This retelling of the Batman tale isn’t quite as cool as the 1989 version with Jack Nicholson and his “Did you ever dance with the devil in the pale moon light”, but let’s be honest – if you don’t have Jack, how can it be? So keeping that in mind, it’s not bad.

Borrowing a page from the George Lucas playbook with the inclusion of Liam Neeson as a philosophical mentor to a younger hero works here, as Bruce Wayne rises from a Chinese prison to assume a role within Wayne Enterprises, the titanic corporation his father created years before.

This mentoring allows him to assume a role not at the top, but in an obscure arm of the beast, where he meets the always entertaining Morgan Freeman, and another turn similar to that of one from another popular storyline, this time that of Q from the James Bond films, a role brought to life for many years by Desmond Llewelyn before his death in 1999. The role fits Freeman well.

Michael Caine turns in a fine role as Alfred the butler while Gary Oldman has some of the best lines of the movie as Jim Gordon, a young policeman on his rise to become commissioner of Gotham.

While the overall movie isn’t quite as dark as Tim Burton’s 1989 version, the Bruce Wayne character itself is played in such a way that it certainly seems to harbor some deep secrets and Christian Bale’s voice seems like it would fit right into a Burton film. The primary villain, Scarecrow, would be a marvelous addition as well.

Rated PG-13 for intense action violence, disturbing images and some thematic elements. Most of this is fairly standard fare, but some of the images may be disturbing to younger viewers. The mind-control mist used by the Scarecrow conjures up your worst fears, and these are invariably those of the creepy-crawly variety, and that doesn’t just mean bugs, but distorted and disturbing visions, so be careful with younger kids who might like superheroes. While blood is actually at a minimum, there’s lot of carnage and destruction, but that’s not the worst part of it.

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