Batman Begins   
 

Bruce Wayne/Batman: Christian Bale

Alfred: Michael Caine

Ducard: Liam Neeson

Rachel Dawes: Katie Holmes

Jim Gordon: Gary Oldman

Dr. Jonathan Crane: Cillian Murphy

Carmine Falcone: Tom Sizemore

Lucius Fox: Morgan Freeman

 

Directed by Christopher Nolan

 

Screenplay by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer

 

Based on characters by Bob Kane

 

Last year, I proclaimed Spider-Man 2 as the best superhero movie I have ever seen.  It didn’t take long for that title to be passed to a new movie.  Batman Begins does everything right – an interesting story, detailed characters, and pulse-pounding action and suspense.  

The creation of Batman takes center stage in Batman Begins and we are soon able to forget the cartoonish sequels of Joel Schumacher and the odd opulence of Tim Burton’s original, but flawed, vision.  This movie is dark, frightening, and fantastic.  

The film starts with Bruce Wayne in a Chinese prison, the result of him trying to escape the legacy he was born into.  He soon encounters Ducard (Liam Neeson), who brings Wayne to the mysterious League of Shadows where he is trained in numerous martial arts, taught to overcome his fears, and encouraged to implement his own form of vigilante justice. 

During his training time, we are presented with multiple back-stories involving his childhood fear of bats, the death of his parents, and the parole hearing of the man responsible for their death.  Here we get a true glimpse of the inner demons that torture Bruce Wayne and the guilt and anger he constantly finds himself struggling with.  Bruce is then reunited with Alfred as he sets out to save Gotham and transform himself into Batman. 

The story in Batman Begins is wonderfully intricate, as it weaves together Bruce Wayne’s story with the inner politics of his dad’s business, Gotham crime boss Carmine Falcone (Tom Sizemore) and the corruption of Gotham, and the work of Scarecrow and the more sinister power behind him.  The fact that director Christopher Nolan is able to so deftly keep this many balls in the air at once is miraculous enough, but he also manages to get incredible performances across the board from his cast. 

Sizemore playing evil is a joy to watch and Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy, and Neeson all bring a nice subtlety to their roles.  But the real standout is Christian Bale, who easily makes his mark as the best Bruce Wayne we have seen.  None of the previous three actors were able to convey the dark, tortured soul that inhabits the Dark Knight the way that Bale does.  It’s a great performance. 

Nolan creates a dismal portrait of Gotham.  A city that used to have a singular vision of a great man that has fallen on hard times in the wrong hands.  Furthermore, the morality of the characters in the film is equally bleak.  No other superhero film has so effectively blurred the lines between good and evil, heroes and villains, and right and wrong.  He is able to capture what Batman has always been about, and it’s nice to see the franchise finally rescued and placed on the right track.