Batman Begins

Batman Begins
Directed by:	Christopher Nolan
Produced by:	Emma Thomas Charles Roven Larry Franco
Written by:	Comic Book: Bill Finger Bob Kane Story: David S. Goyer Screenplay: David S. Goyer Christopher Nolan
Music by:	Hans Zimmer James Newton Howard
Duration:	127 minutes
Budget:	$150,000,000
Gross Revenue:	$450,000,000
Previous film:
Next film:	The Dark Knight

Batman Begins is a 2005 superhero film based on the fictional DC Comics character Batman. The film is directed by Christopher Nolan and stars Christian Bale as Batman, Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth, and Gary Oldman as James Gordon.

Several years after the commercial and critical failure of Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin in 1997, Begins was a reboot of the Batman film franchise. The lighter comic-toned direction Schumacher had taken the franchise was abandoned, and the new film was written concerning the origins of Batman with some inspirations from classic comic book storylines such as Batman: The Man Who Falls, Batman: Year One, and The Long Halloween. The film was the first live action film to depict this stage of the character's history.

Batman Begins proved to be successful, and a sequel titled The Dark Knight was commissioned for a 2008 release with both Nolan and Bale returning.

Plot

Bruce Wayne in prison

8 year old Bruce is playing with his friend Rachel Dawes, daughter of the Wayne's housekeeper, when he falls into a well and encounters a group of bats, triggering a lasting fear of them. In the present day, an adult Bruce languishes in a Chinese prison until he is visited by a man called Henri Ducard who offers that he undergo martial arts training with an elite vigilante group, the League of Shadows (led by the mysterious Ra's al Ghul).

Cutting back to his childhood, the young Bruce Wayne accompanies his parents to a production of The Ring Cycle. The bat creatures in the opera trigger Bruce's fear and he begs to leave, so his parents smuggle him out of the emergency exit where they are murdered by a mugger named Joe Chill. Although Chill is arrested that same night, Bruce blames himself for inadvertedly causing his parents' deaths.

Several years later, Bruce returns to Gotham City from Princeton University, intent on killing Chill, whose prison sentence is being suspended in exchange for testifying against crime boss Carmine Falcone. Rachel, now a law student working at the District Attorney's office, is disgusted with his plan and tells him his father would be ashamed of him. Before he can act, however, one of Falcone's assassins kills Chill. Bruce confronts Falcone, who laughs at him and has his thugs rough him up to teach him a lesson. Bruce decides to travel the world for nearly seven years to understand the criminal mind.

Bruce Wayne during training

Ironically, he is eventually detained for theft of Wayne Enterprises equipment, leading to the detainment Ducard found him in.

In the present, Bruce accepts Ra's offer to join the league and begins ninja training under Ducard. When he passes his final exam, Ra's states that he plans to have Bruce lead his men to destroy Gotham, believing its corrupt state to be beyond saving. As a final test, Bruce is asked to execute a criminal. Bruce refuses, and instead sets the temple on fire in order to escape; Ra's is killed in the ensuring fight and Bruce rescues an unconscious Ducard from the wreckage and leaves him at a nearby village.

Finding Gotham ruled by Carmine Falcone, Bruce quickly plots against the city's corrupt system with the help of Rachel, now an assistant district attorney, and police sergeant Jim Gordon, one of the few good cops left in Gotham. Using resources from Wayne Enterprises, Bruce acquires a prototype armored car and an experimental armored suit and takes up the identity of the Batman.

The "Scarecrow"

In his first night, he disrupts a drug shipment, and leaves Falcone tied to a searchlight, forming a makeshift Bat-Signal. He also disrupts an assassination attempt on Rachel, leaving her with evidence against a judge on Falcone's payroll. While investigating the drugs in the shipment, Batman encounters Dr. Jonathan Crane, an Arkham Asylum psychiatrist on Falcone's payroll. Crane sprays Batman with a powerful hallucinogen. Bruce's butler Alfred Pennyworth rescues him, using an anti-toxin developed by Lucius Fox, Bruce's ally at Wayne Enterprises, to save him.

In prison, Falcone meets with Crane and demands a bigger share of the profits for smuggling the hallucinogen into Gotham; Crane responds by dosing him with the toxin with a gas mask resembling a scarecrow, rendering him completely insane. Rachel arrives at Arkham to question Crane about Falcone's mental state. Crane shows her that the toxin, which is lethal in vapor form, is being piped into the city's water supply before spraying her with the gas. Batman arrives to rescue her, only to find that the police have swarmed Arkham to arrest Crane. He escapes with Rachel in the Batmobile and, after administering the antidote to her in the Batcave, gives her two vials of it to pass on to Gordon — one for inoculating himself and the other for mass production.

Later at Wayne Manor, Bruce is confronted at his birthday celebration by a group of League of Shadows ninja led by Ducard, who reveals himself to be the real Ra's al Ghul (the man killed earlier was his frontman). Ra's, who had been conspiring with Crane the entire time, plans to destroy Gotham by distributing the toxin via the city's water supply, and vaporizing it with a microwave-emitter stolen from Wayne Enterprises. Bruce dismisses his guests by insulting them while pretending to be drunk, and fights briefly with Ra's while the League lights the Manor on fire and traps Bruce under a beam.

Gordon destroys the monorail

At the last minute, Alfred rescues Bruce from the fire and they head to the Batcave. Batman arrives at a Gotham slum called "The Narrows" to aid the police in battling the psychotic criminals that the League has set free from the asylum.

Gordon and Batman discuss the "Joker"

Rachel delivers the antidote to Gordon and rescues a small boy from the crowd. She is confronted by Crane, who is now calling himself "Scarecrow", riding a stolen police horse. She tasers him, sending him riding off aimlessly into the crowds. Batman stops Ra's from carrying the microwave-emitter to the city's central water hub at Wayne Tower by having the elevated train tracks collapse, explicitly declining to save Ra's from the resulting crash.

Following the battle, Batman becomes a public hero in Gotham and Bruce gains control of Wayne Enterprises. Newly-promoted Lieutenant Gordon unveils a Bat-Signal for Batman and mentions a new criminal, who leaves Joker playing cards at crime scenes and Batman promises to investigate it. Gordon says he has not thanked Batman for his help; Batman replies he'll never have to, and disappears into the night.

Cast

• Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman
• Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth
• Liam Neeson as Henri Ducard/Ra's al Ghul
• Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes
• Gary Oldman as James Gordon
• Cillian Murphy as Dr. Jonathan Crane / The Scarecrow
• Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox
• Tom Wilkinson as Carmine Falcone
• Rutger Hauer as William Earle
• Ken Watanabe as Ra's al Ghul (Decoy)
• Mark Boone Junior as Detective Arnold Flass
• Colin McFarlane as Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb
• Linus Roache as Thomas Wayne
• Sara Stewart as Martha Wayne
• Richard Brake as Joe Chill