The intelligence of independent cinema meets the high budget event film

Rating: 8/10 (15 June 2005)

This is one of the few examples of a film where the and intelligence of an independent filmmaker gets to intertwine with a huge, big budget, Hollywood event film.
Nolan (Memento) takes this "Batman" film far beyond the previous series created by Tim Burton and then destroyed by Joel Schumacker. This film was a character study, a humanist exploration through the idea's of revenge, justice, and sin that show up in our culture. This is were the previous series dwindled, there was no connection between the bat and the man.
Christian Bale gave a wonderful portrayal of the caped crusader in this film. I do think that he gave a better performance than anyone in the past. The thing is he also had a more complex character to portray than the other's. All of the other films showed you that character after he already became "Batman". This film required Bale the portray a massive character ark, from the man who believed in revenge to the one who believed in justice, from the man who thinks only inward, to the man who is completely selfless. This created a much more interesting feel to the franchise. With the previous film's, Batman was a bit of an allegory, he was a representation of an ideal rather than a man. This film showed how the man became the symbol and thus it shifted more to the analytical approach to humanism.
Still, this is Batman. And that means that action is a must. And this film had plenty of it. I was sitting on the edge of my seat from the beginning. Moreover, they were done in a way that made it believable that one man could take out an army, especially because they were made so you barely ever saw him. For once it wasn't a film where you have hundreds of bad guys that aren't able to hit the broad side of a barn, they just never got a shot off.
The cinematography in this film was leaps and bounds in front of the original series as well. The other films never had the same kind of dramatic lighting or use of color filter's that this film had. The cinematography in this film was good enough to tell a story in and of itself, it gave new meaning and a new feel to the scene's.
The cast was strong all around. As mentioned above Christain Bale took the title character to bold new levels. Gary Oldman gave another great performance, even though it was a small part he brought something to it that other actor's wouldn't, he really deserves a lot more credit than he's received throughout his career.
This is the best "Batman" film yet. I can't wait to see it again and any of you that are "Batman" fans will be able to appreciate this film.