The "Right" Batman begins here

Rating: 8/10 (16 June 2005)

Bottom-line: this is a Batman flick for Dark Knight fans, not Tim Burton fans. The movie spends, I would say, 60% of the time on Character Development which kept me drawn to the character and understand his raison d'etre. It's less "pop-ish" than the Spider-Man genre, but uses its successful elements - concentrating on the man behind the mask.
At times the character was contradictory, but I think that was on purpose and demonstrated the conflict that exist. I would have to say the battle scenes were not overtly impressive, but I did like the emphasis on weapons he either made himself, borrowed, designed, etc. It wasn't full of technical gadgetry so futuristic that it was unbelievable - no, he got out a grinder and a blowtorch and created some weapons. The car was VERY, VERY cool.
I have bought into this new Batman and will be a buyer of Bales next 3 Batman films. My only suggestion for Bale is that I would tone down the growl he has when he is Batman. It's sort of the tone I use when I want to scare my kids. It sounds a bit corny/gruff.