Grossly overrated doesn't even begin to describe this.. In comparison to Burton's movie's, it's boring as hell and get's a "C".. For a restart and comparing it to the Schumacher fuc*fest that were his BATMAN interpretations, it get's an "A".. One can only hope that Dark Knight definitely has MORE(You hear that Nolan??) MORE action in it for heaven sakes and Ledger playing the JOKER doesn't screw it up..

B

Good, but farrrr from the masterpiece everyone seems to make it out as.

I'm surprised I haven't given my grade for this. It most definitely gets an A from me. I'm not sure I'd go as far as to say it's my favorite Batman film, but it is close between this and the first one.

Just watched it again last night. Twice. And again this afternoon.

Yeah, this still rocks ass.

****/****

593 days until The Dark Knight. . .

But only around 228 until they'll release the first teaser.

Seconded.

The first Burton movie was more enjoyable, had a better overall visual style, a more consistent narrative, and better fight scenes as you could see what was actually happening, I'm hoping for better things with TDK. As for BB an excellent first half doesn't entirely makeup for a poor last third, which removed itself from the concept of being 'grounded in reality'. Which I still don't think sits comfortably with what is after all a superhero movie, as it limits the scope of what you can do with it, will almost inevitably lead to inconsistencies, and that fantasy element is what distinguishes movies like Batman and Spider-man from being just another action adventure movie.

B

could do better!

Wow I never actually reviewed this, time to rectify.

In terms of remaining faithful to any of the comic book variants I'd be clueless since I've never read them, but thinking about it logically Batman Begins is the most accurate representation I could ever imagine of a man who hides behind a bat suit and fights crime more out of a need to exorcise personal demons then a purely selfless sense of public duty.

Its a dirty and murky affair with a rumbling undercurrent of fascism pervading large aspects of the storyline. Bruce Wayne is an instrument of terror like the men he fights only he's on the side of "good" and they are not.

This is mirrored in the quick flash editing of the fight sequences, the differing definitions of right and wrong and above all in the fact that this is probably the first ever Batman movie to actually be about Batman.

The Burton and Schumacher affairs were studies of the villains and Batman was at times relegated to a peripheral figure, Nolan decided with BB to focus almost exclusively on the Bat leaving the villains like Ra's La Guel and the Scarecrow to be more crutches to rest certain aspects of Batman himself on and by and large its a massive success.

Bale is truly superb as the titular Bat (I'd be hard pressed to chose between him and Keaton, althou they played quite differing creatures in reality) juggling the wide array of faces batman uses with ease.

Elsewhere the support players (with the exception of Katie Holmes) all deliver top notch performances with Caine and Freeman deserving particular praise.

The balance between character build-up and action is pitched just right and I found it amazing how grounded in reality the whole assembly was, the riots in the center of the city were the most effective, all frantic, murky and filled with metaphor its probably my favourite sequence in the entire film.

This is a pretty dis-jointed review I might fix it later but suffice to say I loved this movie and after a few viewings and time to settle on it on balance it edges Batman 89 as the best.

A

You're off of my shit list Gulli...

Such a great movie. All future comic book directors should watch this film and take notes, many notes.

B+


A very solid, entertaining, and enjoyable film. Probably overrated slightly though. Not as good as Burton's Batman or Batman Returns, imo.

First 40 minutes or so are bland, but ultimately necessary to the plot. Can't really think of much they could've cut out. However, overall, this is SO MUCH better scripted than any of the recent super-hero flicks, and the story is excellent. Katie Holmes seemed miscast though, so glad to hear she's being replaced for the sequel. Nolan does a good job, Caine, Neeson and Freeman add a venerable credibility to the film. As for Bale...he plays Bruce very well, but I'm not so sure about Batman.
Overall, a B+
Best Superhero movie of the decade other than Spiderman 2.

I thought this was a very solid film with some excellent pieces, but one or two not-so-good bits. Overall, a huge step in the right direction for the Batman movie franchise, but not quite one to top Tim Burton's less virtuoso, but ultimately more balanced and better realised offering.

Plus points: great moments like the first shocking encounter with the Scarecrow's mask. The visuals and atmosphere. The fantastic hallucinogenic device. Michael Caine's touchingly heartfelt Alfred. Really good use of Bruce Wayne's billions to make the character borderline realistic (the memory fabric, the batmobile).

Bad points: pandering to trends such as martial arts and James Bond-style villains (Ra's al-Ghul - but then, at least that's in keeping with the spirit of the original comics).

Silly bits such as the whole "fear" idea. It was established quite quickly that fear, and weilding fear against the fearsome, was going to be a motif in Batman Begins. But when he finally put this into practice, it just amount to shouting very loudly in someone's face. Kind of a dadsy approach to fear.

Christian Bale: "Oh yes. I'll make them fear me."

[Cut to Batman jumping out from behind a pillar.]

Christian Bale: "OOGA BOOGA!"

Villain: "Eek!"

Nonetheless, I really enjoyed this. It's just I can't think of *anything* bad about the Tim Burton original. But I wonder if that's because I saw it before I'd developed a proper critical faculty? I think kids just *accept* films, without thinking, "Hmm. Somebody made this. Could they have made it better?" Guess that's why it's difficult for a young adult to compare the two Batmans...

Very few films ever reach what I consider to be the pinnacle of blockbuster moviemaking-you need the emotional depth, writing, and acting of a small, oscar-bait film but you need the action of a dumb popcorn film; you need the entertainment value to be at a level of a wom-blockbuster comedy, and you need all the little things- score, art direction, ect. to be flawless.

Gladiator, Titanic, Return of the King, and Casino Royale are the only films I have on this list aside from Batman Begins. As someone who followed the process fro m2002, I can to this day remember going to comingsoon.net and reading "chris nolan hired to revive Batman". I thought "who?". Needless to say I have extremely high expectations, and this film destroyed them.

I'll keep it short by saying each scene was just a build up for the next, each getting bigger and better as it went along; the film gradually becoming smarter and smarter...oh man, i dunno if its possible for TDK to top this...

A+ 2nd face film of all time

I went looking and could barely find my review from June 20th, 2005 buried in the middle of this epic thread, and have taken it upon myself to bump it up it in preparation for the sequel launch...

Wasn't a huge fan of this back when it came out, but now that my tastes have changed quite a bit, a recent viewing bumped it up to one of the three best superhero films ever made (alongside "Unbreakable" and "Spider-man 2"). Bale's performance is good (not great, as he didn't have much to do aside from being tough), but it's Nolan who is the true star here, giving Gotham City the style, characterization, action, and story that it deserves. A great ensemble performance helps out tremendously, but it's Nolan who makes the film a great one, and boy does he make it great. Although I'd rank it below those two aforementioned films (the first one is simply filmmaking brilliance, and the second has a heart on top of everything else, something this film sorta lacks), I'd rank above pretty much everything else, with "X2" and the original "Superman" being the only two that approach it in terms of quality.

A

Just re watched it for the first time, in about a year and bit..

B+.

I used to love this movie when I first watched it, but it did go down a bit. I have a lot of problems with it looking back. Katie Holmes is just, a mess. She looks cute, her acting isn't horrendous but she doesn't fit the role of Rachel, at all. She over acts, she trying to look brooding, just to much over acting for me. The action scenes are decent, again not shot well. The last half hour is the only "fun" thing of the movie, its pure entertainment, especially the ending. But even while it's fun it's still very dark, which is what I love about Nolan's Batman world, he brought the rawness out. I had to reassure for myself that there was still a bit of a comic book element and I realized that Batman himself is the sole comic book element. It's a man trying to be a bat, not a man who became a man with spider like powers, or wolf like powers, etc. It's ridiculous, but in Nolans world it works because the his surroundings are so based in reality; the crime in Gotham, etc. Batman himself is not about fun, so this is why this movie essentially as a whole is not. Batman steams from fear, a lot of fear, his parents death, his fear of life, of reality, the world outside of his fortune. Nolan was really able to make that aspect, the chaos in his life and Gotham come together.

The first half is the best part of the film for me. Bruce learning about himself, the training sequences are fantastic. It's a bit all over, but as a restart to the franchise it's very good, it just didn't hold up well for me as I noticed a lot more this time around. That said, I think from what I can connect in this film to the TDK trailer, things will connect a lot better and will be even better than this.

The second best comic book movie behind X2. Amazing character development and a great story are what carries the best Batman adaptation to date. The acting is great all-around and the movie also manages to be extremely enjoyable with a strong sense of humor and intense action. It trascends the simple blockbuster genre to become, IMHO, a masterpiece.

A+

I really loved this initially back in 2005. I rewatched it tonight in preparation of TDK, and it doesn't hold up quite as well (though it's still pretty damn good). Most people say that the second half is best, but I disagree. The first act until he leaves the League of Shadows is my favorite part. The middle act is pretty slow and uninteresting (mostly thanks to Katie Holmes). Once the action picks up with the car chase, it's great again until the end.

A-

Rewatched this tonight as well. I actually liked Holmes a lot more. Her problem was mainly her writing and the fact that she looked to innocent/hollywood for a role like this. Gyllenhaal is not as good looking and is a bit more "seasoned" and that might be why people think she'll work better. But Holmes was fine, anyway...

Still as good as I remember thinking it was in the theater. The films just endless build up to superb payoffs that get better n better as the film goes on.

Coming of age drama??!

The 1st hours are about Bruce Wayne being lost and trying to find himself and his way in the world.

And Scarecrow is actually written pretty shittily; Murphy is just fantastic as him.

It's not really "coming of age" though. He is his age, he acts his age.

No he doesn't. He's 19 and is a drifter. He grows up when he gets to the league

No, he doesn't