Nolan did a great job.

Rating: 10/10 (18 June 2005)

I'm a long-time Batman fan and I'm pretty hard to please when it comes to treatments of the character. I hated what Burton did with his opportunities, and what followed those was beyond sad. I didn't expect to be impressed by this, even with Nolan in the chair.
I am so glad I was wrong.
This was an astoundingly good job. The performances of each actor was so good that I got lost in their roles. For example, Gary Oldman was not in that movie, Gordon was. Michael Caine? Was he in that movie? And even the media darling of the moment Katie Holmes didn't disappoint. It was tight. The lack of camp and the general minimization of in-jokes was also a plus. What "Batmanisms" there were seemed more aimed at making MORE fun of the previous attempts. The statement I saw was: "THIS IS BATMAN TREATED WITH THE REGARD IT DESERVES" rather than just having a Nolan 'stamp' on it, whatever that might mean. Burton 'Burtonized' Batman. Nolan brought Batman to life. It was as if Nolan finally GOT the character and instead of thinking he was hired to revamp, reinvent or stylize Batman, he just let the character do what it does on the pages of the comics: Kick a lot of ass.
It was a rough and rugged, ninja-strewn rise out of darkness followed by a gritty, dirty Gotham City experience that kept my eyeballs glued to the screen from beginning to end. See it. Love it. See it again.