Batman Begins (2005)

Director: Christopher Nolan
Story: Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer
Cast: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy 
Music: Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard
Time: 140 minutes
Bottom-line: The beginning of a new class of superhero films; terrific entertainment


 As December begins, I post the review for Batman Begins: the film that set the foundation one of the greatest trilogies made so far. This is the film that revived one of the world’s greatest superheroes, Batman. What starts in this 2005 was continued three years later (2008) in The Dark Knight, and was successfully concluded in 2012, in The Dark Knight Rises. In Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan uses his trademark narrative structure and direction to give the viewers exactly what they expect.

Bale as Bruce Wayne

  Bruce Wayne (Bale), as a child, falls into a well, and is attacked by bats. This creates a fear of bats in him. Another tragic incident of his childhood is the murder of both his parents, by mugger Joe Chill. Bruce is raised by the family butler, Alfred Pennyworth (Caine). Bruce inherits the family fortune and runs Wayne Enterprises,   and Bruce’s childhood friend, Rachel Dawes (Holmes) becomes a Gotham City district attorney. Bruce decides to gain knowledge of the underworld, and travels to a Bhutanese prison, where Henri Ducard (Neeson) gives him training in stealth and fear as a member of the League of Shadows. Later, Bruce returns to Gotham, and uses the equipment created by Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) to fight the criminals of Gotham, by taking on the identity of ‘The Batman’. The rest of the film is whether or not Bruce Wayne, as Batman, is able to save Gotham from the claws of villains like Scarecrow and others.

Neeson as Ducard

Holmes as Rachel Dawes

From 2000,  several comic book-based superhero films were made: X-Men series, Spiderman series, Batman series, the Marvel series and so on… Among these, the Batman films have been coming for a long time. The best known one was perhaps the 1989 film starring Jack Nicholson. After that, all the other Batman films were unsuccessful, until Christopher Nolan revived the superhero with Batman Begins. The main thing I like about this film is that the superhero does not have any supernatural power: he cannot fly, he does not have a shield made of some out-of-the-world element… the hero is someone who has ordinary human powers, but can do extraordinary things using science. This is why I said ‘new class of superhero films’ as the bottom-line; this is why Batman films are better than the other similar films. With this film, several successful collaborations took place: the Nolan-Bale Nolan-Caine, Nolan-Zimmer collaborations all started in this film, and then continued in the next four films of Nolan.

Oldman as James Gordon

The story is simple, but more realistic than what you would normally expect in a superhero film. Nolan decided to show the darker side of Batman as well in the film. He also shows other important incidents of Bruce’s childhood: the murder of his parents, the fear of bats etc. Instead of just showing Batman beat up all the bad guys, the film shows Batman in a more human film, which is also what makes this film better than many other films of the same genre. As I said before, the hero himself is human, like you and me. The only fictional thing about the film is the city of Gotham. The story is told in the typical non-linear narrative structure, with several brief flashes of Bruce’s childhood here and there. However, few negative aspects of the story are the fact it is more violent than the next two Batman films, and also contains more gore than those films.

The action sequences are good, and the ones that take place in the Bhutanese prison are excellent. The scene where Bruce is asked to find Ducard among a group of similar ninjas, and the fight between Bruce and Ducard in the snow are terrific to watch. The acting is also superb. In the next two Batman films, Bruce is already a hero, so Nolan focuses more on crime-fighting in those films. Here, Batman is still human for the first hour of the film. Bale has acted very well, and is well supported by Michael Caine and Katie Holmes.

Caine as Alfred Pennyworth

The score is brilliant; Zimmer and Howard have composed a score that goes high and low, fast and slow, just like Batman. The Batman theme that featured in this film was continued in The Dark Knight and in The Dark Knight Rises. Along with the score, the photography is also excellent. The locations are well-chosen, especially the scenes that take place in Bhutan. The action sequences are well-filmed, and the visual effects, especially the ones used to show Scarecrow, are also good.

Cillian Murphy as Dr. Jonathan Crane

With Nolan’s debut film, Following, people realized that he has a talent for directing, but needed a good producer. With Memento, people found that Nolan was a guy who was sure to influence Hollywood. Insomnia was a comparatively minor film, but it showed that Nolan can choose good locations and can direct psychological thrillers as well. With Batman Begins, people knew that he was a master. The next four films only made his fame and class greater and greater. To conclude, Batman Begins may not be as good as The Dark Knight, but definitely a great superhero film. The simple proof? If this film was bad, why did Nolan direct the remaining two Batman films?

My Rating: 4/5
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 85%