Thank you Mr. Nolan & Mr. Bale for bringing the series back up to form where Mr. Burton & Mr. Keaton left off.

Rating: 9/10 (20 June 2005)

I'm a HUGE Batman fan!!! Batman in my book has always been the coolest comic book character. So needless to say the first two films "Batman" and "Batman Returns" which starred Michael Keaton and were directed by Tim Burton are two films I think of very highly in my book. But up next came the mediocre "Batman Forever" which is when both Mr. Keaton and Mr. Burton bailed and as their replacements we got Val Kilmer as the Dark Knight and Mr.Schmacher in the director's chair. Seeing this film made me lose a lot of interest in the character and franchise especially with Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face and Jim Carrey as the Riddler. I do have to give Mr. Kilmer a little respect here, he was a decent Batman, and it wasn't his fault I didn't care too much for the film. It was the Robin character played by Chris O' Donnell, the villains, and a mediocre script that really turned me off about the film.
But just after "Batman Forever," the biggest pile of crap to ever hit the Batman Franchise came along, and this of course was known as "Batman & Robin." "Batman & Robin" suffered from some of the worst casting (and acting) I ever seen in my life; Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze, George Clooney as Batman, and Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl just to name a few. Also throw in one of the worst scripts ever written with dialogue that a 5 year old could have written better ("Lets kick some Ice") and you have the huge pile of crap known as "Batman & Robin." So I thought my once favorite character Batman was dead in a deep, dark grave but long and behold 8 years after the disaster that was "Batman & Robin" comes "Batman Begins" a film with a solid cast and not to mention Batman played by Christian Bale and is directed by Christopher Nolan the man behind such great films like "Memento" and "Insomnia" I knew some good was still left in the series. How much? Well keep on reading to find out.
"Batman Begins" is just like its title suggests, it's the beginning and that's probably a good thing since I just explained what happened to the Batman franchise in the past. The movie starts off with the story behind Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) and what happened to his family and so forth. It then moves into how he was trained and how he can fight the way he does. Then long and behold Bruce Wayne becomes Batman and wants to save the city of Gotham from the crime that has devoured the city.
The final words in "Batman Begins" said something like this "I never got to say Thank you" and Batman turns around and says "You will never need to." I think I need to say thank you to Mr. Nolan and everyone involved. Thank you for bringing the Batman franchise back to its peak form. I would actually dare to say and this is coming from one of Tim Burton's biggest fans that Mr. Nolan has made a film on the same level as the original Batman. I never thought it could be done but it has and Mr. Nolan deserves most of the thanks not to mention the always fantastic Christian Bale as the Dark Knight, Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon, Michael Caine as Alfred, as well as Morgan Freeman as Fox, Liam Neeson as Ducard and Cillian Murphy as the scarecrow. The right casting definitely made a difference not to mention a great script and wonderful direction.
The movie is a visual fest for the eyes with so much going on, it's almost a film you walk out of and want to run right back into to see it again. The special effects are wonderful and the whole background story with the Bats and the Batcave are interesting as well. Not to mention the new Batmobile which is just bad@ss and Bale's awesome yet cocky line when Freeman first shows him the car, "Does it come in black" is just awesome. Not to mention how perfectly timed everything was, the movie never seemed to drag, everything just fit into place even with a runtime of 2 hours and 20 minutes.
The thing that worried me about "Batman Begins" was this, the last time a great independent film director made a mainstream movie we got "The Hulk" which was directed by Ang Lee the man behind "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "The Ice Storm." Needless to say "The Hulk" wasn't a very good movie in fact it pretty much sucked but Nolan on the other hand showed the world that a great independent director can also make a great mainstream big budget film and Nolan did this almost flawlessly.
So in conclusion, if you're a Batman fan, you're in luck because Batman is back and is here to kick some serious ass. Batman is back in his top form with a new lead by Mr. Bale. The script is wonderful, the acting is terrific for a mainstream big budget flick, and the direction along with the cinematography is just stunning. I have been waiting 13 years to see a Batman film like this and I am glad that day has finally arrived. I hear a sequel is already in talks and they are talking about bringing back the Joker. As long as Nolan and Bale are still aboard for the sequel I am there opening day! Also I have some suggestions for Joker, I was thinking about it when the film ended and I think Johnny Depp or even Crispin Glover would be perfect for the role.
"Batman Begins" may actually be one of the best films of the year or at least of the summer. MovieManMenzel's final rating for "Batman Begins" is a 9/10. BATMAN RULES!!!