Product: Batman Begins (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (2005)
Rating: 5.0
How it all began.
Having grown up on Batman (89) and its sequels, this sudden retelling of the Batman saga took me by surprise. Did this imply viewers to forget the first four movies, that this was THE definitive Batman story? Or was this an alternate reality separate from the previous movies.What separates this from the previous Batman canon is that it explores the why's and when's of Bruce Wayne as a child, something that was gone over superficially in the 1989 Batman. We see Wayne falling down a well and terrified by a cloud of bats that fly at him. Then there's the oft-told tale of how his parents were gunned down by a criminal. And the big payoff is of course, whence came Batman?His jiujistu and ninja training by the mysterious Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson) of the League of Shadows, a group dedicated to a vigilante-style justice, explains how he not only hones his skills, but also how he confronts his fear. And he decides to put fear unto baddies by the very thing he feared most. But the Legion is more a crusader for justice in an extreme way. Using Rome and Constantinople as examples, the Legion have been behind-the-scene catalysts for change in decadent empires, paving the way for the Germanic peoples and Ottoman Turks respectively. It's Gotham's turn, reminding me of the words of Jack Nicholson's Joker, "this town needs an enema." Yet despite his brooding and anger, Wayne still believes in the justice system, which sets him at odds against Ducard.Back in Gotham, Wayne is welcomed back to Wayne Industries, led by corporate shark Earle (Rutger Hauer), where he befriends Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), head of the high-tech division, which translates to exile from the board room so he can't cause trouble. Seems that his division has a lot of stuff the military didn't want to use, such as certain bulletproof body armour, grapple hook, a lightweight parachute-like fabric, and a humvee-type vehicle originally for bridge purposes. Wayne's deadpan question: "Do you have any of these in black?" He sets out to undermine Carmine Falcone, the gangster behind the racketeering and drugs in Gotham City, yet there are other players, such as Dr. Crane, head of Arkham Asylum, whose duty is to pronounce Falcone's thugs insane so they can't be found guilty. And Batman is dead set on protecting Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes), his childhood friend, now an idealistic assistant at the DA's office who's fighting a lonely crusade against corruption.Where the previous Batman films featured a Dark Knight already at the peak of his powers, this shows Batman in the making. He makes a clumsy attempt at escaping when first making contact with Sgt Gordon, the only honest cop in Gotham, crashing into all sorts of things in the process. And where Tim Burton made his Gotham City a dark and gothic place, Christopher Nolan's Gotham retains the same murkiness, but with a more glossy high-tech covering. And certain hazy scenes play havoc with the usual deadeningly fast action sequences.Batman here is defined as a vigilante, which draws comparisons to Paul Kersey in Death Wish and the idealistic cops in Magnum Force. The latter case was motivated for personal revenge, while the second was against corrupt criminals who got off scotfree. In his belief in universal justice as opposed to parochial revenge, his role as champion and hero puts him higher than the aforementioned vigilantes. But as in Dirty Harry, the system, so riddled with corruption, is not working, and things can't go on as they are.Christian Bale's Batman is as brooding as Michael Keaton's, but with a more hoarse and menacing edge to his voice that makes the previous Batmans sound like Tiny Tim. Veteran actor Michael Caine scores points as the ever faithful butler Alfred. And points for Katie Holmes who still manages to be adorable in such a grim film. And yes, the ending more than hints at a sequel.