A vast improvement over the Batman films of the 1990s

Rating: 7/10 (3 July 2008)

I enjoyed the film BATMAN from Tim Burton, though I'll be the first to admit that it was very, very dark and disturbing. I'd also agree that the Batman role in this and subsequent films was a bit one-dimensional--with a much greater emphasis on the villains and amazing cartoon-like scenes. However, despite enjoying the first film, the subsequent films were a disappointment to me as they just seemed overloaded with special effects and were a bit light on character development.
In light of this, I really appreciated how the Batman character was hashed out and given much greater depth in BATMAN BEGINS--especially because it explains the long evolution of Bruce Wayne to caped crusader. Christian Bale was very good in the leading role and the story was very unusual but enjoyable to a point--though the plot did get awfully convoluted towards the end. In fact, I would say that the least interesting part of the film was the final conflict at the end, as this seemed a lot like previous Batman films--full of special effects but that's about all.
Now my quibbles with BATMAN BEGINS are quite minor and I can't fault the movie too much because it doesn't pretend to be Shakespeare or a contender for a Sundance award! It is just old fashioned entertainment. Not especially deep, but entertaining.
By the way, when I saw this film I was amazed at the high-priced talent organized for this film--Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Rutger Hauer and Morgan Freeman. In particular, Freeman and Caine were terrific in the film.