"Batman Begins"- A stirring and gripping retelling of the Batman legend.

Rating: 10/10 (23 November 2016)

Director Christopher Nolan ushers in his now mythical "Dark Knight Trilogy" with this stirring and gripping rebirth of the Batman legend. 2005's "Batman Begins" is very much a revelation, showing us a keen new vision and a darkly gritty reboot of a story that spans back for decades. In many ways the most psychologically complex and realistically grounded version of the character to ever grace the screen, here we finally get a good sense of the iconic Bruce Wayne as a startlingly true-to-life human being, resulting in a compelling and often fulfilling movie experience.
In a fractured and somewhat non-linear narrative, we learn of Bruce Wayne's (Christian Bale) tragic past, losing his parents to a criminal years ago. Spurred on by his torment and feelings of guilt, he eventually begins training in Ninjitsu at the hands of mentor Ducard (Liam Neeson) under the cruel master Ra's Al Ghul (Ken Watanabe) and his "League of Shadows"- an organization that seeks to destroy the corrupt at any cost. However, Bruce realizes that the League is far too dangerous a force, and he is forced to betray them, eventually using his newfound skills to become the vigilante known as "the Batman"... An alter-ego he uses to protect the citizens of Gotham from criminals and psychopaths, included the devious Dr. Crane (Cillian Murphy) and mob-boss Falcone. (Tom Wilkinson) However, new revelations about the dark forces at play in Gotham may very well force Bruce to confront a figment from his past in order to save the city...
The great success of the film is its finely crafted storyline that seeks to give a great deal of respect to the characters and the concept in a way previous adaptations had struggled with. Nolan's work in this film in trying to create a far more real-world take on the character is a bold choice, and has since been repeated in other properties to increasingly mixed results. However, it perfectly compliments the dual character of Bruce Wayne/Batman and allows for a far greater scope of emotional and psychological development. The film in many ways is a character-study first and a grand action spectacle second, with Nolan and star Bale far more interested in those small moments of development and establishment that let us know what makes Bruce tick and Batman brood than the ka-pow, whizz-bang fisticuffs and nifty gadgets. Not to say that the film is lacking in that department in any way, however, as Nolan injects finely tuned and carefully planned action set-pieces at just the right moments in the narrative to help them really drive him the struggles and turmoils that Bruce faces as his heroic alter-ego.
Directorially, the film is quite the wonder to behold. With his previous work, Nolan had already proved himself to be a fabulous visual storyteller, but here he really starts to shine. He establishes a pitch-black tone up front that is perfectly complimented by his ideal use of guerrilla-style hand-held camera-work and fast-cutting. While this has become a crutch for many a modern filmmaker, Nolan wisely only uses it in service of the style and tone he has established and he's perhaps one of the very few modern directors to really have a grip on this particular aesthetic style. I also highly admired his good choice to add consistent, subtle moments of levity and humor to the film, as so to not make it too overwhelming as many other modern "gritty" films become.
The performances are uniformly marvelous. Bale makes for an outstanding lead, giving Bruce just the right amount of pathos while still always maintaining a likable sense of wit. Neeson makes for a wonderdrous and complex mentor-of-sorts to Wayne and emerges as one of the stand- outs of the film. Michael Caine takes over the role of the trusted butler Alfred with a giddy sense of class and humor, in a piece of casting that I can only call "perfect." Gary Oldman is a revelation as the young Jim Gordon, who quickly becomes an ally of Bruce in his war on crime. The rouges gallery consisting of Watanabe, Murphy and Wilkinson are just wonderfully devious villainous presences, and are all characters you'll just adore hating. Honestly, the only sore thumb here is Katie Holmes in a rather miscast role as Bruce's lifelong friend Rachel who has become an Assistant District Attorney. She just looks so comically young and childlike for me to take her at all seriously. Still, she has enough of a chemistry with Bale than I can forgive this.
In the end, "Batman Begins" is very much the perfect modern re- interpretation of the Dark Knight Saga. It's wonderfully developed characters and expert psychological analysis of a man pushed to fighting back against the criminal and the corrupt make it a wildly fulfilling and compelling watch. And it's wise use of moody atmosphere and grounded action set-pieces will also thrill that child inside all of us who wants to see the hero and the villain duke it out. In many ways, it's an ideal reconciliation of the fantastical and the realistic, and it's one of the finest comic-book to film adaptations ever released.
And for that reason, it easily earns a perfect 10 out of 10.