Not perfect, but one to check out nonetheless

Rating: 9/10 (7 February 2006)

First off, lemme just say it. Christopher Nolan, you are the man. Schumacher killed Batman (I'll forgive the nipples on the Batsuit, but a flamboyantly gay final film, with Arnold as the main villain?), and you have fixed it for the WB. God bless you.
Yes, it was an awesome movie. I won't say that it's one of the better comic book movies as of late, because it seems like a lot of the latest ones (Spider-Man 2, X-2: X-Men United, Hulk, Frank Miller's Sin City) are all very good. But it's one of the better comic books films, and one of the best films of the year.
Christian Bale does fantastic work as the Dark Knight. Just fantastic. He's no Michael Keaton though.
Overall, the storyline is very good. I was deeply enthralled the entire time. And the atmosphere and mood? Perfect darkness. Yeah, there's a few laughable moments (and one liners, specifically from Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman), but this ain't the flamboyant Batman we saw in Batman and Robin (or should we call it "Death of a Classic Superhero, Directed by Joel Schumacher"?). This is dark, scary and freaky Batman. And Tim Burton was the only one who did that right.
The villains aren't too bad either. I would have liked more out of the Scarecrow, but that's just nitpicking. It was amusing to see the purebred Englishman Tom Wilkenson being a rough Italian New York Mob boss though.
And since he deserves his own paragraph, Oldman owns too. I know he's barely in the trailers (if at all), but he's all over the place in the movie. He's actually a very vital sub-character in the film.
The back-story is well done too. Liking how the death of his parents, laced with his training, all worked very well. Him getting the goodies was very good as well (especially "the Tumbler"). And of course, the Bat signal. Katie Holmes as the love interest isn't bad, but isn't anything terribly amazing either.
And who could forget the classic.
"I'm Batman."
My only real problem starts about halfway through and goes to just before the end. Like it's excellent and all, but it gets kinda goofy in areas with the setups and the way things work out. The lines too, they're all a little cheesy, and kinda misused. It's only in certain instances though, because it doesn't let up in others. As well, it also becomes a tad bit predictable. But what can you expect? It's not like this is the type of psychological thriller that keeps you guessing until the very end.
The score was another thing. I enjoyed it, but I miss Elfman's. That was what made Batman to me.
Another was the setup for the next villain at the end. I won't ruin who it is if you don't already know, but I will say it's someone who has already been done in the WB films. Like, why can't they just stick with new villains? I know they're re-imagining the entire series, but can't we just hold onto the old films, and maybe say "Oh, that's Batman when he's older and wiser. This is Batman when's he's young and naive, still learning the ropes." Wouldn't that make sense, instead of redoing a villain that's already been done? Won't that confuse the hell out of the audience? Oh well.
9/10.