Batman Begins

BATMAN BEGINS
WB
RELEASED 16 June 2005
With Marvel Comics being solely responsible for the current boom in comic book movies (Spider-Man, X-Men, The Hulk), it was never going to be too long before DC Comics got their act together and revitalised their big two properties, Superman and Batman.
This is the fifth modern outing for Batman, with the series being knocked flat on it’s back by the neon-soaked pantomime that was 1997’s ‘Batman and Robin’. Apparently George Clooney watches the movie once a year to remind himself how bad he can be, and vows not to repeat the mistake! If I had my way, every single copy of the film in existance would be destroyed, it’s that bad.
Tim Burton’s first two movies (from 1989 and 1992) brilliantly created the gothic world of Batman but failed in their depiction of the hero, never getting underneath the skin of Bruce Wayne, focusing instead on the villians. ‘Batman Begins’ director Christopher Nolan (Memento, Insomnia) has gone right back to the beginning and created a complete backstory for Batman. You can almost forget the previous films, as this is now the definitive take on the dark knight.
For some of us it’s spiders, for others it’s snakes. A young Bruce Wayne discovers that flying rodents are his personal nightmare. After he is orphaned by a senseless act of murder, revenge fills his every fibre, and Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) cannot rest until his parent’s murderer pays for his crime – and Bruce won’t be happy for anything less than an eye for an eye. But Gotham is rotting from the centre, infected by crime boss Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson), and Bruce quickly finds out, regardless of how wealthy he is, that there is nothing honest money can do to change it. Leaving his whole world behind, Bruce Wayne flees to the Far East in search of something more that will give his life a meaning. High in the snowy mountains, the mysterious League of Shadows ninjas train him to become more than a man, to become something more like a monster in the dark. The cult leader Ra’s Al-Ghul (Ken Watanabe) and his right-hand man Ducard (Liam Neeson) make Wayne face his fears and conquer them.
When Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham City, the city has fallen further into the gutter. There is rampant crime on the streets and all avenues of the law are corrupt, with only a few such as Bruce’s childhood sweetheart and now assistant DA Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes), and police detective Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) prepared to stand up for justice. On top of it all, Wayne Industries is on the verge of being sold. Bruce enlists the aid of Wayne Industries’ Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), a man who has access to all of Wayne Industries unused military proposals, including some heavy-duty body armour and a rather interesting ‘car’. Now Bruce Wayne has the tools to help Gotham, but as a vigilante he needs a disguise. Something intimidating, black perhaps? Just in time to face the twisted Arkham Asylum doctor Jonathan ‘The Scarecrow’ Crane (Cillian Murphy) and his unseen employer.
Two things make ‘Batman Begins’ one of the best films of the year. The script and the acting. Christian Bale plays tortured son, millionaire playboy, and psycho vigilante without missing a beat. He seems to be in virtually every scene, and this movie is more about his inner struggle with guilt , regret, and anger than walking around in a bat suit. Michael Caine plays the butler Alfred as an ex-marine type, always loyal but able to take the initiative should a drama arise. Liam Neeson exudes confidence as the martial arts teacher Ducard, Gary Oldman is inscrutable and down-to-earth as the soon-to-be Commissioner Gordon, and Morgan Freeman is the weapons expert with an excitable twinkle in his eye. Special mention should go to Cillian Murphy for being scarier without his scarecrow mask on.
The movies’ story is told in two distinct parts. We get to know Bruce Wayne inside out, why he is so tortured, where he goes to become a brutal fighter, and how he uses that knowledge upon his return. This half of the movie plays at a relaxed pace, but is important to establish quite a few characters and their motives. When the action switches to Gotham, Batman becomes the focus of the film, as he seemingly takes on half of Gotham City. Some of the dialogue does tend to get a little convoluted, but overall it’s an intelligent and dramatic script with some genuinely funny lines delivered by Freeman, Caine and Oldman.
When Christopher Nolan gathered his cast and crew together for the first time, he made them watch ‘Blade Runner’ and, at the end, he said, ‘this is what our film is going to look like.’ Gotham City looks like the biggest, crowded, sprawling metropolis you’ve ever seen. Shot mostly at night or in the dark, ‘Batman Begins’ does have visual similarities to Ridley Scott’s ‘Blade Runner.’ Tim Burton’s gothic dream has been replaced by a world that is dark, dank, cold, to the touch, and realistic. In fact, Gotham is made up of location work from London, Chicago, and New York, with some effects work to expand and alter what was filmed. Added into this wonderful city is a monorail that hurtles around Gotham, tens of stories off the ground.
Batman’s gadgets haven’t been ignored, and of course the Batmobile is the big toy everyone looks forward to seeing. More tank than car, the thunderous growl as the engine revs up will be one of the year’s most memorable sound effects. And just wait until you see it move!
‘Batman Begins’ could be called the first ‘thinking mans comic-book movie’. It takes a emotionally fragile man as it’s centre and rebuilds him into ‘something else’ before our very eyes. Wonderful to watch and always engaging, this promises to be the first chapter in the new screen life of Batman.
FOUR OUT OF FIVE