I just realized I never posted my review on this movie (see Nathan’s and Dan’s for more info).
Short summary: by far the best Batman adaptation ever (TV or movie). The original Tim Burton one was OK, but it should have been called “the Joker” as that was really the main good thing about it.
The casting in this one was perfect. I don’t think there’s ever been a better Bruce Wayne or Batman characterization. The rest of the cast (Kane, Freeman, Liam Neeson, the Scarecrow guy, and even Katie Holmes) were excellent as well. This movie I think is on par with Spider-man in terms of great casting.
Technical details (such as costumes, sets, etc.) were all excellent, although it isn’t hard to improve over the bat-nipple costumes in the recent films. (Although this movie was not without nipples itself, but I digress). I did think they could have zoomed out a little bit on a lot of the fight scenes; I think they tried to give you the feeling of confusion with all the close-up fight coverage, but I’d rather just actually see what’s going on.
There were, of course, both logical flaws and minor inconsistencies from the original comic plots, but, as I’ve said before, I don’t mind those at all in a good movie. The only time the differences between the movie and the comic really bothered me in a comic movie was the first X-Men movie. Certainly nothing to prevent the movie from being enjoyed, however.
I will however, stop short of saying that it was the best comic adaptation movie that I have seen. Although it is certainly my favorite, I would have to say the best would still be Spider-man 1, in terms of general audience appeal. (Also, I’m not counting some like Sin City or Constantine, since I haven’t seen them, but I think my general audience point would still apply there).
Anyway, go see it, if only to get the memory of the other Bat-movies out of your head.