Possibly the best screen version of a comic ever.

Rating: 10/10 (28 December 2000)

This pitchblack screen version of the batman figure is simply as perfect as it gets.
First of all the winter Gotham in which the movie takes place, is a stunningly beautiful, dark and gothic place, a precise interpretation of the best of the batman graphic novels, and perhaps simply the best scenery that Tim Burton so far has produced (even counting Sleepy Hollow). Second -the story line, often accused of being far to black, to me is pure perfection. Never has the dubiousness of the batman figure been better put to light, and the dark corrupt world in which he lives, is to me the essence of the batman myth. After all we are taking about a man who has dedicated his whole life to the vengeance of something that happened to him as an 8 year old. If people want batman to be light family entertainment, they can go watch the 60`s tv-series ("quick robin get the shark spray"). Third, the acting is sublime, Michael Keaton (normally not a favorit of mine) plays him with an intensity that makes Val Kilmer and George Clooney look like something out of the above mentioned shows. The rest of the cast is equally perfect, what makes the difference from the later films is that this cast actually bothers to act, not just make caricatures.