A "real" Batman for the ages

Rating: 10/10 (19 June 2005)

I was a young child who was terrified by both of Burton's Batman movies. Gave me nightmares for years, no joke. Only as a teenager, was I able to watch the original and appreciate the show and Gothic darkness that Burton put onto the screen. Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever wasn't too bad, but Batman and Robin ranks up there with one of the worst movies I have ever seen. It was like a train wreck I couldn't turn away from. When I heard that Christopher Nolan (of Memento) was directing a new Batman, I knew that it would be something I had to see.
I was not disappointed. This movie has everything - drama, action, love, hope, and yes, even a few clever wisecracks. The movie is dark, but it seems real. Unlike both previous directors, Nolan has made this movie quite persuasive in its realism. Sure the plot itself is doubtful - a renowned billionaire heir disappears off the face of the earth to train with a secret ninja association in Asia, returning to fight a villain employing a hallucinogenic "fear powder" to render his victims helpless. The characters on-screen, however, are three-dimensional, as complex as any human being alive right now.
Christian Bale is excellent as Bruce Wayne/Batman: a young man bent on reining in his anger for a common good. However, his Batman is not invincible. You question some of his choices and feel his vulnerability in several of his nocturnal outings. He gets HURT in this movie. It is also clear that Batman is the real personality behind the character, and not the rich playboy Bruce Wayne.
I adored Michael Caine as Alfred, the devoted-yet-concerned father figure. He doesn't quite approve of Bruce's career choice, but still helps out whatever way he can. The relationship between Alfred and Bruce was so heartwarming I had tears in my eyes during several scenes.
Katie Holmes surprised me by bringing great strength to assistant DA Rachel Dawes, girlish voice aside. The character has a spine and won't allow anyone to sway her. Same with Lt. James Gordon, played by Gary Oldman. He has his doubts about the new mysterious vigilante, but holds hope that this figure will bring hope to the ravaged city.
It was great to see Liam Neeson really savor his role as a mentor, despite it being the umpteenth time he has played it. A few of his lines would have come out completely cheesy if it were not for his persuasive delivery. (For some reason he couldn't find the same oomph in Phantom Menace, but that's another thing entirely.) In teaching Bruce, he employs tough love, and nothing short of it.
All of the other characters only added to the film. The casting was absolutely perfect, in my opinion.
Despite its 2.5 running time, the movie seems a lot shorter. The only time I looked at my watch was when Batman first appeared: I wanted to see if an hour had really passed by from the movie's start, and it had. I've read some criticisms about the movie's pacing, but it didn't bother me at all. In fact, I thought that the first 20 minutes were too fast, since a lot of things happened in those 20 minutes that changed the characters greatly. I felt as if I had been thrown into the movie in the middle of it.
There have also been some criticisms about the action sequences. The fast-moving camera angles and quick edits confuses the viewer, but in my opinion, Nolan was trying to give us a taste of how Batman worked. His victims do not see him coming at all, and when he attacks, it is a flurry of action. During the big one-on-one fights, I was able to track the characters well enough to see who had the upper hand, which I think was the point. Batman's first night out is wonderfully shot - it is a scene straight out of a horror movie, and I jumped in my seat several times. The bad guys disappear one by one and when the audience finally gets to see Batman in full costume, it is awesome.
The fear sequences are well done, but not too frightening. I had been expecting worse, heh. Or maybe I've just grown up enough to not have that kind of stuff scare me as it did years ago. Despite it not affecting me the same way as Burton's original did, I feel that this is the best Batman movie to date. It's not just a great comic book movie, but one of the best movies I've ever seen.