Falls a tad short of dethroning the Tim Burton original, but still a fine return to form

Rating: 8/10 (22 June 2005)

The film begins with Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) locked inside a Chinese prison. He thinks back on his childhood when he first fell into a bat cave, thus showing us how he got his fear of bats, as well as starting to explain why he choose his symbol of a bat for his eventual costume as a crime fighting vigilant. After his parents are murdered, he first wants to assassinate the guy responsible, Joe Chill. But then just forsakes his birth right and material wealth to find himself. Finding himself involving him leaving as a thief (but it's OK because he only steals his own stuff I guess, oh except food) and vagabond which leads him into the aforementioned prison. Ra's Al-Ghul wants Bruce to be part of a clandestine vigilante gang. He trains with them, yet bulks at being a killer of evil man. So he goes back to Gotham to be it's protector. He also has to deal with the Scarecrow. This is the best Batman film since the Tim Burton original, not to say it is without fault as that's not the case. Bale does a MUCH better Bruce Wayne than a Batman, which is merely serviceable, Katie Holmes is pretty much the weak link in this film, and the new Batmobile is...well the less said about that the better. It's also slightly longer than it should be and could've used a little trimming. It was entertaining yes, but it's also HIGHLY over-rated right now and doesn't really have any business in the Top 250, much less the top 100 movies of all time.
My Grade: B-