By far the best installment yet!

Rating: 9/10 (9 December 2005)

I wasn't sure about this movie @ first, I wasn't sure what to expect and I have a hard time getting past the "American Psycho" from Christian Bale but I sucked it up and viewed. The story is dark and very impressive to detail and his past, taking us through all the necessary background required to get an amazing idea of the story behind what most of us remember as "Batman". It left me less than impressed with the previous installments and by the end I was wishing that the others had been as dark and real as this one is, the previous installments now seem so much cheesier than before although not nearly as cheesy as the TV show. The way the Scarecrow is portrayed as something truly frightening and criminal, not comical like The Joker, The Penguin, Cat woman and so on have been in the past. Bale's performance was exceptional as well, truly as I had imagined and wished Batman would be in my mind. Oldman as usual gave a fantastic portrayal of his character but again I have always been impressed how he can become one with his roles leaving no hint of himself visible. This one also left me wishing the previous installments had not been made, so they could be done as this one was, dark and menacing, truly thrilling and frightening the way Batman was meant to be. One can only hope they will remake the following installment and do the story of "Batman" justice as this one has.