Terrific comic book drama

Rating: 8/10 (3 July 2006)

An absolutely terrific film. Not only is it the best of the Batman films - easily besting Burton's stylish and Schumacher's gaudy ones - but it is one of the best films in recent memory. The plot is intriguing, the acting is excellent all-around, the action is quite realistic, and the production design is amazing. Nolan definitely knows how to tell a story. I really have no nitpicks about the story, or any elements of the film, for that matter. It really is flawless.
One of the things that really separates this from the previous Batman films is the story focus. Instead of concentrating on the flashy villains, this one delved deep into the dark psyche of Bruce Wayne - and showed why he is Batman. By making Batman, not the villains, the star of the show, the drama actually outdoes the action and makes this film much more intelligent than the average comic book flick. The grand villain plot is a bit far-fetched, and there is one too many villains - I would have preferred Scarecrow to be the main baddie, rather than Ra's - but it does not blemish the overall story.
The acting, as stated, was superb. Bale easily gives the best performance of this film, and of any Batman, for that matter. His distinguishing between Bruce Wayne and Batman adds some credibility to the film, as well as making the Dark Knight even more terrifying. Among the supporting cast, Freeman and Caine give solid performances, Neeson is good but a bit one-note, Oldman is great, and Murphy is terrific as Scarecrow. Very charismatic and chilling. Holmes is a bit flat but doesn't ruin the movie - she's actually better than I was expecting. Hauer and Wilkinson are wasted, and both of their characters could have easily been written out.
I very much liked the fact that stunts, not CG, were used in the action scenes. It very much added to the plausibility of the film and looked great also. The tone of the film was very dark without becoming Gothic (which would have been too reminiscent of Burton) and the set design was simply phenomenal. Once again, it was dark without becoming unrealistic. The music was memorable without having to resort to Elfman's old score, quite an achievement. And Nolan's direction is fantastic. One of the best working today.
So, all in all, a simply fantastic film. I could find things to nitpick about, sure, but it would not detract from my opinion of the film. This is excellent as both a dark character drama and a comic book blockbuster. As it stands now, this is slightly above X2 for #1 on my list of best comic book films.