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An enjoyable film. I think it's a great restart to an excellent story that was sold a bit short with the last round. The thing that sold me the most was Gary Oldman and their choice of villains.
I love Gary Oldman. He made this movie worth watching for me. And you could tell he was having fun, too. Particularly when he got to use the Batmobile. And I love that they showed his family. Also, Ra's Al Ghul's part in the story was perfect. I had my doubts when I saw that the person playing him wasn't well-known, but trust me...he's PERFECT. Also, I loved that they used Crane/Scarecrow in this very first story. It ends up setting up everything to come.
Things that I particularly enjoyed: the training sequences, particularly the final training fight between Christian and Liam, which was excellently choreographed.
I also enjoyed how they played up the Wayne corporation in the movie. The idea that Wayne Enterprises was being run by a board worked well with the idea that his father was a doctor in canon, so it was a nice nod to why there was a corporation. And Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox. And he was excellent. And the fact that he knows about where all the bat-toys come from. "Mister Wayne...Don't think of me as an idiot."
The slow development of Bruce Wayne, depressed and guilty millionaire's son to Batman was just about perfect. The final scene with Gordon and Batman on the rooftop (another great line... "I couldn't find a mob boss"), and his clue for this Arkham criminal Batman's going to have to capture (no, I won't say which. It's obvious when you see the clue, but it's a biggie. ;D ) were excellent. Gives me hope for good movies in the future.
The not-so-great stuff: I felt rather beat over the head with the "Fear" mallet, specifically at the beginning. And they didn't follow through on it nearly enough. They were obviously having too much fun with the car-chases, blowing things up, and other action scenes. Also, I don't hate Katie Holmes, but does she have any other acting style? I swear she was just being Joey from Dawson's Creek. Not what I wanted to see. I would much have preferred to see Talia (Ra's daughter) as a love interest. Seeing as how she really didn't do much for the plot, and their "romance" was nonexistent. Michael Cane was nice, but felt mostly unused. I would have liked something more for him to do than snark sweetly at still-evolving Bruce.
Overall, I enjoyed the film, but there is definitely some growing room that they took great advantage of in the sequel. Definitely worth a watch.
7/10
