Review of Batman Begins (2005) by Mrmoviebuff — 28 May 2015

'Batman Begins' is a reboot, comic book movie directed by Christopher Nolan, who, at the time, was still trying to make a big name for himself...this was the movie that put him on the map.

After the adaptations of Tim Burton's 'Batman' (1989) and 'Batman Returns' (1992), it seems that fans reacted fairly positive to them. Then came Joel Schumacher with his campy and unintentionally hilarious (but damn right awful) 'Batman Forever' (1995) and the atrocious 'Batman and Robin' (1997) where fans reacted negatively. It's easy to understand why.

Here, Christopher Nolan decides to polish things up with Christian Bale in the title role of Bruce Wayne aka "Batman". We get a glimpse of his childhood and origins as we learn that he has a huge fear of Bats, his loving parents then also decide to take him to the theater and that's where his parents are shot by a thug.

Young Bruce feels responsible for his parents' death and is left to live with Alfred, the butler (Michael Caine). Wayne, years later, goes off to train to become some sort of assassin as Ra'as Al Ghul (Liam Neeson) teaches him how to fight.

We get a lot of exposition and development to see how Batman becomes...Batman. Katie Holmes plays Rachel Dawes, Bruce's love interest. Holmes' performance does bother me a little in this movie and it's understandable as to how she landed a Razzie Award nomination for "Worst Supporting Actress".

Cillian Murphy plays the Scarecrow, we get some horrifying images of when he makes his victims hallucinate and cause them to act up.

'Batman Begins' is a reboot worth waiting for, it is darker, and less campy than the previous installments. Christian Bale plays a marvelous Bruce Wayne/Batman, the rest of the cast, including; Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman also commit to their performances. The standards for comic book movies has risen since this movie was released, and it's hard to see any other Batman movie made this perfect.

If you love dark and gritty movies, with splendid action and only the occasional joke here and there...then this movie is for you. It blends all these sub-genres very well and makes for a better-than-your-average comic book movie, I bet even non-comic book fans will love this movie as much as we do.