High budget movie with a colossal waste of talent

Rating: 4/10 (20 June 2005)

Plot Outline: Disillusioned after seeing his parents murdered, millionaire heir Bruce Wayne (Bale) travels distances to unravel himself and to find means to fight injustice while, his wealth, his company has fallen into bad hands. Bruce returns to Gotham, a new man with a dark side: Batman, a caped crusader who teams up with upcoming cop Gordon to fight crime.
Comment: Christopher Nolan's Batman is credited with the focus on the central character and its development with unprecedented detail. Sadly, it has been painfully overstretched. Although one would argue that there is more of Batman than the weird-villains, I would rather say that villains bring out the best in superhero movies rather than a bland portrayal of the character's mental development for 140mins. Probably, there are shades of Nolan's inexperience with Action flicks and his comfort with movies like Insomnia.
Christian Bale dons the cape as the fourth Batman after Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer and George Clooney and looks like he needed to spend more time in his cape to establish himself as Batman. Liam Neeson's Jujutsu and Ninja classes reminded me of Fishburne in Matrix. Stars like Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Cutie Katie Homes are underutilized. Technical work is neat on SFX but nothing great to look for.
Rating: 2/5