In Christopher Nolan's darker reboot of the Batman franchise, Christian Bale plays the masked hero. Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Caine join the cast as regulars, with guest stars in each installment as villains or temporary females. I watched the previews for these films and never had any desire to watch them. To me, Michael Keaton is Batman, and no remake can ever compare. My brother practically forced me to watch The Dark Knight, after Heath Ledger won his posthumous Oscar, and even though he raved and raved, I remained unimpressed. To me, the Batman films aren't supposed to be that dark and disturbing. Batman originated in a comic book, and should therefore be accessible to children. Nolan's imagination of Gotham City does not keep in view of the original comic or previous adaptations. It has the same feel of the types of films that specialize in serial killers.

My brother raved about Christian Bale's American accent. I'd heard him show his talent at accents in other films, so this gravelly-voiced performance didn't terribly impress me. The villains—Aaron Eckhart as Two-Face, Heath Ledger as The Joker, and Cillian Murphy as The Scarecrow—were needlessly frightening and relied on gimmicks rather than acting. Heath Ledger's untimely death was extremely tragic, but his performance in this film didn't warrant a nomination, let alone an Oscar win. He had a lot of makeup on, spoke in a different accent, and flicked his tongue in and out so audiences would think he's insane. The tongue flick is as old a trick in the book as it is to chew gum when playing a bimbo.

There are extended action sequences that showcase vast special effects, so if you only watch movies based on how impressive the special effects are, you will probably want to rent this one. And, to be honest, younger audiences will probably really enjoy the reboot of the series. They didn't grow up watching it as originally intended, and today's audiences have short attention spans that need to be sensationalized every few minutes. Older folks who liked the Michael Keaton movies should stay far away from these.

Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to scary and upsetting images, I wouldn't let my kids watch it.