (Alfred is pretty self explanatory).