Good, but no cigar.

Rating: 7/10 (20 November 2005)

It was an entertaining film but I thought it lacked a lot in some important departments. Before slating the weaker points, I must say I was impressed with C.Bale as Batman. I've seen his previous film, "The Machinist", and could not believe how he managed to fill the role of the caped crusader. Michael Caine was, as always, marvellous in a supporting role. A little too cockney for the role of Alfred, but that's just personal opinion. He really helped to hold this movie together along with Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox. Gary Oldman was wasted as Jim Gordon. Dear Mr.C. Nolan, Gary Oldman is best playing borderline psychopaths. A little bit like***Dr. Jonathan Crane***! Cillian Murphy, while pretty good in this role, just would not be able to hold a candle to G.Oldman !
The martial arts segments were not well choreographed. The camera work was too close to the participants in most of the fights and it looked messy. Mr.Nolan should have taken a look at some Bruce Lee films beforehand or perhaps the more recent "Ong-Bak".
The locations were not well thought out. Bruce Wayne's mansion was obviously shot somewhere in England(Marlborough House ?)when it was supposed to be on the outskirts of Gotham City. It didn't seem to fit with the story. Gotham City itself had no sense of size or structure. You see a couple of shots of the skyline but mostly it's all filmed in garbage strewn alley ways. The asylum was cool but not really used to full effect. It was the most menacing feature in the film.
Katie Holmes was dreadful. Not at all believable in her role as a District Attorney. She did not create the illusion of an intelligent, tough woman working in a corrupt city full of gangsters, thugs and other low-life's. Weird choice in an otherwise great cast list.
Much of the dialogue was po-faced rubbish. Especially the scenes between Christian Bale and Katie Holmes. Absolutely terrible.
Now, if Robert Rodriguez could be persuaded to do a "Sin City" on Batman, I think it would be getting closer to my ideal. Obviously without the language and gore, but the comic book feel of that was spot on.