Absolutely spectacular, brilliant, 20 out of 10 stars!!!

Rating: 10/10 (15 June 2005)

Let me start off by saying this was one of those movies I had virtually no interest in seeing. Generally speaking, these kinds of movies just "aren't my thing". A friend of mine (who IS into these movies) wanted to go, so I tagged along. We saw the movie in imax (2-D) at Jordan's Furniture (sorry I couldn't spell imax in all capital letters, the IMDb's robots picked it up and considered it shouting).
Especially when I heard that the movie is well over 2 hours long, I expected to be asleep before the opening credits finished. But I barely even blinked throughout the entire movie, much less looked at my watch. This movie was an absolute masterpiece.
The story, casting, cinematography, score, and overall experience were all just incredible. Christian Bale was *fantastic* in the leading role (the fact that he's very easy on the eyes doesn't hurt much either). I can honestly say that not a single second of the movie was "cheesy" or "over-produced" or "too far-fetched" (three attributes that I usually apply to movies of this type). It had just the right mixture of action, adventure, crime, fantasy, thrills, and even a few laughs and an occasional tear to my eye. The perfect recipe for a perfect movie.
If you do see this movie, I *highly recommend* you see it in imax if you have an imax theater within 100 miles of where you live. In my opinion, this great movie deserves absolutely nothing less than the experience that imax gives you. It is a movie that I will not soon forget.