Jasonic's Favorites: Batman Begins
Hello, and good evening, Internet!
The long awaited, often imitated Dark Knight Trilogy is the reason I ended up liking Batman in the first place and I'm happy to finally get to it as of this review!
Released in 2005, Batman Begins was the first theatrical Batman movie in eight years following the disaster many claim that Batman & Robin was despite its present cult following. Directed by the renowned Christopher Nolan, starring Christian Bale, and composed by Hans Zimmer, this movie took the Dark Knight back to his dark roots by grounding it in heavy realism and indeliberately revolutionized the superhero genre as a result. This film and its sequels -- mainly The Dark Knight -- have been praised to death for following such masterful filmmaking rules, writing such beloved characters and story arcs, and creating undeniable meme material from the memorable lines and performances such as Christian Bale's iconic "bat voice". At the time of release, people lauded this movie and its subsequent trilogy for making Batman properly dark and believed that this approach suited the character best after his last iteration. The darker reboot phenomenon was certainly felt mainly in superhero reboots the following decade with The Amazing Spider-Man films as well as the failed Fant4stic from 2015, critics often saying that those films are Dark Knight "ripoffs" due to their darker tones and levels of realism that some said was "laughable" in the context of their characters. In the context of Batman, however, most all said it was necessary after the live action cartoons of Batman Forever and Batman & Robin -- Batman and Batman Returns still having some cartoonish elements even with their debatably darker tones -- and it even resonated with modern audiences so much that people were taking Batman seriously again. I was one of many who was formally introduced to Batman through this movie having only seen snippets of the cartoons and games in years prior because I was genuinely curious what the buzz was all about and why many quoted Heath Ledger's Joker's iconic lines from the following movie. My suspicions were answered when I saw what all this film did to recap the origin of Batman after most other movies -- apart from the animated Mask of the Phantasm -- barely touched on it and Batman became my second favorite superhero after Spider-Man. With every area this movie succeeded and continues to do so to this day, that begs the question: does it hold up and deserve any criticsms? To find out, let's fall into the Batcave, conquer our fear of bats, and suit up to tackle the masterpiece that is Batman Begins!
*SPOILERS* (though it's been 20 years and many either have seen this movie or remember it well)
The movie, as I mentioned, reboots Batman into a new continuity back to his origin story; in it, we follow present day Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) as he travels the world training in combat and taking on the criminal underworld in hopes to find a means to counter injustice. After ending up in a Bhutan prison, he is approached by fellow cellmate, Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson), who recruits him into the League of Shadows led by Ra's al Ghul (Ken Watanabe) where Bruce undergoes rigorous training to learn how to blend into the shadows like a ninja and conquer his fear of bats. As he's being recruited and trained, we are shown flashbacks of how Bruce came to fear bats as a child as well as how seeing them played by actors at an opera inadvertently led his parents, Thomas (Linus Roache) and Martha (Sara Stewart), into the alleyway where they were murdered by Joe Chill (Richard Brake). After it was revealed that Bruce attempted to murder Chill at his trial where the latter testifies against Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson) only to be robbed of that chance by one of Falcone's assassins, Bruce refuses to kill one of the League's prisoners, believing he will not be an executioner, and instead burns down their temple, seemingly killing Ra's while saving Ducard and leaving him behind to be healed. When Bruce travels back to Gotham City, he obtains the help of his butler, Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine) as well as his company archivist, Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), to buy and build equipment for a new persona he's developing to fight crime in Gotham. As he adjusts to his newfound persona, he enlists the help of GPD officer, Sergeant James Gordan (Gary Oldman), to assist him as he figures out that Falcone was using stuffed animals to smuggle unknown drugs into Gotham. When his childhood friend now Gotham Assistant District Attorney, Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes), becomes a target for rattling Falcone's cage, Bruce's newfound persona, "Batman", provides evidence for her against Falcone, eventually apprehending the crime boss and giving him to the police with all the evidence. The whole city of Gotham is stunned at this revelation as well as the shadowy figure of Batman, his presence instilling fear into the criminals of Gotham as Ducard told him to conquer and become. Soon, Falcone is visited in prison by psychologist, Dr. Jonathan Crane (Cillian Murphy) and driven insane by a fear-inducing hallucinogenic drug that causes people to falsely see their worst fears, which is eerily similar to the drugs the League of Shadows used to test Bruce and his instincts with his fears. With all the commotion and mystery surrounding the lives of Bruce and the citizens of Gotham, the city will never be the same.
With all the depth and complexities going on in this movie, it's clear that this is both different and more mature than a lot of the older Batman films -- a trademark I appreciate of a lot of Nolan's films. While I was much too young to understand it, but still interested enough to enjoy the movie when I first watched this as a teenager, a lot of video essays have allowed me to pick up on the fact that this is a prime example of a movie with a 4-act structure as opposed to the traditional 3-act structures that make up most stories. The first 25-30 minutes focus on Bruce's traveling and training as well as throwing in flashbacks as to why he decided to undertake such a world quest in the first place; where most films would have rushed the second act to get to a third act climax, this story actually takes its time by having Batman establish his setup and himself as a presence in Gotham while taking down Falcone. Most films around this time and even after (Spider-Man 1 and Captain America: The First Avenger, for example) would have opted for a montage showcasing how the hero established his ground while moving along other plotpoints so I applaud this movie for legitimately taking its time by showing the ins and outs of how Batman establishes his trademarks -- i.e.: when he escapes the GPD precinct and tumbles away, leading to the establishment of his gliding cape. Once Batman is fully revealed, cape, cowl, and all and takes down Falcone, the third act focuses on him dealing with the movie's red-herring villain of Scarecrow. Batman fans know that he is responsible for fear gas so anyone who saw the League of Shadows use something similar on Bruce during his training would have seen the twist that Scarecrow is in the movie coming from a mile away; I was a new Batman fan when I first saw this movie so I had no idea who Scarecrow was before this movie, yet the idea of him using fear gas to spread panic and even turn people against each other was intriguing. I am unsure how many saw the twist with Liam Neeson being the real Ra's al Ghul coming while Ken Watanabe played a decoy, but I sure didn't expect it and the reveal was a great setup for the fourth act where the big climax takes place. As someone who's learned to appreciate unconventional means of storytelling such as twists and the 4-act structure, I still find this approach to be masterful as it allowed the origin of someone like Batman to play out in an organic fashion. I've since heard people reassess this approach particularly in this film as if they tried too hard to create a big climax and have even compared the size of it to the Schumacher movies, but because this was my first Batman film, it never bothered me personally and I even found the movie to be epic in a grounded fashion regardless. As well-regarded as The Dark Knight is as a movie, I honestly might give Batman Begins more props for having the better story as far as progression and structure, but I love each movie of the trilogy for different reasons no matter if I like one better than the other.
As with the few other Nolan projects I'm familiar with (mainly Inception and Oppenheimer), Nolan certainly knows how to pick actors and this movie has some of the best acting in a Batman movie to date. Christian Bale is many people's favorite Bruce Wayne and I feel like I might agree because of how well he conveys the brooding, anti-socialite side of Bruce as well as the figurative mask he puts on as Bruce in public. Most people either imitate or mock his iconic bat voice, believing it has no subtlety compared to most other iterations of Batman; me, personally, I don't mind it because in this movie, it's nowhere near as exaggerated as the later movies and even sounds like a proper Batman comparable to someone like the late Kevin Conroy. If there was any reason for Hollywood to give Christian Bale more leading man roles, it was this movie and his acting may not be my personal pick for Batman as a whole, but I do believe he's a great Bruce Wayne. Michael Caine, one of Nolan's many staple actors, plays one of my favorite takes on Alfred Pennyworth; no matter the version of Alfred, he always has a reason to show caring, even heartfelt concern to Bruce and Michael Caine's acting proves it. He's the one to remind Bruce's arc words ("Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves back up.") after Wayne Manor is burned down and it's moments like that that allow Alfred's caring godfather side to shine through Caine's acting. Cillian Murphy, another actor that Nolan keeps under his belt, effectively plays a shady figure in someone like Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow and his piercing eyes make him appear to be a scary figure even outside the Scarecrow mask. He ultimately doesn't get much facetime when doing villainous things like spreading the fear gas, but him appearing in a lot of other Nolan films, including the other two Dark Knight movies, gives him a unique presence in Nolan's library and he's an effective actor to boot. Liam Neeson, as I mentioned, has the surprise twist of being the villain after appearing to be a mentor figure to Bruce in the first act and this was especially new for Neeson because the roles I had previously seen him in (Qui-Gon in Star Wars and the voice of Aslan in Narnia) were wise mentor figures with no villainous motives and his acting when sharing his sad backstory before the reveal really leaves the viewer with a false sense of security. As I mentioned for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Gary Oldman is always a win and he's no slouch as Sergeant, later Lieutenant, Gordon; he puts on an American accent, of course, but he's convincing no less and his honest, incorruptible spirit shows well in the way that he learns to support Batman when the rest of the GPD won't -- a character trait often demonstrated by Gordon in the various versions of the Batman mythos. Katie Holmes doesn't do too much we haven't seen before of other superhero love interests; she is treated as a damsel much of the time though thankfully she only screams once when affected by the fear toxin and, as a character, she at least has the capacity to carry herself as a district attorney as well as keep a taser in case she gets assaulted in the streets. These are reasons I feel Rachel is underrated -- far from the best Batman love interest, but still -- and it's unfortunate Katie Holmes didn't get another chance in the role. Other actors like Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox are a great choice, Tom Wilkinson's Carmine Falcone was a great choice to play a fearsome mob boss, and I'd say Linus Roache as Thomas Wayne is underrated because we rarely, if ever, see Thomas Wayne before his death, the scene with him, Martha, and young Bruce shows his more philanthropic side when describing the reason for them building the public monorail. As most people know, things only got better in terms of acting performances in The Dark Knight, but we will certainly get there later, so for now I'm glad to have rewatched this movie and seen the great to fantastic performances again!
Perhaps some of the best parts of this movie is the action scenes; the training scenes with Ra's al Ghul are standard training fare with a few unique touches such as the latter defending himself with what would become Batman's gauntlets as well as the lesson of Bruce leaving himself open while standing on the ice. Even the final test with all the ninjas standing in a row is creative in the way it shows what Bruce has learned about hiding in the shadows so well that he eventually outsmarts Ra's while under the influence of the prototype fear gas. Arguably the best part would have to be the introduction scene of Batman in full costume; as Batman takes out criminals from the shadows using his ninja training, he eventually dives into the middle of the squad, the camera erratically cutting around as the criminals try to take him out. It gives the viewer a sense of what it's like to be a criminal facing Batman, which is an element integrated well into the Batman: Arkham games as they came out around the same time as these movies did -- no doubt this sequence among other things inspired the Predator segments of those games. Once Batman takes care of all the criminals, we witness Falcone overhearing the commotion with him asking, "What the hell are you?" only to then be followed by Batman busting into the car, yanking him out, and belting the iconic "I'm Batman," line -- something I appreciate a lot more now having become a full on fan and heard Michael Keaton say in Batman '89. With all I know about the character now, this is undoubtedly the most effective introduction to Batman in an origin movie or otherwise and Nolan's directing allowed the viewer to get a sense of what it's like to go up against Batman. The obligatory Batmobile -- or in this franchise, Tumbler -- chase scene is also well done and appears to mostly be done practically as the cops chase Batman who is escorting a dying Rachel throughout the city. The destruction it causes by plowing through concrete fences and other structures demonstrates the most believably indestructible Batmobile to date and I was even pleased to witness once more the fact that it has stealth capabilities when it disappeared from the police chopper's visual as well as the other cops' radar. As a practical director, Nolan does not rely much on CGI even in the action scenes and the only real instances of such appear to be the swarms of bats in the Batcave, the nightmarish depictions of people as monsters in Scarecrow's fear gas, and even in the climax, there is use of CG outside the train. As Batman grapples to the fast-moving monorail holding on like a madman, it's clear that that was a computer as I doubt even Nolan could think of a way to do that shot practically. Regardless, the climax was a well done action scene, especially in the way that Batman demonstrates his improvements to Ra's since his training; it's an unexpected twist in fiction to make the main hero's mentor the villain and this movie pulls it off effectively through Batman's emotional maturity and the connection we have to Ra's despite him being the bad guy.
As with all other Hans Zimmer composed movies, I canNOT go without mentioning the stellar soundtrack. Composed in collaboration with James Newton Howard, this film's soundtrack has defined the essence of modern day Batman in film and games ever since with its various quiet, but composed sections usually followed by grandiose horns and hard strings. The names of the tracks confused me at first, but I know now after research that they are the scientific names for different genera of bats; for example, "Eptiscius" is the name of the common house bat and while I am unsure if there is a link between that and the scene it plays in, the track names are still cool details that made me curious. As far as the track itself, it plays during the flashback scene of Bruce remembering his parents, mainly the part where Thomas Wayne shares his hopes for the future of Gotham City. The nostalgic and hopeful notes that play in that part show what optimistic philanthropists Bruce's parents were making it all the more devastating when they die. According to the Wikipedia entry of the soundtrack, the main motif of the film (and later the whole trilogy) is apparently two notes played by horns and accompanied by strings, something I seem to recall picking up on early on because, generally speaking, the soundtrack sounded mostly the same throughout. This is not a bad thing by any means as it was big and iconic enough to leave an impression on me so much that I generally think of it when imagining scenarios of Batman either fighting upfront or stealthily sneaking around. The main track in which those notes plays is called "Molossus"; it's Batman's main action theme and it generally plays when he's either fighting, "predatoring" around the place, or driving the Batmobile and its grandiosity is, no doubt, a theme that makes me think of modern Batman. I listened to it as I wrote this review and couldn't help, but picture Batman sneaking and gliding around, taking out thugs one by one the more progressively he emerges from the shadows. It's far from Danny Elfman's style of scoring, but you can't really compare Zimmer's style to Elfman's because of their distinct personalities of music. While I like Elfman's style for both old school Batman and Spider-Man, I ultimately prefer Zimmer's style for The Dark Knight Trilogy and could easily imagine playing it over Batman: Arkham gameplay like what I've described already. If there's anything this film accomplished apart from darkly rebooting Batman, it defined musically the modern musical motifs for Batman media such as movies and games.
So even 20 years later, I'd say that Batman Begins has stood the test of time; it revolutionized Batman media in more ways than one, its 4-act structure creating a well-paced origin story, the actors delivering iconic performances that (mostly) lasted the whole trilogy, the action creating a unique perspective on the world of Batman, and the music only serving to cement the now iconic sounds of this trilogy and Batman media in general. With The Dark Knight being the more iconic movie, I was almost surprised to hear almost no one in school or otherwise talk about this movie at the time of its release -- though I was 10 in 2005 so my generation still would have been too young for the hard PG-13 rating this was given versus I WAS 13 when The Dark Knight came out. That said, I was more than pleased to watch this movie and its subsequent trilogy as an older teenager and while I once was part of the "in crowd" that liked The Dark Knight better, I may honestly prefer this movie to some degree for doing so many things right. With all that it set out to do including rebooting Batman and bringing him back to his darker roots, it's no wonder so many people now cite this movie as the reason for their Batman fandom's beginning -- mine included. Therefore, my final rating for Batman Begins is an A+ and I would recommend it to any new or pre-existing fan of Batman.
Thank you all for reading and I will see you in the next review!
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