Dammit, I really wanna see this movie now! The thing I always liked about the Batman comic was that it's about a regular guy w/ lots of issues and lots of money. Enough money that he can buy the stuff to turn himself into a superhero. No magic or super-powers, or any of that bullshit.
Batman happens when a rich guy learns kung-fu and decides to get vengence on those that wrong society.
Now, trying to come up w/ a rationalization for the bad-guys... well, that's a little harder, and why you end up w/ the retarded stuff like The Penguin. They at least made the Joker kinda cool in the 1st Batman.