Batman Begins (How Christopher Nolan Revived Batman And Took Him Seriously)

 

Eight years after the disastrous Batman and Robin, Warner Bros made a comeback with Batman Begins, directed by Christopher Nolan.  Because Batman and Robin was fresh in people's minds, audiences seemed to be skeptical of another film featuring the The Dark Knight. But when people finally saw the movie, they were impressed with its complex story and interesting characters.

How Nolan Made The Right Decision To Focus On Bruce Wayne/Batman? 

The very core strength of Batman Begins is its insight on who Bruce Wayne is as a person. We no longer get to see Batman being used as a secondary character in his own franchise. What we got is an insightful character study. We get to see how he thinks and what motivated him to fight crime beyond the death of his parents. 

The previous films only gave us surface level details on Bruce Wayne's backstory because the villains stole the show in each film primarily to capitalize on the big names who were portraying them, so we really don't know much about him apart from the basics. Nolan and screenwriter David S. Goyer made the right decision to focus on Bruce Wayne, because it adds a lot to his character.

How Nolan Paid Attention To The Supporting Characters?

In addition to creating a successful origin story for Batman, Nolan and Goyer didn't forget the supporting characters, especially Commissioner Gordon. We finally get to see Batman and Gordon work together.

The previous films depict Gordon as a bystander rather than a real participant to Batman's crime fighting, so he really wasn't given much to do. But with Batman Begins, we get to see Gordon being an active partner this time. We see him at a younger age, trying the best he can to help Gotham City, and is the only one who understands Batman.

You can't go wrong with the casting of Gary Oldman. It's one of his best performances.

Rather than using a traditional villain like The Joker and The Riddler, Nolan makes a wise decision to use the character of Ra's al Ghul, the leader of the League of Shadows.   

Rather than depicting him as a typically evil supervillian, he's portrayed as a complex mentor to Bruce Wayne. Both want to achieve the same goals in fighting crime, yet they have completely different ideas.

We see Ra's as Bruce's mentor, teaching him the stealth and martial arts techniques he will later use as Batman. Then they go on their separate ways, because while Bruce wants to fight crime, he doesn't want to kill his enemies. When Ra's finally arrives in Gotham, he plans to punish the city for its crimes by injecting fear-inducing toxin in the city's water supply. 

Liam Neeson totally embodies the complexity of the character with his performance. It's hard to see anyone else to play him in this particular way.

Michael Caine is perfectly cast as Alfred Pennyworth. He doesn't portray him as a mere butler, but rather a genuine father figure for Bruce. 

Even though he disagrees with Bruce's actions as Batman, we still get the sense that he truly cares for him, since he continues to raise and support him throughout his life.

No disrespect to Michael Gough, who played Alfred in the previous films with the best he could, but Caine offers a far more interesting and complex performance.

My Issues With The Film (And Thankfully I'm Not Alone)

Batman Begins is not without its faults however, and thankfully I'm not the only one who pointed them out.

If you're a fan of the Scarecrow, you might be disappointed with how little he was used in the series. I imagine fans walking into the movie, expecting him to have a bigger impact within the story, only to be disappointed that he was really second fiddle to Ra's al Ghul and his plans to spread fear to Gotham City.

When he arrives in the climax, you'd expect an epic confrontation between him and Batman. But no, he gets tasered by Rachel (Bruce's love interest), and that's it. 

You'd think more of the Scarecrow would be used in the sequels, but's that's not the case. He just pops up for a cameo in The Dark Knight and his exploits were resolved at the beginning of the film. Why put the Scarecrow in the franchise and not give him much to do?

I also think Cillian Murphy is miscast as Jonathon Crane/Scarecrow. He looks too young and good looking to play Crane (keep in mind, he actually auditioned to play Batman), since the comics depicted him as an older, much awkward person.

Another issue I have is that the action scenes are sloppily edited. Nolan shoots the action in close ups and the edits are so quick, it's impossible to see what the hell is going on. Thankfully, Nolan showed improvement in directing action not only in The Dark Knight, but also later films such as Inception.

The love story between Bruce and Rachel is a little forced and underdeveloped. It's really down to the lack of chemistry between Christian Bale and Katie Holmes and the limited screen-time, which really didn't establish their relationship enough for the audience to buy in to their love for each other. 

I'm not going to comment much on Bale's infamous Batman voice, as I would be beating a dead horse at this point. But I would say this, I liked Bale better as Bruce Wayne than as Batman.

Closing Thoughts

Regardless of its flaws, I still think Batman Begins is a great movie and it might very well be my personal favorite Batman film.  

I loved The Dark Knight as well and I have a soft spot for Tim Burton's Batman from 1989, but Batman Begins is the one I watch the most often, mainly because of how Bruce Wayne's journey to become Batman is the focus of the story, and we get to see what he does best.

Christopher Nolan is the right filmmaker to revive Batman, he doesn't play things safe or dumb everything down, and he takes the material seriously, similar to Richard Donner's approach with Superman.

With superb performances, Nolan's sense of verisimilitude, and an effective origin story, Batman Begins has the ingredients to make a solid, entertaining Batman movie. It is truly one of a kind!