My Total Review

Rating: 8/10 (19 June 2005)

This movie has begun the franchise anew. Many have said that exact thing many times and that truly shows that this movie will begin Batman as a saga and as a comic book movie symbol for a job well done. I must speak of its realism. The Batsuit as a tactical wetsuit brings originality to the filmmaker and the practicality that comic book fans scream for. Though the Batmobile has been significantly altered, in visual style, Nolan managed to keep the basics and added a whole hell of a lot more style to it. The look will never be the same but maybe thats for the best. Eventually, had the original franchise continued, some hotshot film maker would have spiced the Batmobile up far too much and ruined it completely. Nolan kept the 'soul' of the actual Batmobile, in its ability to get Batman, not only from point A all the way BACK to point A again, but he did it realistically. There was not an inch of the ''Tumbler'' that you could have looked at and gone ''Now that just shouldn't be there.'' Though many fans will probably mourn in the death of the look of the old Batmobile, they will rejoice knowing that it finally may have been done justice as the ultimate revamped vehicle for the ultimate revamped Batman. Bale shined magnificently as Bruce Wayne in the opening scenes of the film, in the prison, taking on six angry inmates, then being carried away by guards in fear for the OTHER six men's protections. He showed Wayne as he should have been shown from the beginning. A cold and lonely man. Torn from his parents as a child, and thrown into the dirt that is Gotham City only to find his was to the remote Hymalayan-like mountains to encounter Ra's Al Ghul, his right hand man Henri Ducard and the league of shadows. He studied the ways of the league of shadows to make himself strong, have the ability to disappear and become ''More than just a man'' The movie jumps back and forth from his childhood to his manhood very well for the movies time span. As he arrives in Gotham again after studying with Ra's and Ducard, killing Ra's and saving Ducards life he meets up with Lucius Fox. Morgan Freeman, as Fox played the character as he does every other, simply very well. Introducing to Wayne the likes of his gadgetry and the cape. My personal favorite piece of technology in the film. A lightweight piece of material, until an electric current runs through it and becomes stiff, glider-style. The rest of the film is highly involved as he encounters Carmine Falcone, the Gotham criminal underworld, and the return of Ra's Al Ghul and Henri Ducard, as well as their pawn, the Scarecrow. All of the ending, including Detective Jim Gordon and the climax between Ducard and Batman on the Gotham-spanning monorail was epic as each character illuminated the screen in their own way. Even Katie Holmes as Rachel, the movie's incapacitated Gotham District Attourney/ damsel in distress/ Bruce Wayne/Batman's...love interest. Though a hell of a long title , a character well played. All in all the movie was well redone this time, as it should have been a loooong time ago. And the sequel should be quite exciting as it was foreshadowed in the film's end to have The Joker(rumor has it, played by The Matrix's Lachey Hulme)be the villain. Kudos to Bale for a job well done and Nolan for finally redoing the movie the way i personally wanted him to.