Love him or hate him Batman has embedded himself in our cultural psyche.

From comic strip masked man through Saturday morning pictures urban cowboy, sixties camp, Dark Knight grit and 80s gloss - everyone knows the Bat-Signal.

So is this latest reworking any good?

Actually, no. It's brilliant...

Christopher Nolan's tight, stylish direction and David S Goyer's superb script collide on screen with a great cast led by Bale.

The Nolan/Goyer dynamic duo have tapped into a completely different vein from the previous outings - one that delighted this bat-fan and seemed to please newcomes to the legend.

Slick, witty and intelligent, this movie does more than give us a some high tech CGI thrills with a man in a suit.

While there's no gore there's plenty of action and the movie cracks along a breakneck speed.

You'll be familiar with most of the tale: As a boy, a young Bruce Wayne sees his millionaire parents slain in front of his eyes.

Goyer's gone back to the comics to fill in on Wayne's time wandering in the East where he meets Ninja cult leader Ra's Al-Ghul and begins turning anger and vengence into something far more powerful.

Returning to a Gotham City in the pocket of organised crime, his new identity finds a home under Wayne Manor and makes use of the technology invented by the company that made him a billionaire.

Liam Neeson, Cillian Murphy and Gary Oldman all play to their strengths - particularly Oldman as a not-yet-Commisisoner Jim Gordon.

Only Tom Wilkinson and Michael Caine let the side down slightly with slightly comic book performances - but these are minor niggles that barely register in a movie of this class.

Go see it and believe.

Mike Taylor