Fantastic

Rating: 8/10 (27 January 2008)

I finished watching this cinematic, theatrically verbose and brilliantly structured film, no less than 5 minutes ago.
In all of my reviews, i will begin with what i did not like about this film, which as always in my overly critical self, there are a few things to shout about. First of all, the beginning was generally quite confusing, the switches between childhood and Bruce Wayne's coming of age among the Shadow people were at times perplexing in helping form a grounded basis for the story to grow from. Another problem was the flow of 'bad guy' characters. To begin i thought the film would consist of Batman's attempts to bring down the ruthless drug lord, but that ended abruptly. Then the scarecrow character, who i thought would give the film it's comic book villain was quickly dismissed.
However it was when the overall villains of the story were re-introduced that the brilliance of the story structure came alive. Through tying the beginnings of Batman to the end of the film it rounds the film up to a very satisfying defeat of the 'bad guy'.
Now onto more great things. The cinematography, is absolutely sublime, and thoroughly deserved it's Oscar nomination. The use of shadows and emphasis of the pale yellow and black colours contributed to it's comic book feeling. Another success was the portrayal of the Dark Knight himself. Christian Bale conveys the man with a sense of emotion whilst remaining a figure of ambiguity, where as the film progresses, his character becomes deeply colder resulting in the audience's further estrangement from him. This factor primarily gives Bale's performance more gratification than previous efforts in the Batman franchise.
The use of Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine as supporting actors give the acting in this film increased flair. Where Caine plays a perhaps typecast cotney role, he is wholly believable in his caring for the young Bruce. Freeman is also genuinely enjoyable to watch, his almost eccentric antics give his parts a greater warmth which comes from any Freeman performance.
Despite changing the formula greatly through a more prominent, dramatic and most importantly dark approach to the Batman series, the film remains faithful to the legacy of the comic book legend.