Plot
Bruce Wayne has watched his home, Gotham City, turn into a crime infested abyss throughout his entire life, so he decides to become the hero Gotham needs- Batman.
Release Year: 2005
Rating: 8.3/10 (377,397 voted)
Critic's Score: 70/100
Director:
Christopher Nolan
Stars: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Ken Watanabe
Storyline When his parents were killed, millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne relocates to Asia when he is mentored by Henri Ducard and Ra's Al Ghul in how to fight evil. When learning about the plan to wipe out evil in Gotham City by Ducard, Bruce prevents this plan from getting any further and heads back to his home. Back in his original surroundings, Bruce adopts the image of a bat to strike fear into the criminals and the corrupt as the icon known as 'Batman'. But it doesn't stay quiet for long.
Writers: Bob Kane, David S. Goyer
Cast: Christian Bale
-
Bruce Wayne
/
Batman
Michael Caine
-
Alfred
Liam Neeson
-
Henri Ducard
Katie Holmes
-
Rachel Dawes
Morgan Freeman
-
Lucius Fox
Gary Oldman
-
Jim Gordon
Rade Serbedzija
-
Homeless Man
(as Rade Sherbedgia)
Cillian Murphy
-
Dr. Jonathan Crane
/
The Scarecrow
Tom Wilkinson
-
Carmine Falcone
Rutger Hauer
-
Earle
Ken Watanabe
-
Ra's Al Ghul
Mark Boone Junior
-
Flass
Linus Roache
-
Thomas Wayne
Larry Holden
-
Finch
Gerard Murphy
-
Judge Faden
Filming Locations: Canary Wharf, Isle of Dogs, London, England, UK
Box Office Details
Budget: $150,000,000
(estimated)
Opening Weekend: $48,745,440
(USA)
(19 June 2005)
(3858 Screens)
Gross: $371,853,783
(Worldwide)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
Early work on the script and the production design was conducted in the back of Christopher Nolan's garage. During the writing process, Nolan and David S. Goyer sometimes took walks near the site of the original Batcave from
Batman.
Goofs:
Audio/visual unsynchronized:
Bruce Wayne's birthday party - the birthday song does not match the lips of the party-goers.
Quotes:
[first lines]
Bruce Wayne - age 8:
Rachel, let me see! Can I see?
User Review
Everything I could have hoped for
Rating: 10/10
I had fearful reservations about this one. I loved Tim Burton's Batman
- 12 years old when it came out I was the perfect age for it and I also
enjoyed Batman Returns. The franchise went so wrong under Joel
Schumacher that I wasn't sure I wanted it resurrected. Not least
because Batman was one of the few comics I read and enjoyed as a kid
and was always my favourite superhero. I grew up reading the comics,
watching reruns of the Adam West TV show and then getting Burton's
celluloid vision. I was spoilt for choice as a kid but as an adult now
I was concerned revisiting the franchise, especially given Warner's
record over the last decade of screwing up summer blockbusters with
potential all over the place (dare I bring up the Matrix sequels?)
However, I am pleased to report I could not have been more wrong about
how great Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins is. This is better than
Burton. Sacrilege, you say?! Well Burton was still cartoony in many
elements, he wasn't churning out the bilge of Schumacher but Burton's
Batman was still over the top. As a kid this was ideal but Nolan's
Batman is real. Everything in this world seems plausible and it is
therefore a world that draws you in. Characters' vulnerability is that
much more present. Every bruise, every scare, every concern, every
emotion seems real.
Part of this is that Nolan has assembled an exemplary cast. Again, this
concerned me prior to seeing the film. I wasn't sure a cast of big name
legends like Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman and well known names like
Liam Neeson and Katie Holmes wouldn't detract and distract from Batman.
I was always sure Christian Bale could be the great moody Batman he's
been waiting his career to be but the others I wasn't so sure about.
That said Bale is not just good, he's superb. I never thought I'd
really be able to envision anyone other than Michael Keaton as the
definitive Batman for me but since seeing Batman Begins a couple of
days ago Bale has cemented himself in the position. Perhaps Keaton will
now be able to escape the spectre of Batman he hasn't truly shaken off
for 13 years.
The rest of the cast is also pitch perfect. Cillian Murphy is creepy as
hell, Liam Neeson is authoritative and imposing, Katie Holmes is strong
and sexy (I particularly thought she'd be insipid, she should jettison
Tom Cruise and let her talent - which she does have naysayers just
watch Pieces Of April - speak for itself) and Michael Caine is an
Alfred you've never seen but in fact far more likely as a butler than
the aristocratic pomp with which he is usually portrayed. Gary Oldman
is also superb in a rare wholly decent character for him as Lieutenant
Jim Gordon who gets far more to so here than Gordon has ever had to do
before. Only Tom Wilkinson is a little off with a slightly comedic
wise-guy American accent that never really convinces.
The emotional bond between Bruce Wayne and Alfred is actually a
wonderful human heart to the film than Nolan and Goyer have written
perfectly.
Don't let that make you think the action is not front and centre
though. From Wayne's training through the early stages of the film to
his early missions as Batman at about the half way point to a
thrillingly choreographed chase sequence and an edge of your seat
finale this film delivers the cool quotient in bucket loads.
Great villains (especially Murphy), great story, great cast, great
action... put simply, great film. Probably the best comic-book movie
ever made (that's excluding the genius Sin City which I consider a
moving comic-book rather than a comic-book movie, that will never be
bettered but Batman is a different beast and the best of its kind).
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