Product: Batman Begins (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (2005)
Rating: 4.0
Batman Begins(2005)
Batman Begins(2005) is a reboot of the Batman movies after the excessively campy Batman & Robin(1997) failed critically and commercially. This time around the emphasis is on plot and character and no campy nonsense. Director Christopher Nolan takes the story seriously and he avoids the "weirdness" from the Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher Batman movies. Bruce Wayne(Christian Bale) is living in Asia after college. Wayne beats up criminals and also ends up becoming one himself. He's still haunted after seeing his parents killed by a mugger. A group of Ninjas led by Ra's Al Guhl teach Wayne martial arts, but he leaves them after refusing to kill a man in cold blood. Wayne returns to Gotham City and is reunited with his butler Alfred(Michael Caine) and his love interest Rachel(Katie Holmes). Wayne becomes Batman and he must stop The Scarecrow(Cillian Murphy) from unleashing a fear-inducing gas on the city.Batman Begins is a solid film, but it's 20 minutes too long and it suffers from choppy editing! People complain about Christian Bale's raspy, "Cookie Monster voice". Michael Caine sure adds a sense of cool to his version of Alfred Pennyworth.Morgan Freeman is quite good as Lucius Fox. Liam Neeson played Ducard, an ally of Ra's Al Guhl. The music score by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard is subtle and never "in your face"! Cillian Murphy(28 Days Later) is quite good as The Scarecrow. People also complain about Batman's large, bulky Batmobile-Tank in this film. This film does a good job satirizing the post 9/11 era. Batman Begins saved the Batman film franchise and The Dark Knight came out in 2008.