An Excellent Comic-Book-Done-Right Movie. One of the year's best films.

Rating: 8/10 (13 October 2007)

The Superman trilogy came in this order; success-moderate-moderate-flop. Having seen the fantasy world of Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns; and Joel Schumacher's horrors Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, I thought this one would flop as well. Instead I was introduced to a new kind of comic book adaptation.
Having seen this in the cinema was a real delight. It doesn't have corny dialog and fantasy-like buildings. Gotham City looks that way its supposed to be. A crime-infested megalopolis. Superb A-list actors only play second fiddle to Christian Bale (Empire Of The Sun, Reign of Fire) who give a very strong performance as a young Bruce Wayne, returning to Gotham after rigorous training. Kudos to indie film director Christopher Nolan (Insomnia, Memento) for bringing in such classy actors and bringing Gotham to a dark stage.
The music in this movie is also haunting. Instead of Danny Elfman's original fantasy score and Elliot Goldenthal's throbbing but corny score, we get two very well-known composers. To those who know James Newton Howard (Dreamcatcher, The Village) and Hans Zimmer (The Last Samurai, Shark Tale) they are very talented in keeping the atmosphere of Gotham as dark and mysterious as Batman.
With its dark atmosphere, unexpected twists, strong acting and dialog and some of the most thrilling action sequences ever filmed, I give Batman Begins a strong overall rating of 8.87/10.
Rated PG-13 for intense violent action, brief drug content and language, and for some disturbing images.