The only way to save the franchise was to blow it up and start all over again. Batman and Robin was such a colossal failure it completely sunk the franchise. But for all Batman movie fans, a savior stepped forward. Christopher Nolan! It was time to get rid of all the goofy stuff Schumacher brought in and go back to the 1989 Burton style of Batman movie. And now we have Batman Begins
In order to distinguish itself from previous movies, Nolan decided that instead of leaping right to Bruce Wayne in the batsuit we are going to see the journey Bruce Wayne had to go through to become Batman. In the 1989 movie we see Batman's origins only in short flashbacks. Here it's the first and second act! So who trained Batman to be the supreme ninja he is?
According to Batman Begins it was Ra's Al Ghul. When I first heard this Batman was going to feature Ras Al Ghul I was immediately excited. Villians like the joker provide the perfect action foil. It's the ultimate white hat vs black hat scenario. But Ra's Al Ghul is different. He's much more of a morally ambiguous character. On one hand the things he does are horrible, but much like Magnito in the X-Men comics, you can follow the logic as to why he does it. Ra's Al Ghul is one of my favorite DC villians and he's rarely used.
Imagine my feelings when Ra's Al Ghul played so little a role in the movie. Instead Batman's main villian is Dr. Crane. aka Scarecrow. I don't fault the movie for using Scarecrow. Scarecrow is also a very unique supervillian. He's not perticularly strong, he's not all that smart or devious, but the one thing he has going for him is the same thing Batman uses: Fear. Except Scarecrow found a way to weaponize fear.
The characterization of Scarecrow was done just perfectly. Even without the Scarecrow mask the levels of sadism are evident. He really is the kind of guy who probably was bullied in High School and then went and tortured ants in the backyard. The climatic scene of the fire-breathing black horse alone warrented using Scarecrow in this movie. It was gorgeous.
What sets this movie apart from all the others is the characters. Especially Batman. In the other movies Batman was always a super genious. He could figure out any problem just by doing research on his massive super computer. He was portrayed as he is in the comic books: as the World's Greatest Detective. In this movie Batman is more of a lost child looking for his place in the world. He hadn't developed the tools yet to be Batman. He relied heavily on Alfred and more importantly Lucius Fox. Fox was a scientist in Wayne Industries and he was the guy who designed the batsuit and the batmobile. The origins of the 'bat tools' were never discussed in other movies and it adds a lot of depth to the Batman character simply because we see that he isn't necessarily a jack-of-all-trades. There is a support network around Batman. A group of people to help him with new equipment and medical knowledge when he gets his butt whipped. What we lose in mystery, we the audience gain in a fully-rounded character we can relate to.
If I had any complaints it's these two. One is minor and the other not so much. Christian Bale as Batman can be laughable with that gravelly voice he uses. I realize it's a minor complaint but Michael Keaton was able to be threatening just by talking in a quiet voice. Bale on the other hand feels some need to scream his lungs out and ruin his voice. It works but it also doesn't. Batman needs to be threatening and having a guy yelling in your face is certainly threatening, but he's also supposed to be like a ghost in the night. Criminals spill their guts to Batman because he's Batman. His reputation alone is enough to intimidate villians. It's a minor point at best. I just feel it is a conflicting tone to the overall movie.
The other thing I didn't like so much was the Ra's Al Ghul character. In the comics Ra's is a supernatural genocidal ecoterrorist who feels the only way to save the planet from the ravages of the human race is to curb the human population. He is supernatural in the sense that every few decades or so he takes a bath in something called the "Lazarus Pit" that rejuvinates his body but leaves him momentarily bat squeak insane. Ra's Al Ghul is supposed to be hundreds of years old. Ra's also has a daughter named Talia. Talia and Batman have a child together. I know. Not exactly common knowledge. Nothing of this is ever added to the movie. Ra's Al Ghul is also a very honorable guy. He's well aware of Batman's true identity but he is very careful to never tell anyone. He will refer to him as Detective as a sign of his respect for the man he considers his greatest rival. I loved the inclusion of the League of Assassins aka Society of Shadows but the movie just never did the Ra's Al Ghul character justice.
While the 1989 Batman movie is still my favorite, this one comes in a respectable second. That is until we get to Part 7 of the Batman Retrospective.
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