I recommend this movie to be watched on Sunday nights.
I like this movie, with mixed feelings...... just like some girls I know.
I like Christian Bale, with the mask on. How did they find a person who looks so much like Michael Keaton with a Batman mask on? I am sure that is one of the main criteria when they were casting for actors. But without a mask, he is just plain annonying. My impression with him remains in the movie Psycho, as if he was going to start hacking someone with an axe or chainsaw...... which incidentally is what Batman was. A psycho.
Anyhow. I like the story and setting for most parts. But not the ninja training! What the hell was that? And it does not stop there!! SWAT team, kevlar vest, all terrain vehicle, Microwave weapon, made in china boxes, subways, LCD monitors, cellphones......
The original Batman and Batman Returns were set in Gotham City, which is in a parallel universe
The bad guys. A mixed bag really. The gang boss and the slum is real great. Feels like classic batman. The shrink is pretty cool, except when they try to over-explain panic inducing toxins........ The righteous ninja using a microwave to evaporate water, therefore inducing toxins. And therefore the microwave and neurotoxins are his sword of justice?? What a handful..... Cant it be just simpler??? Maybe in his previous life, he was a Jedi master.....
All in all, I have done nothing but bashed this movie. But I still think this is better than all the Batman movies, after the first two, added together. And the main reason that it wasnt better or instant Batman classic, is the confusion with the setting of the movie. Especially when this is supposed to happen before the first Batman movie. In a 1920s settings, without cellphones, microwaves and SWAT!
