The best version since Michael Keaton's Bat-debut, circa 1989.

Rating: 10/10 (15 June 2005)

*Potential spoilers* And, the best portrayal of pathos in a silver-screen Bruce Wayne since George Clooney! *Who, by the way, I do NOT blame for the box-office failure of the previous one. His Bat-costume's designer is the one who should have apologized, on national TV, for disappointing the American movie-going public! But, I digress.*
The underlying theme of this version is that age-old question: is there a difference between justice and revenge? Christian Bale, as a pre-Batman Bruce, says that "sometimes they're the same thing." Katie Holmes, as ADA Rachel Dawes, strongly disagrees. Yet, ironically, her grasp of morality is as naively simplistic as Ducard/Al Ghul's. They both see morality as black-and-white, while Bruce has learned the hard way that it's various shades of gray. He even says as much when recounting how stealing an apple was the only thing that kept him from literally starving to death! It's that realization which gives him the inner strength to defy Ducard (masterfully played by Liam Neeson), and spare the adulterous Chinese farmer in that flashback. I eagerly look forward to whatever sequel the WB might already have planned. Bob Kane would be proud of this movie. So, should Keaton and Clooney. And, I-- definitely and shamelessly--am.