Outstanding

Rating: 10/10 (26 September 2005)

The first time I saw Tim Burton's take on Batman, I was stunned. I fell in love with everything the movie had. I was anxious to see the sequel when it came out, and it certainly didn't disappoint. The dark, Gothic settings, fascinating characters, cool gadgets... they had it all.
When I heard about the third one being in the makes, I was dying to see it. I was pretty young back at the time, and watched the Batman Forever trailer over and over again. Granted, I was very, very disappointed to see Michael Keaton (and Burton) step down, but I was still hopeful for the movie. I hadn't heard much about Joel Schumacher or Val Kilmer at the time, but as I got over the shock of the new guys taking over the franchise, I went into the theater open minded... and came out utterly disappointed. I felt betrayed, like they'd turned one of my favorite movies into some sort of a joke. I lost all hope. I didn't see the following one (Batman & Robin) until early last year, and it was even worse.
When I heard about a fifth one -at this time they still hadn't revealed a director or the leading man- I wasn't interested at all. I saw the whole franchise as this old, limping dog, taking its last few breaths before disappearing for good. Then one day, I watched a little movie called "Memento". Still one of my favorite films, I decided to check this Christopher Nolan guy out. It turned out he was a fantastic director, very talented, but not really the comic-book-action kinda fellow. So when I found out he was going to make "the new Batman" I was quite puzzled. At the time, at least, I was sure it was bound to be better than the two previous movies.
I followed every single bit of news they had on the movie, and was mostly positively surprised. Christian Bale, an actor I've liked for a long time now, was going to be Batman. A sigh of relief, it was. When I learned about the rest of the cast, I was nearly knocked off my chair. Michael Caine as Alfred? What? Amazing.
I still remember refreshing the Apple.com trailer page repeatedly, waiting for the trailer. I was ready to pop after that. I HAD to see this film.
Well, I just watched it (LATE, I know, I know), and I have absolutely no doubt that this film saved the franchise. I thought it was impossible. The cast is superb. The story follows the comics almost religiously, and by god, it works. I was saying "wow" out loud every five minutes while watching this movie. It tells you everything you ever wanted to know about Bruce Wayne becoming Batman, yet has time to give you all the Bat-action you were missing out on for the last 13 years. Twists and turns, fantastic action, stunning acting and even a wonderful hint about the next film in the end.
This is THE Batman movie as far as I'm concerned. See it.
10/10