Colour me disappointed...

Rating: 3/10 (4 November 2005)

I rented this movie with high expectations. Expectations that were not actualized.
I really could have done without almost all of the first 42 minutes of the movie.
I felt this movie lacked cohesion and motivation within the storyline, such as it was. There were a number of talented actors in this film whose characters were not fleshed out to create credible relationships, angst, pathos et cetera.
I loved that there were actual bats in the film but it was over-used. Horribly so...
Scarecrow was fantastic and I would have enjoyed him, or his unseen boss being someone other than Neeson. Rather than having the minor villain of the crime boss and all the BS with Neeson's character.
The League of Shadows made no sense. Their apparent purpose for destroying Gotham made no sense. Training Bruce in an attempt to make him lead them made no sense, especially since, from the prison scenes Bruce had already learned to fight quite well. I think there could have been a more cohesive and riveting back story as to how Bruce Wayne became Batman and this movie was *not* it.
I hated this particular incarnation of the Batmobile, I liked much of what it could do, but the appearance really turned me off.
What would have made this a better movie? A more credible back story, tighter plot points, more development of some of the secondary characters. More Scarecrow and/or a *credible* ultimate "Big Bad" figure pulling the strings.
And what was with Bale's annoying voice as Batman and as Bruce every time he wanted to sound "tough" *ugh!!!* It was horrible and distracting.
The monorail irked me. Partly because I kept thinking of The Simpsons episode with the monorail and in part because I am sick of subways, monorails, trains etc being used in action films.
My best friend thinks David Boreanaz would have been a better choice for the starring role in this feature because he is not as stiff as Angel/Angelus as Bale was in this role.
We thought after seeing "American Psycho" that Bale would have a real definitive edge and a dramatic separation from his Bruce and Batman personas... but, it was not to be.
The revelation by Batman to Holmes' character doesn't seem plausible. The whole thing about having a secret identity is keeping it secret and yet we have 4 characters (Neeson, Freeman, Holmes and Caine's character all knowing - and yes, Alfred should know, I'm just making a point).
On that same note, all the equipment he uses can too easily be traced back to Wayne Enterprises... again, shoddy story lines.
What I did like...

Scarecrow and the drug effects (and special effects related to this) - the Batsuit and the cape - Mr. Oldman, Mr. Caine & Mr. Freeman (though we'd have liked to see more of them/their characters) - the scene with Bruce and his 2 dates where he says he's buying the hotel

Wow, not much... But, if there's a sequel, I can hope that it can only get better.