No Continuity with ANY other Batman film

Rating: 3/10 (3 July 2005)

Here's what I liked about this movie:- I liked Gary Oldman as Sgt Gordon, he acted very well in a part that really didn't give him all that much to do. I liked Morgan Freeman, it was nice to show how Bruce Wayne acquired all his "toys" for Batman. I liked Rutger Hauer, but the story behind him working for someone else really didn't come out at all, just a "stolen microwave" thing. His character could have had so much more to do. He would have been an excellent pawn in the baddies master plan. I liked Micheal Caine, excellent as Alfred. I liked Christian Bale but I really didn't believe him as Batman, sorry. Not enough trauma and too much showing of him going bad.
OK, here's what I didn't like. I didn't like Liam Neeson pretending to be a bad Jedi/Sith again. Liam, you died in the Star Wars series - get over it! Let's train Bruce Wayne in the art of Ninjitsu (supposedly takes a life time but Bruce is only away from Gotham for 7 years?) and teach him to be a force for good but when he questions his teacher about ethics and morality they suddenly want to kill him? Er, WTF?
Newly trained "ninja" Bruce Wayne defeats a whole room full of people who were teaching him - I Think NOT!
If you've seen the trailer then you've seen the best bits of this film. If the police chasing the Batmobile looks familiar then it should do, thats Lower Whacker Drive in Chicago, used in The Blues Brothers over 20 years ago.
The creators of this film thought " Right, lets use tons of stuff out of Batman comic books" - This is of no use to those of us who don't read Batman comics is it? Most of us are going to know Batman from previous films or the old TV series. Yes, we know The Joker, The Riddler, The Penguin.
Scarecrow - who the hell is he then? No explanation behind why he's The Scarecrow, what made him this way - how he got the name. The whole "have you seen my mask?" and the voice changer inside along with the hallucogenic drugs still don't explain how or why he became Scarecrow.
The attempt (And it was damn feeble) to explain how Bruce becomes Batman and chooses the nickname. "I'm scared of bats so I think i'll use a bat". He was attacked by bats. NO HE WASN'T! He fell down a well and spooked some bats who tried to fly away from him, there was no attack, just bats fleeing from a perceived threat.
(Oh and real bats wouldn't fly anywhere near a person, they have excellent radar so whoever did the computer generated bats did NO research into how bats fly)
Sounds pretty normal but nothing like an attack, eh? Adult Bruce goes down the well with no torch but finds a torch which seems to just appear in his hand like magic. No attack from the bats again? No, of course not. That'd be far too damn sensible.
The flashbacks that seem fairly useless, we don't really see why Bruce is arrested. Stealing stuff that belongs to Wayne Industries. Not really theft is it, especially once they've asked him what his name is?
The appearance of Liam Neeson in the prison cell. We've put Bruce Wayne into solitary to protect other prisoners who you were fighting with but this hasn't been deemed serious enough to warrant any further prison time, we'll just release you like we were going to.
The whole "people spooked by gas that makes them scared and insane" just looks like a scene from a Romero film, them shuffling along like Night Of The Living Dead.
The girl whose supposed to be insane from gas but sits meekly in a strange fast traveling vehicle. She doesn't recognize Bruce Wayne's voice until near the end of the film, despite the fact they were childhood playmates. No, I don't think so. Plus Bruce already had the cure and he didn't carry it with him when he went to save her?
The reason for her being in the house isn't explained? I assume her mother works for the Wayne family. Why do they take Bruce to the opera at all? Why do they leave by the back door?
We aren't supposed to question this person killing Bruce's parents when we already know about Jack Napier (aka The Joker) from a previous film.
Watch the film and forget about the plot. There isn't really MUCH actual plot to forget about but if you just watch the action and enjoy the fights and the gadgets and The Batmobile then you will love this film. Turn off your brain.
The fact that The Batmobile has to jump into The Batcave but it looks like it would be physically impossible for it to jump out. Lets paint the Batsuit black but it's black already - why? Two guys get into an elevator in a fire - the most dangerous thing you can do. Really smart message to the kids, ignore the danger warnings - lifts are safe in a fire if you need to get down from somewhere.
The plot of the film gets a 2/10, the action gets a 5/10.