Great

Rating: Null/10 (16 July 2005)

A little too much recapitulation of the origin story for my taste, although the notion that Bruce Wayne learns at the feet of what are essentially terrorists is fascinating, a unique rejiggering of the moral ambiguity at the heart of the legend. Nice effort at reestablishing Batman as a fearsome figure -- Bale's scream of "Pray to me!" was awesome, in particular. A fine cast all around, with Cillian Murphy's Scarecrow turn and Gary Oldman's definitive Jim Gordon being highlights. An interesting redesign of Gotham as a kind of incipient Third World city. A worthwhile moral logic: the villains plans make sense, as does the thread of fear and confronting fear, which weaves through the story. I'll be looking forward to future efforts.