The way Batman was MEANT to be!

Rating: 9/10 (13 June 2005)

I was lucky enough to have seen the premiere of the movie on Monday evening and I was very impressed. This is easily the best Batman movie I have ever seen. This movie completely disregards the previous 4 Batman movies and begins its own franchise. The scenes are dark and foreboding, as is Batman himself. This film makes the previous 4 Batman films look as campy as the old TV show. There are no wild costumes or over-the-top freak characters. Scarecrow's costume consists of nothing more than a burlap sack yet it is more effective than the ridiculous outfits worn by Mr. Freeze or The Riddler in the last two terrible Batman movies.
The movie is outright action. The fight scenes are realistic in that there are no stupid one-liners being dropped during the fight, nor does the fight pause for one of the characters to crack a cheap joke. Christian Bale is the best Batman I have ever seen. The supporting cast is incredibly strong; with especially solid performances by Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Rutger Hauer, Liam Neeson and even Gary Oldman (who I have been very critical of in the past). I hadn't seen much of Katie Holmes before this film, but her performance was every bit on par as those of the seasoned veteran actors mentioned above. Lastly there is Cillian Murphy, whose performance reminded me of the chilling characters played in the past by Christopher Walken. I can see Murphy becoming a much bigger name in film in the near future.
This was not a children's' movie in any way, though the film is not overly violent or gory. I don't recall seeing any blood at any point in the film. I saw many parents bringing children to the premiere, but I believe these people were expecting a movie like the previous 4 that added corny jokes and enemies that bordered on slapstick with their appearance.
The movie distances itself immediately from the others by showing the audience a different version of Bruce Wayne's parents being murdered. The origin is told well and gives us a much better insight on the character of Bruce Wayne/Batman. This Batman is realistic. We see how he is trained and hear what his beliefs are. He even bruises and looks athletic without looking TOO big to hide his appearance when not in costume. I applaud Christopher Nolan for breaking out on his own and not submitting to the campy formula of the other movies.
I would gladly see this movie again in the theater. It looks to be the best film of the summer and easily the best film I've seen this year. Because there is no sex or gratuitous violence the film is okay to take the kids to, but don't expect them to be as entertained as they were with the previous films. At no point does this film even pretend to be targeted at a younger audience.