Starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson, Ken Watanabe

(8-Exceptional Film)

Fresh. Compelling. Masterful.

It’s hard to look back and remember what it was like to be surprised by this film, a comic book film with serious ideas. It kicks off Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy that many feel set the bar for superhero films. In Nolan’s world, a brooding Bruce Wayne (Bale) trains as a ninja assassin, then returns to the state of nature that Gotham’s become to clean up the mess. The ensemble performances are uniformly excellent, and Bruce Wayne’s evolution from vigilante to author of justice is compelling, though we know the best is to come later in the series.

-Walter Tyrone Howard-

(588)