but I thought he gave us the finest Batman performance captured on film, with respect to George Clooney (kidding!). Barry: It's funny how it seemed fans were clamoring for Bale to be cast pre-Batman Begins, but once he was confirmed, everybody flocked to the villains. While Ledger, Cillian Murphy, Liam Neeson, Tom Hardy, et al. were fascinating -- and villains are, by their nature, more fun to watch -- Bale did a great, if undervalued, job as Mr. Wayne himself. If only he weren't saddled with those ridiculous twists and an even more absurd Bat-voice. Rebecca: I like the Bat-voice. It distracts from the exposition-heavy dialogue. But speaking of villains, I was pleasantly surprised by Hardy's Bane and Anne Hathaway's Catwoman. They don't rival Ledger's Joker, sure, but Hardy juggled an entertainingly ridiculous voice of his own with some serious menace conveyed solely through his eyes since most of his face was obscured by his breathing apparatus (somebody should really check the credentials of those pit prison doctors). And Hathaway's straight take helped ground the other characters and raise the emotional stakes. Adrian: I'm very curious to know your opinions about the ending. Did you leave the theatre feeling satisfied like a post-tryst Wayne lazing on a Persian rug, or disappointed like Neeson must have been when he found he was only getting one real scene (that wasn't actually that real) in a three-hour movie? Barry: I wish Nolan could have Inception-ized the ending a bit more. We didn't need