The Bat Is Back!

Rating: 9/10 (16 June 2005)

After waiting eight years, the payoff is sweeter than anyone could imagine! This movie is a masterpiece in not just the superhero genre, but in all cinema.
There is not a single thing wrong with this film besides the tiny problem with Bale's fluctuating Batman voice. It really works, it's real, it's emotional, it's brooding and heavy. Christopher Nolan gives Batman and Batfans what they deserve. This movie is not about the costume, the legend, the action, the villains. It is about The Batman, but more, the man behind him and how his symbol came together, from the car to the cape to the cowl.
The story starts off with young Bruce Wayne taking his faithful fall into the cave. For once we see the man behind the mask in full view. We see a longer scene involving the Wayne's death and their funeral that truly tugs at you're heart, it got a few tears out of me. Bruce travels around the world ending up in a prison where he meets Henri Ducard who later trains him to be a member of The League of Shadows. Bruce returns to a Gotham that is even more corrupt and bleak then when he left, he decides to clean it up once and for all.
His adversaries are a heartless crime boss Carmine Falcone, the new leader of Wayne Enterprises, the ruthless business man Richard Earle and a twisted psychologist who uses fear as a gaseous weapon, Dr. Jonathon Crane, alias The Scarecrow.
This Batman rocks. Michael Caine's Alfred really worries for Bruce's life. Honest cop Jim Gordon is played just as he should be by Gary Oldman. The cast is perfect, Bale is wonderful and the sets and atmosphere are just what you hope they would be. Batman Begins plays more like a Rocky film than a comic book movie. When Nolan said he was going for realism he meant it! You'll actually believe a Batman could exist.
Batman Begins, in the words of James Lipton: Scrumtrillecent!