Batman Begins

***Batman Begins*** is a 2005 action superhero film based on the DC Comics character Batman, directed by Christopher Nolan and written by Nolan and David S. Goyer. The film stars Christian Bale as Batman, Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth, Liam Neeson as Ra's al Ghul, Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes, Gary Oldman as James Gordon, and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox. The film is an origin story for Batman, who is trained by the League of Shadows before returning to Gotham to begin his war on crime. When he discovers a plot by the League to destroy Gotham, Batman must face his first great challenge as he battles both Ra's al Ghul and Scarecrow.

*Batman Begins* was produced by Charles Roven, Emma Thomas, and Larry Franco. A co-production between Warner Bros., DC Comics, Legendary Pictures, Syncopy, and Patalex III Productions, it is the fifth entry in Warner Bros.'s *Batman* film series and the first in what would collectively become known as *The Dark Knight Trilogy*. It was released to American theaters on June 15, 2005.

Following the failure of 1997's *Batman & Robin* and the cancellation of its sequel *Batman Unchained*, Warner Bros. tried for years to produce a new live action *Batman* film. It wasn't until Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer began development on this film in 2003 that a project finally materialized. *Batman Begins* is a clean reboot to the franchise's continuity, and tells the story of how Bruce Wayne became Batman and began his crusade against crime in Gotham. Filming began in March 2004, and occurred primarily in the United Kingdom, Iceland, and Chicago.

*Batman Begins* proved to be a financial success, grossing over $370 million worldwide, and received mostly positive reviews from critics. The film was praised for its dark and serious tone, realistic atmosphere, action sequences, and the performances of its cast members. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. Inspired by the film's success, Warner Bros. approved production of a sequel which returned most of the cast and crew. *The Dark Knight* was released in 2008, and proved to be an even greater success than this film, widely being considered to be the greatest comic book-based film of all time. Nolan and company returned for a third film, *The Dark Knight Rises*, in 2012, completing *The Dark Knight Trilogy*.

## Plot

As a child, Bruce Wayne falls into a dry well while playing with his friend Rachel Dawes outside of Wayne Manor. While laying at the bottom of the well, Bruce is swarmed by bats and develops a fear of them. Bruce's father Thomas rescues Bruce from the well and reassures him, reminding him that people fall so that they can learn to pick themselves up again. Later, Bruce attends the opera with his parents but becomes frightened and asks to leave. Outside of the theater, Bruce and his parents are approached by mugger Joe Chill, who guns down Thomas and Martha in front of Bruce. At the police station, Bruce is comforted by young police officer Jim Gordon before police commissioner Gillian P. Loeb informs him that Chill has been apprehended. Bruce attends his parents' funeral with the family butler Alfred Pennyworth, where he is approached by William Earle, who assures him that he will watch over Wayne Enterprises until Bruce grows up. After the funeral, Bruce tells Alfred that it was his fault his parents died, but Alfred comforts Bruce and assures him that it was Chill's fault, and Chill's only.

14 years later, Bruce returns home from Princeton to attend Chill's parole hearing, granted after he testified against crime boss Carmine Falcone. Rachel, now working for the district attorney's office, tries to convince Bruce not to attend, but he goes anyway, bringing a gun with him and intending to kill Chill himself. After the hearing, Bruce waits to shoot Chill but one of Falcone's assassins does first. In the car, Bruce reveals to Rachel that he intended to kill Chill, prompting her to say his father would be ashamed of him. Rachel drives Bruce to a club where Falcone is, saying that he has destroyed everything his parents stood for, and that this is his chance to thank him. Bruce goes inside and confronts Falcone, who informs him that real power comes from being feared. Bruce leaves the club and exchanges his coat with a homeless man, then leaves Gotham City in order to train himself to fight crime.

For seven years, Bruce travels the world and immerses himself in the criminal underworld while training in combat. He ends up in a Himalayan prison, where the other inmates attack him. He beats all six of them and is thrown into solitary confinement. There, he is approached by a man who introduces himself as Henri Ducard, who is there on behalf of Ra's al Ghul, leader of the League of Shadows. He informs Bruce that his organization fights criminals and can offer him a path, then tells him to bring a blue flower to their temple in the mountains if he wishes to know more. Bruce obliges and reaches the temple, where is taken in and trained by Ducard. After completing his training, Bruce is asked to complete his initiation by executing a man accused of murder. Bruce refuses, saying the man should have a fair trial. Ra's says that if Bruce does not have the courage to take a life, then he is not ready to lead the League. Bruce asks where he would be leading the League, and Ra's says Gotham. He explains that the city has become a breeding ground of suffering and injustice and is beyond saving and must be destroyed. Bruce knocks away the burning iron that Ra's is holding, igniting explosives in the temple. Ra's and Bruce engage in a swordfight, but Ra's is crushed and killed by falling debris. Bruce rescues Ducard, who he had earlier knocked unconscious, and takes him to a nearby village after the temple explodes.

Bruce returns to Gotham with Alfred in a private jet, and is informed that in his absence he was declared dead and Earle is taking the company public. Upon his return, Bruce asks Earle for a position at Wayne Enterprises, specifically requesting to work under Lucius Fox at the Applied Sciences division. Fox grants Bruce access to prototype defense technologies developed by the company, including a defensive bodysuit, various weapons, and an armored vehicle known as the Tumbler. In the cave system below Wayne Manor, Bruce builds a secret base and uses the technology received from Fox to take up the vigilante identity of Batman. He intercepts a drug shipment from Falcone at the docks, incapacitating all of Falcone's henchmen along with Falcone himself and leaving them for the police. He saves Rachel from Falcone's hitmen and provides her with evidence against the corrupt Judge Faden, who is on Falcone's payroll, so that Falcone can be prosecuted. Falcone is approached in prison by corrupt psychiatrist Jonathan Crane, with whom he is working to smuggle drugs into Gotham. Crane sprays Falcone with a fear-inducing hallucinogen, driving him insane and causing him to be transferred to Arkham Asylum. Batman interrogates corrupt police officer Arnold Flass about where the drugs he intercepted were going, and Flass reveals that they were being sent to a man in the Narrows, Gotham's slum where Arkham is located. Batman heads to the Narrows to investigate and finds a stash of the drugs in an apartment. Crane and his thugs arrive to destroy the evidence and are attacked by Batman. Crane sprays Batman with his hallucinogen, then lights him on fire. In the meantime, a microwave emitter designed by Wayne Enterprises to vaporize the enemy water supply in desert warfare is stolen from a ship by unknown assailants. Bruce awakens at Wayne Manor after two days, where Fox reveals he has created an antidote to the fear toxin. Bruce asks Fox for all of the antidote that he has made.

Rachel visits Bruce to wish him a happy birthday, and informs him that her boss has been missing for two days and that she is going to Arkham to look into Falcone. Bruce tells her to be careful, then suits up as Batman after she leaves and heads to Arkham himself. At the asylum, Rachel meets with Crane, demanding that her team have access to Falcone and perform their own psychological evaluation. Realizing Rachel is onto him, Crane brings her to his lair under Arkham, where his men are dumping the drug into Gotham's water supply. He then sprays Rachel with a concentrated dose of his fear toxin, enough to drive her permanently insane. Batman arrives and defeats Crane's men, then sprays Crane with a dose of his own toxin and interrogates him. Crane claims to be working for Ra's al Ghul just as the police surround the building to apprehend Batman. Gordon heads inside and meets with Batman, who tells him to take Rachel and meet him in the alley. Batman then uses a sonic transmitter to summon a swarm of bats into the building to cover his escape. He tells Gordon that the water supply is being poisoned by Crane's drug and tells him to investigate, then takes Rachel in the Tumbler and escapes. The Tumbler evades the police and makes its way back to the Batcave under Wayne Manor. There, Batman gives Rachel the antidote along with a vial to give Gordon in order to incoculate himself and another for mass production. He then sedates her and tells Alfred to take her home while he entertains the guests at his birthday party.

At the party, Bruce meets with Fox and tells him that Gotham is being poisoned by the same hallucinogen that Crane attacked him with. Fox says that the toxin is only effective in gas form and that it wouldn't do any harm in the city's water supply unless it was vaporized. He then realizes that this could be accomplished using the microwave emitter that was recently stolen from Wayne Enterprises. Bruce tells Fox to work on mass-producing the antidote. A woman at the party introduces Bruce to a man she says is named Ra's al Ghul, but Bruce tells the man that Ra's al Ghul is dead. Ducard then reveals himself and says that Ra's al Ghul is immortal and his methods supernatural, making Bruce realize that he was the real Ra's al Ghul all along. Bruce tells Ra's to let these people go, as his quarrel is with him. Ra's tells him that he is welcome to explain the situation. Bruce addresses his guests and tells them to leave. Ra's tells Bruce that this was pointless, as none of those people have long to live anyway. He has his men start a fire in the manor and fights Bruce, who is trapped under falling debris. Ra's leaves to enact his plan to destroy Gotham. Alfred arrives and knocks out a guard and rescues Bruce. The two escape to the Batcave, where Bruce suits up and prepares to stop Ra's.

Members of the League of Shadows break the prisoners out of Arkham Asylum, while Ra's activates and loads the microwave emitter onto Gotham's monorail system. which will bring it to the central hub of the city's water supply under Wayne Tower and vaporize the entire water supply, blanketing Gotham in the fear toxin. Rachel meets with Gordon and gives him the antidote, but is attacked by a mob under the influence of the toxin, along with Crane, who now calls himself Scarecrow. Batman rescues her, revealing his true identity in the process, then tells Gordon he needs to stop the train containing the microwave emitter from reaching Wayne Tower. He lets Gordon take the Tumbler while he confronts Ra's aboard the train. Batman and Ra's fight, but Ra's destroys the train's controls to ensure that it cannot be stopped. Gordon uses the Tumbler's cannons to destroy the supports for the monorail system, ensuring the train will derail. Batman defeats Ra's, but refuses to kill him. He then escapes from the train just before it derails then crashes and explodes, killing Ra's.

While searching through the ruins of Wayne Manor, Rachel confesses her love to Bruce but says she cannot be with him until Gotham no longer needs Batman. Bruce reveals his intent to rebuild the manor just as it was, but Alfred suggests they make some improvements to better accomodate the Batcave. Earle attends a board meeting at Wayne Enterprises and learns that he has been fired and replaced by Fox. He calls Bruce for an explanation, but Bruce reveals that he purchased a controlling stake in the company. Batman visits Gordon, who has been promoted to Lieutenant, at police headquarters, where he has installed the Bat-Signal. Gordon tells Batman that there is a new criminal at large, who has committed armed robbery and double homicide. He says that this criminal is theatrical just like Batman himself, and leaves joker playing cards at the scene of his crimes. Batman promises to look into it, then disappears into the night.

## Cast

* Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman, the billionaire heir to Wayne Enterprises who becomes a masked vigilante in order to fight crime in Gotham City and avenge the murder of his parents after traveling around the world and training for seven years.
	+ Gus Lewis as Young Bruce Wayne
* Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth, the loyal butler to the Wayne family who raises Bruce after his parents' murder. He serves as Bruce's closest confidant and ally in his battle against crime.
* Liam Neeson as Ra's al Ghul, the leader of the League of Shadows, an ancient society that battles crime and corruption by destroying civilizations it deems to be decadent. Posing as a member of the League calling himself Henri Ducard, Ra's trains Bruce Wayne and is saved by the latter when he turns against the League. Ra's eventually reveals his true identity to Bruce as he prepares to destroy Gotham.