Movie Review: Batman Begins

First of all, no spoilers here. I can't make the same promise for the comments though.

First of all... Yay! I think this movie will reinvigorate the Batman franchise. I think this movie is at least as good as the original and probably better. But it's hard to compare as they are two different flavors of Batman. The original still had some camp, but it was Jack Nicholson playing the Joker and having so much fun doing it. There are no antics to Prince in Batman Begins, but unfortunately there is no Danny Elfman score (not that the score is bad in BB... but Elfman's was dead on for the original).

Bale makes a great Bruce/Batman and I hope they keep him on. The director I'm not sure on... he did a pretty good job here, but there are some plot holes and other issues that made the difference between a good job and a great job. Gotham, while feeling depressed and decaying, doesn't have the dark gothic tone that Burton employed and didn't seem to have a distinctive character. Oldman, Freeman and Caine were all also excellent in their roles. Katie Holmes was great... to look at, but only so-so in the acting department. Some of it may have been the dialogue she had to work with as I've liked her better in other movies.

Normally I'd give this movie 3 and a half flying monkeys, but I'm going to toss in the left-over half monkey for redeeming the franchise.