Batman Begins
The first of the Nolan Batman Trilogy. Personally, how a superhero trilogy/franchise does the origin story always has such an important impact for me. Many superhero films throw you into the normal world of a superhero film too early, and therefore have underwritten characters. You end up not understanding them as both a person and a superhero. In my opinion, Batman Begins does basically a perfect job of establishing Who Bruce Wayne is?, What his motives are?, and Why he becomes Batman? I see it as THE superhero origin film.
How it combines the murder of Bruce’s parents and his subsequent mental and physical journey away from Gotham, to show who Bruce is and what his motivations are, is just brilliant. His parents’ death, in addition to the increasing immorality in Gotham, perfectly explains why he would want to fight injustice (how the tram looks in the flashback compared to now, sums up exactly why Bruce is so concerned about Gotham. Part of the final fight happening on that tram perpetuates this message even further).
When the main character in a film is so concisely written like this, it makes every moment so enjoyable. The first 30mins is a little slow but on rewatch you realise how essential those scenes are to Bruce Wayne/Batman as a character. And obviously, this kind of goes without saying, Christian Bale portrays the full range of emotions in Batman and Bruce Wayne amazingly.
In terms of the plot, it takes time to get going but once it does, it’s top-notch scriptwriting. The combination of Falcone, Dr. Crane (Scarecrow), Rachel, the Case, Jim Gordon, and Batman, is so good. It doesn’t waste a second. Scarecrow as a villain is super enjoyable as well. A corrupt lawyer also being a villain that poisons his enemies with a horrific hallucinogenic drug is just so engaging.
In terms of action, there is better across this trilogy, but still some amazing scenes here. Batman and Rachel fleeing the police in the Batmobile is a personal favourite. But for the character writing alone, this film is my favourite in the trilogy. How it deals with legacy, the loss of a parent, injustice, policing, and corruption, is great. These topics are dealt with in an unsubtle and over-dramatic way, but they are important topics nonetheless.
On first watch, I found elements of this quite boring but over time I have come to appreciate how well-written it is. One of Nolan’s most underrated in my opinion. Definitely Recommended.