Batman Begins is the first of Christopher Nolan’s three Batman films. Having already reviewed the other two I though it would be good to review this. Batman Begins tells the story of playboy millionaire, Bruce Wayne, who travels the world in search of ways to rid the world of injustice. This comes after his parents were shot and in front of him as a child.
Ducard and Ra’s Al Ghul mentor Wayne, they teach him how to reach his full potential. When they think he is ready they reveal their plan to destroy Gotham City in order the start again with it. However Wayne sees this as giving up and heads back to Gotham and unleashes his alter ego known as Batman.
Batman works his way through Gotham fighting evil using strength, intelligence and some very high tech gadgets. This all seems to be going well for Batman as he successfully prevents lots of crime around the city, however much bigger problems arise when he discovers the plans of Scarecrow.
Scarecrow is a sadistic psycho who plans to make Gotham destroy itself through fear, using toxins to poison the residents. He plans to contaminate the water supply with the toxin. However the toxin doesn’t work in the form of water and needs to be vaporised. This is where Ra’s Al Ghul comes back in.
He poses a machine that can vaporise water instantly; they look set to construct complete anarchy in Gotham. With many of the residents poisoned the city is already in chaos, however they need to get to the centre of Gotham in order to complete destruction. They decide to use the public train system, build by Bruce Wayne’s father.
Together Batman and Police Officer Gordon stop the destruction happening and send Ra’s Al Ghul and Scarecrow to their deaths. Gotham is saved and Batman is a hero, Gordon is promoted to Lieutenant. Gordon introduces Batman to a new criminal for him to investigate, one who leaves Joker cards at his crime scenes.
At the time seeing this film I thought it was a very good film and the start of a very special series of films. Watching the film again now, you cant help notice how much better the other two films are in comparison. Let this take nothing away from the film though, it’s just watching it now having seen the other two, you realise how good they actually are.
One thing I thought made this film not quite as special as the other two, was the villain in the film. In The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, the villains made the films what they are. They were incredibly well developed and memorable characters. With Batman Begins there are several villains and none of them are particularly developed. For me it would have worked better if there were just one bad guy.
In this film Nolan explored deep into Batman’s troubled childhood. This was something that I thought was extremely effective as it gave the audience a real insight into why Wayne had turned into the man he had and why he felt the need to become Batman.
I also liked how Nolan showed Wayne to be struggling with the playboy lifestyle that he was expected the have. Wayne is really a recluse and doesn’t want to be out being flashy. Yet in this film he comes to the understanding that he must embrace it.
This really is a very good film. It is in no way a perfect one but it is truly enjoyable. I recommend that everyone watches it. If you can, watch it before you see the other two as you will only find yourself comparing them and realising that its not as good.
alex beale media 