Plus it was cool to see Gary Oldman playing a good guy for once.

*cough* Sirius Black.

I went to see it 5 July. Afternoon matinee, had the theater to myself, it was GREAT. I’m not a huge Batman fan, but after seeing the cast list, I had to go. It was *excellent*. I think there are going to be at least two more...or, at any rate, that’s the plan.

Thank you for your support. 

May Batman Begins and the new Potter film do so well they earn us an extra day off!

Oh yes, forgot about Sirius. So twice then.

Yeah, it rocked my socks.

What impressed me was how they took a B villain like the Scarecrow and made him really creepy.

Poor Cillian Murphey: he’s now been typecast.

Who do you think they should get to play the Joker? I’m leaning towards Crispin Glover with voice work by Mark Hammil.

I like what they did with Ra’s, who happens to be one of my favourite Batman villains, and Batman has a lot of good ones. His Rogues Gallery has to be the most prolific out of all the other superheroes.

They may not have used his supernatural origin (and I can understand their reasoning for that), but they did give a few hints at his comicbook past, such as the mention of his murdered wife, and the whole “are his methods supernatural” bit. Still, it would have been nice to see Talia and hear Ra’s call Batman “Detective” at least once.

Also, this line from Batman: Year One would have been good..."Ladies. Gentlemen. You have eaten well. You have eaten Gotham’s wealth. Its spirit. Your feast is nearly over....From this moment on. None of you are safe.” Come on, it just doesn’t get much more “Batman-y” than that.

And, concerning The Joker, I would have gone with Willem Dafoe if he hadn’t already played Green Goblin in Spider-Man. He has a really creepy look and feel to him.

Who do you think they should get to play the Joker?

I think Christian Slater with his Jack-like voice would bring a nice symmetry to things. But if you want to stay closer to the source material, DaFoe would be a good choice, as would David Bowie, who certainly has the look.

Now I feel silly for complaining about another Batman movie. How was I to know they would get it so right this time?

Who do you think they should get to play the Joker? I’m leaning towards Crispin Glover with voice work by Mark Hammil.

Mr. OB is one of those kinda Batfans - he’s very opinionated about anything someone does with the character or the story.  He suffered a double-whammy with Batman & Robin being so god-awful… as a fan, he was disappointed; and as someone who worked on the film, he was pissed off that the finished product was an embarrassment.  He was thrilled that Batman Begins was so good, putting an end to his concern that Bats’ big-screen career would end on such a turd as B&R.

His pick to play the Joker is Bill Moseley, Otis from House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects.  Mr. OB even went so far as to suggest to Bill that he go after the part when he met him through a co-worker; who later told Mr. OB that Bill hadn’t even considered it, but it was a great idea.

I could see it… even though to me, Cesar Romero will always be the closest Joker to my heart

Actually, I heard that the card at the end was meant to be a “tip of the hat” to the original movie; it doesn’t mean that they’ll necsarrily use Joker in the sequel.
Personally, I’d like to see them use a villain that hasn’t been in a movie. Black Skull, the Ventriloquist, Hugo Strange and the Mad Hatter all come to mind.