Missing, presumed dead, billionaire Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) is stuck in a Bhutanese prison when the mysterious Ducart (Liam Neeson) asks him to join ‘The League of Shadows’ and fight injustice.
After gruelling ninja training and a clash of ideals, Gotham’s prodigal son returns home to save the city – with the help of some very pointy ears.
It’s better than 1997’s Batman & Robin. Quite a bit better.
When the psycho pyrotechnics have subsided, the flames have turned to ashes, and the Dark Knight drops into the shadows, you may wonder – if there’s room for any thought in your head other than, “Wow!” – how this was ever known as Batman 5? It’s not a sequel. It’s not a prequel. It truly is a new beginning.
Christopher Nolan has taken the dominant franchise of the ’90s and said, “Forget about it. Batman is reborn.” And it’s a bloody, brutal, beautiful birth.
Batman Begins does for the Caped Crusader what GoldenEye (1995) did for Bond. Ironic that Bale, who was so close to becoming the post-Brosnan Bond, should shoulder a series that lost its way so similarly to 007 in the ’80s.
For Batman & Robin, read A View To A Kill – bloated, camp disasters where stunt casting and expensively empty set-pieces suffocated the essential appeal: a damaged, dangerous, violent man – a detective, of sorts – solving a cataclysmic case and looking ineffably cool.
So, no more glitz. But no gothic, either.
Nolan hasn’t defaulted to Burton’s original vision – remarkable in 1989, enjoyable but rather empty by 2005. Rather, he trusts in the inherent allure of Batman’s dark heart and lets him loose on our world.
Gotham here is a barely tweaked NYC, its suited and rebooted hero imposing but realistic – the logical result of a justice-seeking vigilante with limitless resources.
From Wayne Enterprises’ prototype body armour spray-painted black to the Bat-winged throwing stars he grinds out himself, Wayne harnesses bleeding-edge technology to create an alter ego that’s “something elemental. Something terrifying”.
He seeks and embraces the power to become a nightmare: “To turn fear on those who prey on the fearful.”
Tapping into the times, the film’s recurrent theme is fear. Bale has spoken of Batman as another American psycho, and there is indeed something chilling when Bruce Wayne says, “People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy.” It is a statement. It is a threat.
Batman is the toughest of superheroes – a rage-fuelled creature of the night, whose heroics often fly close to fascism
Batman is a terrorist. But he’s our terrorist.
Bruce Wayne/Batman
Christian Bale Alfred
Michael Caine Ducard
Liam Neeson Rachel Dawes
Katie Holmes Jim Gordon
Gary Oldman Dr Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow
Cillian Murphy Carmine Falcone
Tom Wilkinson Earle
Rutger Hauer Thomas Wayne
Linus Roache Flass
Mark Boone Junior Ra’s Al Ghul
Ken Watanabe Lucius Fox
Morgan Freeman Finch
Larry Holden Judge Faden
Gerard Murphy Loeb
Colin McFarlane Martha Wayne
Sara Stewart Bruce Wayne – age 8
Gus Lewis Joe Chill
Richard Brake Rachel Dawes – age 8
Emma Lockhart Jessica
Christine Adams Fredericks
John Nolan Captain Simonson
Risteard Cooper Mrs Dawes
Sarah Wateridge Victor Zsaz
Tim Booth Barbara Gordon
Ilyssa Fradin
Director
Christopher Nolan
Video
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It’s better than 1997’s Batman & Robin. Quite a bit better.
For Batman & Robin, read A View To A Kill – bloated, camp disasters where stunt casting and expensively empty set-pieces suffocated the essential appeal: a damaged, dangerous, violent man – a detective, of sorts – solving a cataclysmic case and looking ineffably cool.
From Wayne Enterprises’ prototype body armour spray-painted black to the Bat-winged throwing stars he grinds out himself, Wayne harnesses bleeding-edge technology to create an alter ego that’s “something elemental. Something terrifying”.
