There are several important issues to be considered in the open forum of the internet. A quick glance at the CNN website reveals a human interest quagmire:

Hurricane Isabel, a storm the size of Texas, is about to hit the east coast. Expect to see Disneyworld merchandise raining over Chicago next week.

Ben and Jen have supposedly parted ways now after calling off their original wedding plan. Meanwhile the sun still rose on time this morning, baffling pundits who predicted the opposite.

Israel has publicly stated they are considering killing Arafat because of his ties to terrorism. Does the Jerusalem mass transit department get any say in this?

Weighty issues indeed. The internet, specifically the blogging portion of it, is the perfect place to ponder these issues and offer insights that the mainstream media would normally overlook. It's a wonderful social responsibility to be able to offer input on world events. But like Homer Simpson said to Steve Martin, "Can't someone else do it?"

Today I'd rather give my input on an issue that I've been closely following: the casting of Christian Bale in the next Batman movie. Among the choices offered by the current crop of 28-35 year old actors he seems to be the best suited to play the part. Now pray for him.

The character Batman has been very carefully and masterfully refined since the revival of the character in Frank Miller's Year One and Tim Burton's two films. Paul Dini and co. then took the character and made him noirish and dark again, but still fun with the animated series.

Fans of the character expect quite a bit from a Batman movie now. Warner Brothers would probably have a safer bet by casting Ashton Kutcher as Batman, merchandising the hell out of it on a scale that far surpasses the last two Batman movies, and selling the movie primarily to their favorite market of gullible teenagers. Only by consciously making every wrong choice possible could Warner Brothers secure any sort of certainty on this project. Despite this, somebody deep within the company believes that this can be a great movie. This confidence is probably bolstered by the success of their faithful adaptations of the Harry Potter books. The correct conclusion would be this: take the time and spend the money to make the movie right and you'll reap large rewards.

But what is the "right" way to do a Batman movie? The fan expectations for the character are unreal. Batman is expected to talk like Greg Rucka and Frank Miller, sound like Kevin Conroy, move with the smooth dynamic flair of a comic book page, and punch like the old style cinema detectives that Bob Kane based him on. The standard keeps on growing, too. Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee have created a masterful Batman tale in their ten issue run "Hush." Even Kevin Smith got to take a turn with the character during his run on Green Arrow, "Quiver." Smith states in the introduction that he wanted to write Batman in somehow and make him the badass that the fans expect.

If all of these factors are carefully considered and painstakingly implemented, this Batman movie will end up being the most disjointed, schizophrenic, and patronizing movie imaginable. It can't possibly be all things to all people.

The way to go with a modern Batman movie is to bear in mind that Batman is a Hemingway hero. It's not the cape and cowl that make the hero, but the mind underneath. The spoken dialogue in a Batman comic book always takes second place to the character's inner monologue. He's introverted almost to a fault, and the main driving force from page to page is contained in the narration boxes that accompany his actions. Translating this to film would be almost impossible for most directors, but not for Christopher Nolan.

I have full confidence in Christopher Nolan. If you've seen Memento, then you know how well he can do with a character driven detective story. It'll be a cool movie, and a welcome remedy for what is shaping up to be a questionable Punisher movie. But that's a post for another time.