It's going to be all right, son

I love Christopher Nolan's Memento and The Prestige was interesting but felt like two films stuck together. It took me two viewings to appreciate Batman Begins – the first time I fell asleep - but second time I thought it was pretty good - certainly better than any of the Batman films of the late 80s/early 90s. I was quite looking forward to seeing The Dark Knight and here are some things I don't mind about the film:

• I don't mind Batman's stupidly deep voice.
• I don't mind the detour to Hong Kong.
• I don't mind the contrived and idiotic scenes on the ferries.
• I don't mind people criticising Katie Holmes' performance in Batman Begins as if it is bad.
• I don't mind people pretending Maggie Gyllenhaal's performance is any better just because she isn't married to a Scientologist (because that is what it's about, isn't it?).
• I don't mind that Rachel Dawes isn't as interesting in this because we have Harvey Dent instead as our person/man/knight on the side of good.
• I don't mind that there is a variation of the "Mind if I borrow your girlfriend?" line used in this film ("Mind if I borrow Rachel?" says Dent to Wayne).
• I don't mind that Rachel is refrigerated. It's boring and predictable for a woman to be killed (sometimes a child) in order to motivate heroes and villains but it's been happening for a long time and we don't need anything fresh.
• I don't mind that women are almost completely unimportant in this Gotham. There may have been one with dialogue on one of the ferries. And, of course, we do have Rachel and Detective Ramirez.

Actually, I have just got to the point of this post, women are so completely irrelevant in this film that James Gordon Jr is the focus of the scene between Two-Face and Jim Gordon at the end. However, if you ask anybody who knows the tiniest thing about Batman to name Commissioner Gordon's children, they will say he has a daughter (maybe a niece) called Barbara Gordon and I bet most of them have no idea there was a son called James Jr.

So, when I say I don't mind, I mean I do but not as much as I mind that during the climax (okay, one of the climaxes) the daughter of Jim Gordon (who is likely to be the future Batgirl) is barely considered as one of Gordon's choices (in fact, her face is hardly even seen). Sorry dear but Jr is so much more important.

[Heath Ledger is good though.]