Batman Evolves

Rating: 9/10 (23 June 2005)

First of all, I loved it. It is the darkest, deeper and best Batman to date. For as much as I liked Keaton's first Batman, this blows it right out of the water, and without much effort. The character development of Bruce Wayne was done with the same care audience will display for it, 'cause you simply cannot not care about his journey to become what he is, considering this is a movie, not a book. And, though the film has great and long action sequences Nolan doesn't deprive it from what significantly more moving and impacting, the philosophy behind becoming a hero and the pain most of us endure to re-invent ourselves and ultimately survive. So, I loved it. It could well been named "Batman Evolves".
Now, what should someone say, quickly and before the movie is accused of "borrowing" scenes from a classic, is that they "purposely" paid homage to Serpico in one particular scene: Flass (corrupt cop played by prolific actor Mark Boone Junior) comes out of a store counting what appears to be "protection" money and gets in the car, where honest cop Gordon (played by Gary Oldman) waits. Flass says something along the lines of "So, do you want your cut... nah... maybe I'll keep it for when you get wiser and decide to take it" upon which Gordon responds something like: "There is nothing wise about what you're doing Flass" and Flass concludes "Well, you are making a lot our guys very nervous by not taking it".
THIS IS EXACTLY how the scene was shot in Serpico (played by Pacino, waiting in the car and the corrupt cop with the funny hat gets in, right after picking the round from the store (under a subway rail-pass in NY) and although the lines are slightly different this was EXACTLY the interchange that cop (who was also keeping books) has with Pacino (an honest cop) in SERPICO, directed by Sidney Lumet in 1973.
Has anybody noticed this?