Debatably The Best Superhero Origin Story Put To Film

Rating: 9/10 (29 March 2016)

Batman Begins is directed by Christopher Nolan and is the first installment in the Dark Knight trilogy, one of the best series of films delivered to film audiences ever. Although The Dark Knight is usually considered the best of the three movies, some do consider Batman Begins the best, and understandably so. However, I do feel it has its share of problems. Let's talk about those.
Since most people know the origin story of Batman, played by Christian Bale in this film, I'll just explain what happens in this film. After becoming Batman, Bruce must face off against the one person, besides his friendly butler, Alfred Pennyworth, played perfectly by Michael Caine, that knows his real identity: his own mentor, a member of the League of Shadows, Ra's Al Ghul. Since Ra's is the one who trained him, he knows all of Bruce's weaknesses, and how to beat him. With the help of childhood friend Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes) and police officer Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), Batman must save the people of Gotham from Ra's' evil plan, and the unleashment of a possibly even worse villain, Jonathan Crane's alter ego, the Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy).
I'll just jump into my problems with the film, and then begin with the praise. My main problem is the character of Rachel Dawes. Not the performance by Katie Holmes, or even the character herself, but more like the occupation of her in the film. It seems that the writers didn't exactly know what to do with her character at times, so she was thrown in on a useless subplot or just as a Batman love interest. I want to clarify that Katie Holmes didn't do bad at all, just the need for her character at specific points seemed useless.
The only other problem I felt the movie had was the slowness of it at points. While The Dark Knight (2008) and even The Dark Knight Rises (2012) were fast-paced most of time, Batman Begins seems to slow down at times. This is most likely because it's an origin story, and it has no previous installments to build upon, but origin stories in the past have been fast paced, such as 2002's Spiderman.
Now, for the praise. I love Christian Bale's Batman/Bruce Wayne. Although many people consider Michael Keaton the best Batman, I personally prefer Christian Bale slightly. Don't get me wrong, Keaton did amazing, and Bale being the better of the two is just my opinion. I also really like every other casting choice in the film. Michael Caine as Alfred was a fantastic choice, as was Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox. Cillian Murphy was great as Jonathan Crane, and Liam Neeson as Ducard was a near perfect. Katie Holmes was okay (and, I'm secretly happy with the replacement choice of Maggie Gyllenhaal), but she didn't exactly do great. Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon was one of the best casting choices in superhero movie history, up there with J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson.
I also love the direction, as I do with every Nolan movie. Nolan to the camera is as Da Vinci is to the paintbrush. If Nolan didn't make films, he would probably homeless or working at a McDonald's full time, because film is truly his calling. The way he captured the image of the dark city of Gotham was perfect, due to his portrayal of the crime taking place in this city, and just how bad it his without good people around anymore, and how this downfall started with the death of Bruce's parents, Thomas and Martha Wayne. The importance of this fact also ties Bruce by birth to the crime rate in Gotham, which inspires him even more to become the caped crusader that we all know him as.
The last pro I have with the film has got to be the score. Hans Zimmer, the composer for Batman Begins, is a modern day John Williams, despite how different their style is. Hans Zimmer does more of a background style, in which the audience is sucked into the movie due to the music, while John Williams' scores suck you in because of the music itself, and the music is obvious, it's not just in the background. In addition to Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard worked on the score, and the epic team up of these two makes for a near perfect score.
In conclusion, Batman Begins is one of the best superhero films, despite its few flaws, and impressed me on so many levels. It's easily one of, if not the, best superhero origin stories put to film, and is a bit underrated in my opinion. Check this movie out, I suggest it to anyone, fan of superheroes or not.