Knight Without Painted Target Ward = Good
Eggs Mayonnaise said:
But they should bring Ra's Al Ghul back if only to do a movie version of the mid-70's "Bat-Murderer" arc from the comics, involving Ra's and his daughter Talia. That was a great story...
I found it funny that they would even consider including in the film that temporary 1970s R.A.G. rabbit trail. It was truly a lame abberation of the disco age, 40 years after the Batman we all knew and loved had started.
Most positive-sounding viewers have told me they liked the movie because it was a good introduction to the whole Batman thing, which they hadn't paid much attention to before. As to the '60s series, it became little more than a superhero parody, which means they could have used an unknown superhero, instead of dragging Batman down to roll in the crud of camp. (The Tick succeeded greatly with it's own in-house superhero satire.)
Probably the best thing about Batman Begins, though, is that Robin was nowhere to be seen. His character was a forced one anyway, appearing a year after the Batman comic had started, in order to "kiddie up" the book and increase sales to children. (Much like George Lucas did when he ruined Star Wars I with that stupid Jar-Jar Binks garbage.)
Batman could have easily been portrayed as a lone, take no prisoners vigilante in the early '60s by Clint Eastwood - if Hollywood had ever wanted to actually get at the heart of the matter, that is. Remember that the original Batman killed his enemies for real, including using a gun. But so far Hollywood hasn't dared to get THAT close to the real Batman, though.
So we'll just have to wait until someone does. Tarantino, are you listening?