Batman Truly Begins

Rating: 8/10 (15 June 2005)

I've seen the other Batman movies. I've enjoyed them all for the most part. The first two were really dark for me as a child. Batman Forever was enjoyable. Everyone hates Batman & Robin, but I enjoyed the campiness.
However, none of these can hold a candle compared to THIS. This really starts the franchise over from scratch, and does so very well. Christian Bale puts on the best Batman performance so far. I like how Bruce Wayne and Batman are the same man in this movie, but they're also different. Bale turns it up to 10 notches as Batman, and uses some of the lessons he learned in American Psycho to make even the feared fearful of him.
All the acting is done well, & the story is especially interesting, getting story behind Batman right. There are a few minor problems. For being hyped as the villain, The Scarecrow doesn't get much in the way of screen time. Instead, Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson) & Ra's Al Ghul (Ken Watanabe) end up being the focus. I wish that these two would have been advertised as being the main villains from the movie, because they really do pull it off, but it still leads to The Scarescrow being a bit of a let down. Also, there's a "tease" as to who Batman's next villain might be.
Even at 141 minutes, me & my friend wished that this movie had been longer. The story hooks you in, keeps you there for the long haul, and leaves you waiting for the sequel. 8/10