The National Catholic Register offers a different perspective on the new Batman movie.[1] Content wise there is nothing new here. They hit the nail on the head rather well, pointing out what fails about the previous Batman movies (dominated by the villain, or the side kick, not by Batman), as well as what does not fail in this one. Their explanation explains why Vincas couldn't stand Robin's portrayal in the second to last Batman, and why it more or less stopped after fighting the Iceman in the last one. Batman, as the older movies portray him, is too inconsistent, and gets lost in a mix of images.
Which makes this article's take on the new movie even more significant. I had thought of it as a prequel, introducing some of the missing back story to the Batman of the previous movies. As such, the inconsistencies of two starting movies (for example, Batman the movie introduces the bat light that this new one does as well, and how can batman be unknown in the next if he appears in this?) somewhat concerned me. So much so that I rated an otherwise excellent movie as being hard to classify. Mr. Steven Greydanus says, however, that this is not a prequel. He says that it is rather starting from scratch (is that possible only 25 years since Batman the movie and only like 10 since the last?), an intriguing and exciting possibility, as I was already sure that had they started with this one, the latter movies would have been better.
I like the superhero movies, and I, unlike my mom, have enjoyed Batman. I hope that he is right, that this is just the first of a new series.
[1] http://www.ncregister.com/current/0619lead2.htm