Great Effort -The Best Batman Film

Rating: 7/10 (29 July 2006)

With the plethora of super-hero films currently being released and in production, and with most of them being generally poor, Batman Begins had a lot to prove. I was never a fan of any of the other recent Batman films, I found Tim Burton's effort too heavily weighted in favour of Jack Nicholson's Joker, who was just annoying and a bit over the top generally, too Hollywood for me. Joel Schumaker's efforts were pretty awful all round. Batman Begins has a great cast. Christian Bale is excellent, trouncing Keaton, Clooney and Kilmer by miles. He looks like he can handle 10 thugs, and has an edginess to him. Liam Neeson, Michael Caine, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman and Rutger Hauer make up the rest of the big hitters and they do not disappoint. The best side of this film is the origin and development of Batman, we are told at length how he came to be who he is, how he learnt to beat the crap out of thugs, how he acquired the gadgets, etc.. This makes the film more human and believable, which in a fantasy super hero film is a big achievement. Very highly recommended.