The best Batman movie of them all

Rating: 7/10 (5 August 2005)

Tim Burton made Batman look a bit childish in Michael Keaton's figure, and were always beaten by his great villains in both Batman (1989) and the fabulous sequel. But then suddenly Joel Schumacher decided to trash and destroy everything that was cool, stylish and fascinating about the knight of night. So he made Val Kilmer do Batman and topped it all in 1997 by making the horrifyingly bad Batman & Robin that included a terrible Arnie as the main bad-guy.
Christopher Nolan, the man behind MEMENTO and INSOMNIA decided making a whole new start to the famous story of one of the most beloved superheroes of all time. BATMAN BEGINS offers a totally new and inspiring gem into the whole Gotham setting. And Nolan ends of his trilogy of psychological settings here; were MEMENTO were lead by memory loss, INSOMNIA followed up with a sleepless Pacino and here he tops it with phobia and fear. And casting Christian Bale as Batman was surely a good move, the former Patrick Bateman looks as his on the edge of breaking all the time, making him intense and pretty scary in his look and atmosphere.
We meet down-and-out billionaire Bruce Wayne that's being held in a prison in China. Being a pretty aggressive person he joins the League Of Shadows up in a Himalaya monastery were he's thought totally new skills, but he refuses their methods and returns to his home town Gotham. After his troubled childhood he still suffers from phobia, returning to get rid of the criminality that killed his parents, he dresses in black as Batman and teams up with the only fair people in the city...
And Gotham looks better than ever. Not being that peculiar and interesting as Burton's Germanish inspired dark-goth, and not as pathetic and cyber as Schumacher's new wave punk - it looks fashionable but under the surface it suffers from crime and gangsters, violence and cheating. The underworld AND over-world worth remarking, is lead by corrupt cops and laws, mafia bosses that doesn't press charges but shoots you (Tom Wilkinson) and a creepy Scarecrow doing the dirty jobs as a pleasure. In here Batman takes his loop as the dark knight he is and gets allied with off course his best friend, butler Alfred ( played wonderfully by old-English Michael Caine), the policeman (Gary Oldman), Wayne Enterprises R&D man (Morgan Freeman, perfect choice!) and uses his childhood sweetheart (Katie Holmes) just as much as an informant on the law-side as a love interest.
And Batman looks better than ever; his dark voice and aggressive attacks leaves old man Keaton and Schumacher's choices as pathetic baby bats. So, flying like a bat and stinging like a bee, Batman's back for business. Filled with great actor performances, amazing action, great CGI, fine dialog and absolutely great settings; Batman Begins is the best Batman movie so far. And one more thing; the Batmobile rocks! Or is it a car or a tanks?