Decent build up to The Dark Knight

Rating: 6/10 (7 August 2011)

Director Christopher Nolan's reboot to the batman series comes across as a darker more mature batman than before, but overall this opener feels more like an overrated build up to its far superior sequel: The Dark Knight.
The films follows the origin story of batman/Bruce Wayne, played brilliantly by Christian Bale, as he tries to change his life to do good in the world after the murder of his parents. Liam Neeson is the strongest part of the all-star cast as Batman's mentor, who helps train him. While Cillian Murphy plays bad guy "the scarecrow" although while the film tries to set up a realistic feel, the scarecrow ruins this with his plans to cover the city with gas to make everyone insane, and his general comic book style. The cast also includes Katie Holmes, who acts terribly as Wayne's love interest. Gary Oldman gives one his finest performances as a Gotham City cop while Micheal Caine and Morgan Freeman round out the cast as Bruce Wayne's Butler and Technology expert.
The films all-star cast does well but a few weak performances drag it down. The plot works very well, although the early sections exploring Batman's past and origins are a lot more enjoyable than his fight against the scarecrow which feels like a weak villain. The inclusion of little bits of humor throughout is also good, but the core romance in the film feels very undeveloped.
In terms of the action scenes, the film is a mixed bag, although the film is well shot and has a nice visual style the action scenes feel too fast and are ultimately the weak part of the film. The pacing is also a strong point but like most things in the movie it all feel like everything from the romance to the villains and batman's journey as a hero are more developed in The dark knight and that this movie is simply a back-story.
Overall, while not the greatest comic book film ever, it does flesh-out batman's back-story well and the all-star cast makes the movie an easy choice to recommend, although The dark knight is the better film.