Batman- performed as a junior high school production.

Rating: 7/10 (11 August 2006)

Casting issues: I just couldn't get over how Rachel and the Scarecrow/Dr. Crane both looked like they were twelve. I realize this is supposed to be Batman "the early years" but it was hard to take them seriously in their professions. (plus of course I'm not impressed by Katie's "acting" so that didn't help). And I love Michael Caine, but where's the old Alfred?? Christian Bale was OK, better than Michael Keaton's neurotic dweeb but not as good (IMO) as Val Kilmer.
It was an OK prequel, though certainly not deserving of being in IMDb's top 250. It did a fairly good job of sticking to the storyline and not contradicting earlier versions.
It had all the standard ingredients. It tried to bring in the deeper philosophical underpinnings of Batman's character. The usual flashbacks to his parents death. There was a simplistic "Nepal=enlightenment" sort of stereotype thing going on. There were ninjas (everyone loves ninjas right?) It also tried to make Batman more of a fighter than someone relying on toys/gadgets so we got some good fights scenes (more inspiration from the growing interest in Hong Kong action films). There was the generic childhood friend/love. The plot was basic destroy city stuff. There were the generic throw-away one-liners ("nice car"/"nice coat").
The mise-en-scene was pretty good, too much CG for my taste - but since when did Gotham resemble Chicago? I always thought it was a stand in for NYC? And why does Batman live in a mansion in the English countryside? These were kind of jarring moments that broke the spell of suspended disbelief for me.
Basically it was a crowd pleaser with nothing too original. You can figure out the plot miles ahead, but doesn't mean it's not an enjoyable ride to the end. I think I still prefer the more stylized Tim Burton movies though (exc. Keaton who's miscast) - but this was a worthy successor.
The part I probalby liked best was the Conservative (punishing people and/or profiting off crime) vs. Liberal (address the root cause of crime, understand things in context, try to help people)arguments that crop up periodically through the film. Particularly I felt they made a good distinction between justice and revenge and showing Wayne's having to choose between the two.