Batman Begins (2005)

Batman Begins (5 out of 5).Batman Begins is an awesome masterpiece of a reboot to the superhero franchise. Director/Screenwriter Christopher Nolan did a fantastic job-recreating Batman. Not by telling the same story like the previous Batman movies were we see the caped crusader facing against a new villain. Nolan takes us to were it all began. It is an origin story. We see Bruce Wayne doing everything for the first time. From jumping on rooftops without his wings or grappling hook. The plot does not follow in a chronological order within the first hour of the movie. But it works great with Nolan's direction set up. It begins with a kid Bruce Wayne falling in an old water well and facing against Bats. Than it cuts to an older Bruce Wayne, imprisoned in a different country and comes across Henri (Liam Neeson) who is giving him a second chance at redemption. Bruce is left traveling through and coming across ninjas that are being trained for the league of Shadows. Then, it flashes towards a young adult Bruce who is visiting the trial for his parents murderer. And only to see Gotham city being corrupted. After Bruce training, he comes back to Gotham to be the caped crusader and to stop a bigger threat from the mob. And Dr. Jonathan Crane (Cillian Murphy) who is corrupted and plotting a threat to Gotham.The plot was well organized. The script was fantastic. The action sequences are awesome. You have an exciting Batmobile known as the tumbler being chased by the police. Batman facing against criminals. And a villain scarecrow, which uses a toxic gas to make people see their own fears. The concept and setting is dark for a superhero film. But Batman is supposed to be in that direction. Christian Bale was fantastic. Michael Caine, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy, and Liam Neeson were all great. Sure, there are some twists and surprises with the villains. And an exciting climatic battle with Batman fighting in a moving train. Overall, Batman Begins is an awesome film. Nolan did the character justice. The script gave the proper treatment to the development and plot. The direction was sharp, clever, and exciting for an origin story. Plus the cliffhanger ending that opens for a sequel and the direction on the villain is great.

This movie is a perfect origin story for a superhero film and a great start to a trilogy this handles the beginning of Batman's story in the best possible way making it dark and more realistic was a perfect way to take this character and was always my favourite way to see him the comics like in The Long Halloween and Dark Knight Returns the darker and more realistic Batman is the better he is in my opinion.The story is incredible and seeing Bruce Wayne go through everything and become a better character all to save his corrupt city is just genius. Seeing him fall so hard after the death of his parents and him seeing how much his city has fallen. Then we see him get trained by The League of Shadows lead by Ras al Ghul played by Liam Neeson who plays the character perfectly and makes for a twist in the story towards the final act and a brilliant villain to do in the origin story. We also see another villain in the Scarecrow played Gillian Murphy who has a great take on the character and the film makes him really creepy which just adds to dark tone the film was going for.There is great acting everywhere in this movie Michael Cane plays a great Alfred who his a great character through the entire franchise and has the most emotional scenes in the whole trilogy including this film. The only persons acting im not a fan off his Katie Holmes just dont think she plays the character all that well look back and i much prefer Maggie Gyllenhall in The Dark Knight playing Rachel maybe its because im not a massive fan of Katie Holmes.The Batsuit in this film is incredible and seeing him build each bit and seeing it all come together as he is becoming the Batman his awesome and also BatMobile is one of my personal favourites. Christian Bale is an amazing Batman and an Amazing Bruce Wayne however sometimes his voice as Batman does get a bit to much and sometimes you cant understand which is thing i dont like in this Trilogy.I love the ending to the film as it hints to future events to come seeing the Joker card was a great cliffhanger and makes any Batman fan want more also the last fight Ras Al Ghul was awesome love how Batman finds a loop hole in the whole killing rule that he has when i dont have to save you. This movie also has one of my favourite quotes " Its Who I Am Underneath Its What I Do Defines Me"Verdict 9/10 Great origin story and great tone to do the Batman. Not a massive fan of Batmans voice and Katie Holmes isnt has good playing the Rachel role looking back

Batman is back in black! Last seen about 8 years ago in the disastrous Batman & Robin, Christopher Nolan took it under his wing to reboot the franchise in a darker, fresher manner-- he showed the crew Blade Runner before shooting to give an idea of what he wanted to do. Now it's the norm for superhero movies to be darker and more realistic (and James Bond films for that matter), but Batman Begins is where it starts.It's not until after an hour into the film where we truly see Batman in all his glorious armor. What was going on beforehand? An amazingly told origin story in typical non-linear fashion from (my favorite director) Nolan. The film starts with hundreds of flashing bats, and from there we are transported into a world with a Gotham we haven't seen before. Wayne Towers is at the center of this crumbling city as the Waynes do their best to help however they can with such acts as building a cheap train that loops around the city. We also travel to the beautifully cold Tibet where Bruce Wayne trains in ninja-fashion to not just overcome his childhood fear of bats, but to embrace it under the guidance of the superb Liam Neeson, a mercenary following orders from Ken Watanabe's Ra's al Ghul.Christopher Nolan hails from Her Majesty's nation, and he brings plenty of actors with him. Christian Bale utilizes the new tone with a unique Batman voice that may put some fans at unease, but a voice that I believe perfectly captures the idea behind the franchise. And on that note of an idea, what marvels (sorry, wrong comics) me is how Batman is approached. He is so much more than a vigilante in a mask-- he is a symbol of hope for the citizens, and of fear for the criminals. This carries through the fear-driven film and throughout the trilogy to unseen levels of depth in a superhero story. But back to the characters, Michael Caine is the most charming Alfred imaginable (but I do look forward to Jeremy Irons), and Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman provide trustworthy allies in Lucius Fox and Jim Gordon, respectively, that drives the franchise past the shortcomings of even Tim Burton's Batman with his fat, pointless Gordon. I will admit, Rachel becomes much better after Katie Holmes departs after this film. And I must include mention of Cillian Murphy, playing as Jonathan Crane aka Scarecrow, who brings such energy and crazy charm with his hypnotizing blue eyes (seriously, Nolan made him take off his glasses whenever he could just to show off his eyes).The scenes are well-developed, especially Batman's drug bust and capture of Falcone. With the fight scenes, the super-fast editing shows the quickness and stealth and blink-and-you'll-miss-it aspect of Batman, but it also makes it quite difficult to understand what's going on. While I understand what you were going for, Mr. Nolan, I do appreciate that you dropped this technique for the sequels.Outside of the fight scenes, what you can depend on Nolan for the most is the excellent dialogue. I have complimented previous films for the subtlety and what is said without saying anything, but with Nolan helping out with the script as he normally does; we are treated to lines that are never wasted and complimented by awesome one-liners (utilized better in the sequels too).I think there has been some lost appreciation due to films later like Iron Man, and of course The Dark Knight. The failing, light-hearted, toy-heavy franchise truly came to life in this reboot. It is not the best from Nolan, Hans Zimmer, and regular actor Michael Caine, but it set the bar and the tone to scramble the gears of how these films were perceived; and thus setting up not only one of the best superhero movies, but one of the best ever in The Dark Knight. But do not overlook the clever first entry in The Dark Knight trilogy.

I love almost everything about this movie. It is dark, serious and intense. I also think it's an oscarworthy performance by Christian Bale who has to capture a lot of emotional nuances in this. What makes this movie miss the 10/10 mark for me is how Nolan chooses to add some cheesy stuff in the end to explain what's going on for the "assumed to be dumb" audience. By the way, the Batman suit were WAY more intimidating and cool in this movie than in the sequels. While The Dark Knight might be the better movie overall, Begins takes it as the greatest superhero movie ever made. TDK is more of a Thriller where Batman happens to pop up everynow and then (I'm overexaggerating obviously) while Batman Begins really is a movie about Batman/Bruce Wayne himself.