Hello moviegoers, welcome back to the theater!
Now that I’m done looking at Spider- Man, we can move on to Batman. While many films have been made featuring the Dark Knight of course, I’m going to focus on simply the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy (‘Batman Begins,’ ‘The Dark Knight,’ and the almost- out ‘The Dark Knight Rises’). It all starts, of course, with ‘Batman Begins.’ Premiering in 2005, it was directed by Christopher Nolan, and stars Christian Bale, Katie Holmes, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Cillian Murphy, and Tom Wilkinson, among others.
As is expected, the first part of the movie is a flashback dealing with Bruce’s backstory. He came from an insanely wealthy family, his parents were well- loved in the town for their charitable work. All that came to an end when he was about 9 years old, though. His parents were murdered right in front of him in a botched mugging as they were leaving an opera. Young Bruce feels a lot of guilt over this due to the fact that he was the one who made them leave the theater early as what he saw on the stage frightened him.
14 years later, we then see him as a college student, resentful of his old home, and simply back in Gotham because he learns that Joe Chill, the mugger who killed his parents and was immediately caught is up for parole, and Bruce wants to attend the hearing because he secretly wanted to shoot the guy. He is beaten to it, though; After Chill is granted early parole in exchange for agreeing to testify against powerful mob boss Carmine Falcone (Wilkinson), he is shot dead by one of Falcone’s assassins. His childhood friend Rachel Dawes (Holmes) reminds him that there is a difference between vengeance and justice, and a confrontation between Bruce and Falcone ends badly as he is reminded of how untouchable Falcone is.
So, Bruce leaves home, travels the world a lot, and ends up in an Asian prison. There, he meets a man named Ducard (Neeson), who gets him out of prison and takes him to a temple in the mountains to study with the League of Shadows, a ninja society dedicated to stamping out crime and injustice, and led my the enigmatic Ra’s al Ghul (Ken Watanabe).
While there, Bruce undergoes rigorous training on swordplay, martial arts, stealth, and other skills (Not to mention facing his fears, through exposure to a special flower that causes him to hallucinate about his own fears). He also sees the need to fight against injustice, but eventually realizes that his ideas of justice greatly differ from the League’s idea, as Ra’s desires to have Bruce lead the League of Shadows in an invasion of Gotham City to destroy it (Ra’s feels that Gotham is too lawless and decadent to be saved). Bruce adamantly refuses, starts a fight that leaves Ra’s dead and their headquarters burning, and returns to Gotham, intent on fighting crime and saving Gotham from itself his own way, by becoming a strong symbol for justice.
When Bruce returns to Gotham along with his loyal family butler Alfred (Caine), he finds that much has changed. Crime, poverty, and corruption are all worse than ever, and an ambitious executive (Rutger Hauer) had Bruce declared dead while he was gone, and seized control of the Waynes’ company for himself now that it is about to go public.
Rachel, too, is having career problems in her work for the district attorney’s office. Every time one of Carmine Falcone’s hit men goes on trial, the corrupt psychologist/ asylum manager Dr. Jonathan Crane (Murphy) gets him off on a bogus insanity plea. Crane, in exchange, is using Falcone’s control over illicit shipping/ smuggling routes to smuggle in some questionable substances into Gotham for whoever Crane’s working for among Falcone’s usual drug shipments.
When Bruce discovers a massive labyrinth of caves and passages beneath his mansion’s grounds that is filled with bats, he is inspired on how to become a new symbol for justice. He builds up his Batsuit and weaponry using a combination of rejected military technology prototypes developed by the company and supplied to him by washed- up but brilliant former board member Lucius Fox (Freeman), and some specialized parts ordered from overseas companies. Fox also supplies Bruce with a massive armored vehicle officially called ‘The Tumbler,’ but it’s essentially this film series’ version of the Batmobile.
While all this is happening, honest cop Jim Gordon (Oldman) finds himself in the position of helping Batman, mainly in the form of information on how to nail Falcone. Bruce uses this, as part of his first official act of heroism as Batman, to beat up and capture Falcone and his gang bringing in their drug shipment (Ensuring that for once Falcone has been pinned with some charges he won’t be able to walk away from), though the special shipment Falcone brought in for Crane and his mysterious boss disappears.
He too gets off on an insanity plea, but this one’s for real, as Crane uses a combination of a hallucinogenic gas and a creepy burlap mask (In case anyone in the audience didn’t realize Crane was the supervillain Scarecrow) to drive Falcone out of his mind and have him shipped to the asylum.
In pursuit of the missing shipment, Batman has an encounter with Scarecrow and is nearly killed. He realizes that Scarecrow’s hallucinogenic gas is derived from the same substance as the flower he came across while training with the League of Shadows.
Using this knowledge, he saves Rachel from being driven mad by Crane, and gets her to safety in an awesome car chase.
It is revealed that Ra’s Al Ghul is in fact still alive (Albeit not in the way Bruce expected), and still has horrible plans for Gotham that he was using the other villains as pawns for. The climax has deranged rioters in the streets, Officer Gordon revealing how brave and devoted he truly is, and an amazing final showdown within a speeding train with the fate of Gotham City at stake, before an ending that paves the way for the next film in the series.
One of the only problems I have with ‘Batman Begins’ is that there was a possible plot point about Dr. Crane/ Scarecrow that was never really delved into. See, Falcone mentions that he knows that Crane’s been using the asylum’s patients as guinea pigs in various experiments he does, but nothing ever comes of that. Maybe in a later scene, when the cops eventually investigate the asylum, they could discover that, find out some of what Crane had been doing to his patients. Another is that more could have been done with Rutger Hauer’s character. These are just minor issues, though.
After 1997’s abysmal ‘Batman & Robin,’ the Batman film franchise was considered pretty much dead for several years. ‘Batman Begins,’ however, was just what the doctor ordered, as it truly redeemed the series, and brought a depth, seriousness, and realism to it that it had been lacking. The themes of fear, hope, and justice are all present in it, and they all are shown in good, interesting ways.
The fight scenes are a little too quick, but they have a good intensity to them. The action sequences are solid, especially when the Batmobile is being chased by the police (Time is shown to be of the essence both because the cops are on his tail, and because Batman has to get Rachel to the Batcave to cure her of Scarecrow’s fear toxin before her mind is completely destroyed by it), and the climactic scene involving the riots and the speeding train.
The set designs for Gotham City are an interesting mixture. On the one hand, there are areas that are shiny and pristine, such as the Wayne Enterprises office building, and a hotel where Bruce takes several of his friends for dinner. On the other hand, other parts of Gotham are run- down, desolate slums, and these look absolutely perfect. They practically reek of the despair and desolation felt by all who live there. The visual effects for when people are tripping out on the fear gas are great, too.
Now, for the performances. First and foremost, of course, is Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne and Batman. Bale does a very good job showing all the pain and vulnerability Bruce feels, especially in the beginning. He also does a good job of further establishing his double life by coming across as an arrogant, superficial playboy who throws money everywhere in his public antics. As Batman, his main goal is to inspire fear among pretty much everyone. His voice becomes a guttural snarl that some people dislike or make fun of, but I think it works. Again, he just uses it when he’s trying to scare a criminal; When he’s talking to a good guy (i.e. Officer Gordon), he still disguises his voice, but makes it easier to understand. Definitely a good Batman.
The supporting cast steps up nicely as well. Katie Holmes was pretty much universally hated for her performance as Rachel (So much so that the role was recast in ‘The Dark Knight), and while she is a little stiff, it’s nowhere near as bad as so many people seem to think. She acts as a good conscience for Bruce, reminding him of the importance of living a life that makes a positive impact in people’s lives. Michael Caine is absolutely fantastic as Alfred. He perfectly pulls off every part of the role: Loyal, funny, and fiercely loyal to Bruce, as well as to the Wayne family as a whole (Hence why he safeguarded Wayne Manor and the family fortune while Bruce was gone). This version of Alfred is also portrayed as being stronger than he’s usually portrayed as. He helps test out the strength of the Batsuit’s helmet by bashing it with a bat in one scene, and knocks out a bad guy in another scene. He’s always good to watch in this.
Liam Neeson as the mentor Ducard has a lot of great lines and the whole training sequence with him guiding Bruce is another highlight of the film. Neeson has always been one of my favorite actors, and his performance here helps show why. Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox is a lot like most of his other roles in recent years: Brainy and witty, but always willing to help those in need, then have a funny line afterwards. Gary Oldman is great as usual playing Officer (Not quite Commissioner yet, wait until the next film) Gordon. He shows how hard it can be to be pretty much the only honest cop on the force, especially considering how completely crooked his repulsive partner officer is. He’s stressed out, but doesn’t know what to do about it. Then, Batman comes along, and gives Gordon hope that things can change for the better. Honest, strong, committed, and even funny in a couple scenes. All these perfectly describe Oldman’s performance in this.
Now, for the villain rundown, in order of appearance. Tom Wilkinson portrays Carmine Falcone as a man who knows he is basically a god in Gotham. He is well aware that pretty much every prominent person in the city is under his control through either bribery or fear, and that nobody can do anything about any of his countless illegal businesses as a result. He’s cruel, arrogant, and blunt with everything he does. All this, in turn, makes it all the more satisfying to watch when the rug is truly pulled out from under his feet, first by Batman catching him in the act so for once there are solid charges against him, then by Crane driving him mad with the fear gas. Speaking of whom, Cillian Murphy does a great job as Dr. Crane/ the Scarecrow. Throughout most of the film, he is shown to be suave, charming even, but with a subtle menace to everything he does (For that reason, it’s unsurprising that Murphy then got a role playing a villain with somewhat similar qualities in the film ‘Red Eye’). Then, when he puts the mask on, he becomes much more vicious.
Although Dr. Crane is only Scarecrow for a few scenes, the ones they use work well, making him a creepy, rather surreal villain, a great way of using one of my all- time favorite supervillains. As for the end revelation about who is the real puppet master behind the whole thing, nto gve anything away, that actor does an extremely good job of fully revealing the master plan, and showing how dangerous it truly is, making for a good final showdown.
And so, that’s ‘Batman Begins.’ A much- needed revival for the series, that did its job extremely well. Come back tomorrow when I look at ‘The Dark Knight’!
