TheRetroCritic

   

Getting The Bat back on track was a long time coming but I guess it had to happen. Leaving a once thriving franchise in tatters, with millions of fans still shell-shocked and trembling at the very thought of an Arnold Schwarzenegger ice pun, would have been too cruel. So Christopher Nolan ( Memento , Insomnia ) stepped in, bringing with him a darker, grittier style usually suited to gloomy thrillers. Starting from the top, Nolan re-introduced the character completely from his origins all the way to him becoming Gotham City's saviour. This meant no Joker killing Bruce Wayne's parents (petty robber Joe Chill doing the deed instead) and a lot of time spent with Wayne being a ninja trained by Liam Neeson as part of the League Of Shadows, a vigilante group led by Ra's Al Ghul. The second half of the film would be pure entertainment. Batman in Gotham kicking ass, or at least trying to. The villains he faces include Falcone, a mob boss played by Tom Wilkinson, whose accent