A young Bruce Wayne watched in horror as his billionaire parents were shot and killed in front of his eyes in an alley, a trauma which led him to become obsessed with revenge, but his chance is taken away from him. After disappearing to the East where he seeks counsel with the dangerous but honourable ninja cult leader known as Ra’s Al-Ghul, he returns to his now decaying Gotham City which is overrun by organised crime and dangerous individuals manipulating the system while Wayne Enterprises, the company he inherited is slowly being taken away from him. The discovery of a cave under his mansion, and a prototype armoured suit leads him to take on a new persona, one which will strike fear into the hearts of men who do wrong. So then he becomes Batman. In the new guise, and with the help of rising cop Jim Gordon, Batman sets out to take down the various schemes set in motion by Mafia crime boss Don Carmine Falcone, a twisted doctor/drug dealer Jonathan “The Scarecrow” Crane, and a mysterious third villain that is quite familiar with Wayne and waits to strike when the time is right.
Can we all take a moment to appreciate the cast in this movie? Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman… Wow! And yes even Katie Holmes, Cillian Murphy and Ken Watanabe are also worth mentioning. And with Cristopher Nolan directing the movie and having Batman in it as the main character and having a dark and serious tone like the best Batman comic book stories have, you just can’t make a better superhero origin movie than this. Also, this is the first Batman where you also actually care for Bruce Wayne as the character. In the other movies you’re just waiting to see him in costume and beat up some bad guys. But in this movie I really liked Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne and as Batman.
I have issues with this movie. Nothing too serious, but it will affect my overall grade. Katie Holmes feels a little wooden at times. The one thing that I don’t really like about the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy is Batman’s voice. I don’t hate it, but I don’t like it either. Also, I’m glad they changed the batsuit for the sequel. The suit in this movie looks so heavy and uncomfortable to wear. And the final negative would be Ra’s Al Ghul’s plan. I didn’t really find it all that interesting. Overall, I highly recommend this movie. As I said, this is not a perfect movie but it’s worth seeing just for the cast alone. And if you’re a Batman fan like I am, you will not be disappointed. I’m going to give this movie 8.5/10*!
Director: Christopher Nolan
Written by: Bob Kane, David S. Goyer, Christopher Nolan
Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Katie Holmes, Cillian Murphy, Ken Watanabe
Runtime: 140 minutes
