Ditto "...got it right".

Rating: 8/10 (10 July 2005)

"Batman Begins" is where this film series should have began. Christian Bale's Batman is dead-on, bringing in the rage and darkness Bob Kane and Bill Finger first instilled into the character of the Dark Knight. Suave and smooth are at a minimum, and then only as a cover for the deeper, more complex stuff going on in the heart and mind of Bruce Wayne. Bale gets downright ugly at times, is truly menacing. In just the way he carries himself - his posture - the character is so much richer than those that came before him in this series. Nothing but superlatives for Bale's performance.
All other facets of the film are above average, and my only gripe is that - without giving away the story - the "crisis" is a little muddy, and is one place I think the filmmakers could have afforded to simplify, go a more traditional route. James Bond faced a nuclear threat (NOT the crisis in Batman Begins!) in virtually every film, and Bond never got old, although certain actors playing the part DID. And this is where this incarnation of Batman SOARS: provided the story is fundamentally solid, the threat to Gotham doesn't need to be over-convoluted. This new Batman - this GREAT character study - will keep us riveted film after film with even the simplest of devices.