Very entertaining

Rating: 9/10 (16 June 2005)

Gone is the camp of previous Batman movies replaced by wonderful acting, great action, and beautiful cinematography. Batman Begins is a much welcome change of pace from both Burton's and Schumacher's vision of Gotham and the Batman character. Nolan's direction and the script highlight the fact that underneath the mask there's a real human being, Bruce Wayne, with a tragic past and the twisted psychological makeup that leads to the creation of the dark knight.
The acting was uniformly superb and Christian Bale shines both at Bruce Wayne and Batman. It was nice to see veteran actors like Caine, Oldman, Rutger Hauer, Neeson, and Freeman do so well in a big summer action movie; they provided much needed gravitas and dignity to their roles. The only weak link was Katie Holmes. Unfortunately, she doesn't have the acting chops to keep up with the rest of the cast. In her scenes with Bale and Cillian Murphy, she's woefully outshined. Speaking of Murphy, he's wonderful as Dr. Crane and the Scarecrow. This young actor has great screen presence and is going to be a big star. I also enjoyed Linus Roache as Thomas Wayne, it's a small role, but very well done and moving.