Most Realistic Batman So Far

Rating: 9/10 (16 April 2014)

The first instalment in Christopher Nolan's three-part masterpiece, 'The Dark Knight Trilogy', excels in almost every area. I believe that it perfectly shows how Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) became Batman. No Batman film before it has been as amazing as to 'Batman Begins', and I loved Tim Burton's 'Batman'. This is the beginning of the greatest superhero film series ever made (with the possible exception of Marvel's Avengers). I thoroughly enjoyed it.
David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan's writing are nigh perfect. They have wrote a Batman darker than any before it, I believe. You can tell that the writing is Nolan, just by the slow, rather confusing pace and how intelligent everything seems. This Batman feels dark, mysterious and very realistic, which is exactly what Batman should be. The characters are wrote perfectly, very much like their comic book selves but with some good tweaks from Nolan and Goyer. They also feel vulnerable, which is needed in such a realistic film.
The directing is also perfect for a Batman film. It is very dark and real. It's not exactly Gothic, like Tim Burton's Batman, but it still has that very unique, dark touch to it. The way Batman is shadowed in scenes is perfect. We get some amazing visuals of the city too, which appears to be quite Gothic. Not to the extent of Burton's Gotham, but still Gothic and Batman. The action scenes were extremely well done, which is definitely needed for a comic book adaptation.
The casting is one of the most impressive things about the film. Each actor was perfectly chosen for their individual role. Christian Bale is my favourite Batman yet, using his husky voice when he is Batman. He looks perfect for the role too; calm, young and businesslike. Cillian Murphy as the creepy Scarecrow couldn't be any better, and I think he's the most overlooked. Michael Caine looks exactly like Alfred, which is both perfect and quite strange. All of the casting was perfect.
The soundtrack is one of my all time favourites. Hans Zimmer always succeeds. He's created some of the best film soundtracks ever. I disagree that the Dark Knight Trilogy soundtrack is very similar to Inception (which came out five years after this). While that is all blasting and exciting, this soundtrack draws tension. Most of the music is dragged out perfectly. Each track draws out a different type of tension. It is very Matrix, but much better. James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer have impressed me here, as always.
Overall, the first instalment of this trilogy couldn't be any better. It is very faithful to the comics, it sets up Batman's character brilliantly, it has the perfect characters for each role, one of the best soundtracks ever created by my favourite composer, is extremely well paced, and is just an all out perfect superhero film. The only thing that's not there is the humour, which would be misplaced in this series. Well, it'd be misplaced in anything DC. I look forward to viewing and reviewing the other two.