Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins" shows us exactly how Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) transforms into the caped crusader we all know and love, Batman. Admittedly like many others, even though this is the first entry in the Dark Knight Trilogy, I watched it is as my last one, and that is due to me not even knowing of it's existence, which is thanks to it being heavily overshadowed by the critically acclaimed sequel, "The Dark Knight."
Batman Begins has a simple plot to follow full of twists. A young Bruce Wayne travels to the Far East, where he's trained in the martial arts by Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson), a member of the mysterious League of Shadows. Ducard later reveals the true purpose of the League, the complete destruction of Gotham City as they feel it is an unjust cesspool full of criminals that is too far gone to be saved and must be cleansed to preserve their duty and for justice and balance to be restored. Bruce does not agree with the League's morals and returns to Gotham on his own determined to clean up the crime-ridden and corrupted city without resorting to murder. With the help of his loyal butler Alfred (Michael Caine) and Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), a tech expert at Wayne Enterprises, Batman is born.
The number one takeaway from this film that I did not experience as much in any other Batman movie, was that it really makes you care and feel compassion towards Bruce Wayne himself, not the masked vigilante he disguises himself as. The real Bruce is tragic, realistic, relatable, quite unstable, and frankly doesn't know what his purpose is or what he should be doing with himself. This is the origin story, and you get to first hand see the traumatic events that turned him into the lonely, guilt ridden bitter man you see today. His feelings and actions are completely justified, and I've gained a lot of respect for the character.
Now this is a dark, gritty and mature film clearly made for adult fans, do not expect the colorful, campy comic book styled "Joel Schumacher" treatment here, this is going to get real, real fast. I can and do appreciate the attempt to not be a generic superhero film and head towards the crime drama genre, and don't get me wrong it's a great movie, but there a few issues that keep it from being perfect movie status like the sequel in my books. It was maybe a bit too serious for it's own good, and ends up being so focused on becoming an art piece that it almost stops being fun. Primary antagonist Ra's al Ghul is great, but secondary villain Dr. Crane a.k.a. Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy) has an apparent lack of quality visual effects and proper screen time. The long run time was not wasted, but they probably did not need to include so many side characters, world building and lore into what could have been a quicker, neat, well done origin story.
Overall I liked and can get behind Batman Begins, I do not think it's the best in the "Dark Knight Trilogy," but it's a top quality film on it's own accord especially if I stop comparing too much. This film delivers a uniquely cold, cruel, and memorable experience that will make you see and appreciate Bruce Wayne and his Batman persona from a completely new perspective.
