Batman Begins [2005 film]

Acting: 4.5; Theme: 4.5; Content: 4.5; Language: 2.0; Overall: 4.5

This was the first in The Dark Knight trilogy and it did not disappoint (other than at least fifteen uses of bad language and the use of God's name in vain). A young boy, Bruce Wayne, witnesses the murder of his parents by a street thug. He desires nothing more than to avenge their death by killing their murderer. His parents' lifetime friend and butler, Alfred, takes the young man under his wings and encourages him to fight crime and murder rather than commit it. Highly recommend with the above caution.

***December 12, 2023***

The movie "fills in" the years between the murder of Bruce Wayne's parents and his appearance as Batman, a period that I don't recall reading about in the DC comics in my day.
I thought it was very well done, and made the non-super hero almost plausible.
Michael Caine as Alfred is superb.

An orphaned millionaire learns to fight crime.

When I went to see it for the first time, I had huge expectations, and it blew them all away. Sure, like any sensible person, I like The Dark Knight better. But this one has become my basis of comparison.

(Sep. 2009)

A decent reboot of the Batman movies, less campy, more dark and serious than the 1980s version.

Possibly the best of all the Batman pictures, though still so choc a bloc full of all the action movie cliches that I couldn't see raising this one above a three star rating.

Bale, Freeman, Caine all did credible jobs but the actings skills of some of the other characters were a bit on the thin side. Especially whoever they got as the forgettable love interest. Also some of the props for Gotham seemed a bit on the Japanese horror movie set circa 1957 side. With CG so cheap nowadays you'd think nobody'd be building model sets anymore. Or perhaps I'm just being too finicky, anyway it was certainly a decent enough way to kill two hours over a few beers.

Long and boring.

Summary: "As a boy a young Bruce Wayne watched in horror as his millionaire parents were slain in front of his eyes. This trauma led him to become obsessed with revenge. After disappearing to the East where he seeks counsel with a ninja cult leader, he returns to his now decaying Gotham City. The City is now overrun by organized crime and dangerous individuals manipulating the system. The discovery of a cave under his mansion, and a prototype armoured suit leads him to take on a new persona. He becomes Batman and strikes fear into the hearts of men who do wrong. With the help of rising cop Jim Gordon, Batman sets out to take down the various criminal schemes that have been set in motion by individuals such as mafia don Falcone, the show more twisted doctor/drug dealer Jonathan 'The Scarecrow' Crane, and a mysterious third party that is quite familiar with Wayne and waiting to strike when the time is right." (from WorldCat.org) show less