THE ONE WHERE NOLAN PROVES HIS METTLE TO THE WHOLE WORLD

Rating: 8/10 (5 January 2020)

When I was a kid, I loved Superman. The Batman was a terrifying creature of the night, as terrifying as the monsters in horror movies. I used to switch off Cartoon Network at 7 PM, just before the ominous theme music, composed by Danny Elfman, started playing. Then I grew up, went to college, saw a bit of the world, went through some hit, and matured a bit. Somewhere in between, a friend reintroduced me to the Animated Series, and we binge-watched the whole thing and the Justice League cartoons, back-to-back. Took a few weeks, and I had my mind blown.
This was the time when MCU was starting to dominate Hollywood summer lineup, Avengers was on the way, and I had seen most of the X-Men movies, Blade, the old Superman movies and Iron Man. Still a novice, compared to my friends. Then I watched Batman Begins. This was my second Christopher Nolan movie (the first being Inception), and my expectations were high. It blew me away. The attention to detail on everything, the story, the characters, the city, the tone of the movie, blew me away. It was everything I didn't know I wanted from a superhero movie.
Nolan's version of Batman starts with the him being released in prison in an unnamed Asian country into the hands of Henri Ducard, played with righteous but villainous intent by Liam Neeson, who imparts his particular set of ninja/ju-jitsu skills to young Wayne, seeking to recruit him into the League of Shadows (a toned-down version of League of Assassins from the comics). LoS is a secretive cult of ninjas who consider criminals as the absolute scum of humanity and that death is the inevitable punishment they deserve. They also have periodically destroyed cities across the world, which they consider cesspools of crime and anarchy. But they do have a great martial arts curriculum.
Wayne has reached this point in life, after growing up and going to college, struggling to deal with survivors guilt and all other sorts of trauma after seeing his parents gunned down in a mugging as a kid. He has tried to seek vengeance, and realized that it was pointless, before he could go beyond the path of no return. After being taught a lesson or two from two people; his childhood sweetheart and lawyer, who tells him the difference betwenn justice and vengeanece; and the crime lord of Gotham, who opens his eyes to power, privilege and fear; Wayne takes off from Gotham, trying to learn how criminals think.
This is such a humongous task that it was impossible not to get lost in the dark parts of human nature. When Ducard offers clarity of thought, Wayne jumps at it. He begins his training, and the usual montage ensues, with swordplay, smokebombs and other versatile ways of fighting interspersed with some heart-to-hearts between the mentor and the mentee, examinations of personal tragedy, attempts at closure and philosophy. Bruce Wayne is finally finding his purpose in life and a way to go about it. But when it comes to the final test, he falters; he refuses to kill a farmer who murdered his competition. He has come to a decision that he would never kill, and he refuses to play judge, jury and executioner. In the attempt to escape the punishment for this insubordination, Wayne destroys the lair, and in the process, indirectly kills their leader, Ra's Al-Gul (Ken Watanabe in a cameo). He saves an unconscious Ducard, leaves him with a villager, and leaves for Gotham.
Finding that Gotham is worse than when he left, he decides to put what he learned to action. Steadily recruiting allies, he builds the Batman bit by bit, using technology that is realistic (unlike the Marvel movies), discovers a cave underneath the mansion, and sets up his base. Tech support is provided by Lucius Fox, a brilliant Morgan Freeman, an old friend of Wayne's father who has been relegated in the Wayne Corp by its current chief. Old sweetheart Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes) is now ADA, and willing to stand against organized crime. The honest cop, Sgt Gordon, is skeptical but wiling to take a chance. More than an hour into the movie, the Batman finally appears, in a claustrophobic fight sequence, after terrifying a bunch of smugglers like a slasher-movie villain. Theatricality and deception, taught well by Ducard, as crime boss Falcone, who for some reason has personally arrived on the scene, is legitimately terrified out of his mind, and is caught and chained to a floodlight for the police to find at the scene of the crime. The Batman has arrived.
As he moves through the darkness, he is every bit as frightening to the criminals as we are of the criminals. Christian Bale does a great job, using just his mouth, chin and jaw to convey rage, power and ruthlessness. But in the light, he appears as a man in a costume, as human as any other, making his mistakes along the way as the legend of the Bat grows. Loyal Butler Alfred, played with gleeful joy by Michael Caine, provides guidance and witty retorts as Bruce Wayne settles in his role as protector of the city at night and playboy during the day. But more threats are coming.
The final third is as enjoyable as what came before, which includes a mass rioting scene, the full use of Batman's technology and cooperation of his allies, and the biggest and most enjoyable set piece involving the Monorail. The Batman is the most compelling character in his own movie, which is something superhero leads don't often get to say about themselves. This deep examination into fear, guilt, loss, responsibility to society and ethics is served wonderfully by the great writing and screenplay, which is augmented by the superb cast wonderfully directed by Nolan.
VERDICT 8.5/10
STRAY OBSERVATIONS
What a cast. Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine, supported by Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson and Cilian Murphy? God damn.
Batman Begins remains a refreshing take on superhero origin stories, even almost 15 years later.
This movie is a triumph of cinema. I am sure there are aspects of movie-making I missed, which Nolan and co executed wonderfully, because I was so engrossed in the experience.