Excellent film - an amazingly mature and adult handling of a comic franchise

Rating: 9/10 (6 November 2005)

I've grown up on the 60s comic series (and liked it while a young child at least) and all four previous Batman films. To say I was leery of another Batman film was an understatement, especially given the farce that Batman Forever and Batman and Robin became. I didn't even like Batman Returns.
Then I saw trailers that suggested the whole thing was jumping on the "eastern zen is k2wl" bandwagon so many modern Hollywood films do to death, and I got even more jaded.
The film, however, is stunning. From the flashbacks to young Bruce's life and the loss of his parents (what a great kid they found to play young Bruce Wayne), to the entire search for a way to fit into a world that seemed to have rejected him because he had rejected it. They handled the eastern teachings sensibly - with less emphasis on mystical idealism and much more on learning how to define your enemy to gain power over him, so he cannot have power over you. Everywhere through the film, you have the little gems of wisdom from even the bad guys that gradually weave together to create the final "Eureka" moment when Bruce realises why his "symbol" should be a bat. And I really do like how much of the wisdom he ends up drawing on for his final metamorphosis actually does come from his enemies, and not from his friends. With hind-sight you can see how his youthful confrontation with Falcone is a major determination in the path he takes to creating the Batman persona.
In the end, the film shows that it's not so much the death of his parents that makes Bruce create Batman - it's the consequences that happen when you stand up to your enemies that makes Bruce create Batman. You see how the idea that making yourself a mystery to your enemy to defeat him, needs to be taken to the extremity of creating a theatrical persona in order to affect the masses as a whole, in order to work at all. This film therefore takes an act that is so often treated as comic and insane (dressing up in a mask and a cape) and turns it into an act of rational desperation. Everything from the need for a vigilante to fight back, to the need for any vigilante to hide his identity, to the importance of "slogans" (using an ideal to fight an ingrained fear), to the technology used in the film (restricted, state-of-the-art military-spec equipment), is done as intelligently, thoughtfully and sensibly as possible. Even the humour is adult and gentle, instead of comic.
And the relationship that builds up between Gordon and Batman - from the first appearance as Gordon as he offers a moment of kindness to the newly orphaned young Bruce Wayne, to their initially wary, mistrustful alliance to fight back against Falcone and a sense (from Gordon especially) that this endeavour might not work at all, to the end of the film where there's a very real sense of respect and hope between them, is one of the most gently compelling adult relationships I've ever seen in any film - one you'd expect from a carefully developed drama than a film that is, in essence, based on a comic strip series.
This film is dark, it's sensible and it's mature. But what really makes it work is a very subtle - and very, very tiny - hint of hope for a better future that is gently threaded through even the darkest moments of the film. This film works because it's subtle, and it never goes overboard in any aspect - from humour, to technology, to romance, to fighting the good fight and dressing up in a mask - everything has the touch of understated intelligence instead of melodramatic comedy. It's an excellent film.
Only 9 out of 10 for the coverage of the Water Board drama - the only unsubtle handling of suspense in the entire film. And Christian Bale is slightly weird as Bruce Wayne - but this is instantly forgivable when you see the way he shines through as Batman.