Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale breathe new life into the Batman franchise.

Rating: 9/10 (31 October 2015)

Joel Schumacher became infamous for nearly destroying the Batman franchise following the disastrous Batman and Robin (1997), one that audiences would rather forget. A fifth Batman film was scrapped and many critics stated that the Batman franchise is dead in the water. Enter director Christopher Nolan, who had very big shoes to fill following his debut with the psychological thriller Memento (2000) which became a critical and box office success and following up with the dark thriller Insomnia (2002). There were question marks surrounding Batman Begins and whether it would re-establish the Batman franchise, as well as Christian Bale taking over from Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer and George Clooney as Batman/Bruce Wayne. Upon its release, all doubts were quickly extinguished as Batman Begins became one of the biggest box office hits of 2005. Christopher Nolan successfully resurrected the Batman franchise as well as kick starting The Dark Knight trilogy with The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012). Christian Bale can also be credited as successfully making his mark as Batman as well as establishing himself as one of the best actors to take over the coveted role. Batman fans are forever in gratitude to Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale.
Batman Begins reboots the Batman series and explores the origins of how Bruce Wayne became Batman. Haunted by witnessing the murder of his parents at the hands of a mugger Joe Chill, Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) treks through Asia where he finds himself being introduced to Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson) and Ra's Al Ghul (Ken Watanabe) following a stint in prison. Ducard mentors Bruce to become a member of the League of Shadows through intense martial arts training and ninja tactics to transform him into a warrior. When Bruce later discovers the sinister intentions behind the League of Shadows, Bruce declines to take part and manages to escape the clutches of Henri Ducard and Ra's Al Ghul. Bruce returns to Gotham City where he meets up with his caretaker Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine) to return to Wayne Enterprises which his father established but is now run by an old family friend William Earle (Rutger Hauer). Bruce Wayne finds an ally in Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) who has been demoted to the Allied Sciences division however helps equip Bruce Wayne with all the equipment he needs to aid him in his crime fighting crusade. Bruce Wayne successfully takes on a new identity in his crime fighting crusade as he formally establishes himself as Batman. Batman takes on mob boss Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson) who is considered untouchable by the law and also Dr Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy). Aided in Batman's quest includes honest police officer Sergeant Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman, who is great as the good guy for once) and childhood friend now Assistant District Attorney Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes).
Christian Bale is excellent as Batman/Bruce Wayne. Hands down he is the best Batman since Michael Keaton from Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992). Christian Bale has come a long way from his debut role in Empire of the Sun (1987), his infamous role in American Psycho (2000) and The Machinist (2004) in which he lost a substantial amount of weight. Christian Bale has the right personality for Bruce Wayne but can easily adapt to the dark side as the intimidating and ferocious Batman.
The supporting cast is also top notch with Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Ken Watanabe, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson, Katie Holmes, and Rutger Hauer excellent in their roles.
The entire atmosphere of Batman Begins is certainly dark and not watered down, just as the way Batman should be. It is darker than Tim Burton's movies and erases the bad memory of Joel Schumacher's movies. Christopher Nolan set the benchmark for all superhero movies which cannot be beaten. As I said at the beginning of my review, Christopher Nolan has done a brilliant job with breathing new life into the Batman franchise.
Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard have done a perfect job with the score, the now famous The Dark Knight soundtrack symbolic with the Batman franchise.
Batman Begins had me glued to the screen with excitement from start to finish and 10 years on Batman fans are grateful Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy resurrected the Batman franchise.
9/10.