As most people are well aware, the first two Batman movies starring Michael Keaton and directed by Tim Burton were pretty freakin cool. Then Joel Schumacher was tapped for directing and the franchise went down the tubes. The third one with Val Kilmer was pretty bad, and the fourth one with George Clooney was a joke. Ahhnuld as Mr. Freeze was pretty hilarious in his shittyness though.

So...even though the franchise has been totally killed by horrible direction, worthless plots, way too much cheezyness, and one big name actor after another getting the obligatory villain roles, they're making a fifth one. When I first heard about it I thought it would be crap but after reading a blurb about it I think it has the potential to be good.

A new restart of the "Batman" franchise under the helm of "Memento" Director Chris Nolan and more in tone with the early "Batman: Year One" style comics. As a boy a young Bruce Wayne watched in horror as his millionaire parents were slain in front of his eyes, a trauma which led him to become obsessed with revenge but his chance is cruelly taken away from him by fate. After disappearing to the East where he seeks counsel with the dangerous but honorable ninja cult leader known as Ra's Al-Ghul, he returns to his now decaying Gotham City overrun by organised crime and dangerous individuals manipulating the system whilst the company he inherited is slowly being pulled out from under him. The discovery of a cave under his mansion, and a prototype armoured suit leads him to take on a new persona, one which will strike fear into the hearts of men who do wrong - he becomes, Batman. In the new guise, and with the help of rising cop Jim Gordon, Batman sets out to take down the various nefarious schemes in motion by individuals such as mafia don Falcone, the twisted doctor/drug dealer Jonathan 'The Scarecrow' Crane, and a mysterious third party that is quite familiar with Wayne and waiting to strike when the time is right.

I'm not really a huge comic book follower so I did a little looking into what this Batman: Year One thing was and it's a prequel series of sorts that was done in 1986. A blurb about the comic series:

Year One is the story of how wealthy Bruce Wayne becomes the superhero Batman, starting out as a mistake-prone bumbler before becoming the finessed Batman we all know and love. Along the way, we meet Lieutenant James Gordon, who thinks Batman is operating on the opposite side of the law, and the seductive Selina Kyle, who becomes Catwoman.

Christian Bale is playing Batman. If you've seen American Psycho, he played Patrick Bateman. He was also the bad guy in the new(er) Shaft movie with Samuel L. Jackson. Michael Caine is playing Alfred the butler. Liam Neeson and some guy named Cilian Murphy who was in '28 Days Later' have the roles of Scarecrow and Ra's. Katie Holmes is playing Selina. It's being directed by Chris Nolan, who is best known for Memento.

So all in all, I'd say it has the potential to end up pretty cool.