The story of Batman and his origins is as rich as it is intense. Over the years, Hollywood has gone through a series of attempts to tell the best story of the caped crusader. A close examination of all films and works produced over the years reveals that each filmmaker has their own distinct bond and intimate style for telling the story. Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan continue to be at the helm of some of the best Batman stories ever written for the big screen.
While both transformed Batman's portrayal in films, Christopher Nolan's adaptation of the well-known story would also profoundly establish a more poignant story and demonstrate what a Batman movie could achieve if given the freedom to explore the character's full potential. While both directors contributed to Batman and his origin story, Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins is the most comprehensive examination of The Dark Knight's beginnings.
What is Batman Begins about?
After critics' deep dissatisfaction with Batman and Robin, many felt it was time to reboot the DC characters' story approach altogether. After several producers attempted to resurrect the franchise, many of them were not greenlit by Warner Bros. After turning down Joss Wheaton’s 2002 idea for the Batman origins film, Chris Nolan would get the attention of Warner Bros. in 2003. Work on the film would begin in January 2003, with the goal of achieving a more tenebrous and realistic tone than previous films.
Inspired by the 1982 film Blade Runner and comic book story beats from The Man Who Falls, Batman: Year One, and Batman: The Long Halloween, Batman Begins tells the troubled and complex story of Bruce Wayne and how he came to be the person he is today. Following young Bruce (Christian Bale) after his parents are murdered and the League of Shadows destroys all traces of his family's legacy, Bruce Wayne travels to South Asia. In a Bhutan prison, he receives martial arts instruction from lead League of Shadows member Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson).
Wayne returns to Gotham City after learning the truth about the League of Shadows and the threat to Gotham City's survival, ready to make things right without causing bloodshed or ruin. With the assistance of Alfred (Michael Caine), his loyal friend and trusted butler, and Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), a tech genius at Wayne Enterprises, they team up to help save Gotham.
What makes this take on Batman's origins so appealing?
A story built to be visceral and grounded in its storytelling, Batman Begins goes through the emotional, tortured, and otherwise unsettled past of Bruce Wayne. There is a timeless beauty to this adaptation of Batman's origin story. It doesn't simply spoon-feed the audience a ton of iconic comic book moments but does the comic justice by exploring something more challenging and layered within Bruce Wayne's character. Batman Begins shows a man who is intelligent and relatable. Outside of Bruce Wayne's economic status and strength, is a person who has experienced grief, suffering, and the desire to alter it all. While many fans and the audience know a story like this isn't quite grounded in reality, Nolan does a fantastic job of making the viewer believe it is.
Batman Begins shows that though he may have been born into a privileged existence, there is a self-made individual behind all of it. A film that delves into the bowels of revenge and justice, Batman Begins showcases the gravid experience of how Bruce Wayne evolves from both. Batman Begins takes the time to understand Bruce Wayne, who would ultimately become Batman. This heartfelt dedication to his story helped the audience better understand his development as a character, even for those experiencing Batman for the first time.
Why is it the definitive Dark Knight origins film?
While films and other works have attempted to build a world around a character as beloved and complex as Batman, many have not come close to the world-building that surfaces in Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins. From the beginning, Batman Begins shows Bruce as a man who starts his journey alone but comes to develop and grow with the supporting characters around him. This not only grounds this interpretation of the tale in reality but also enables fans and viewers to develop a stronger emotional bond with the superhero as a result.
It also gave rise to the possibility for other projects to be set in the world he established. Its darker approach to the storyline would not only mirror its time, but the use of the Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy) and Ra's Al Ghul (Liam Neeson) as the villains allowed for a layered, more terrifying version of its characters. While many people were terrified of Batman, a mysterious vigilante who lurked in the shadows, these villains gave the spectator the feeling that something more sinister was hiding in the same darkness.
Why should Batman Begins be respected as a true origin story?
Batman Begins went to great lengths to create a character who stands apart from those who came before it. As a prisoner living in the caged existence of evil, he struggles to learn from the individuals that cause it. Viewers see a Bruce that evolves yet is still hardened by the confidence that comes with experience. As his skills advance, so does his personal life. He develops from a person who wanted to kill the person who murdered his parents to a man enraged by the concept of evil itself. He discovers that evil extends beyond those who took his life; evil absorbs into others who frequently commit the same atrocities.
Although Bruce Wayne starts to transform and accept his Batman persona, it creates a never-ending vicious cycle where evil will always be back to take back its power from the person who dismantled it. Nolan constructs the profound concept that Batman has manifested his own evil and that only he can stop it. Batman Begins repeatedly emphasizes that, despite his efforts to project power from the outside, his physical prowess never actually frees him from emotional or bodily suffering. While Batman Begins ends in victory, it is far from being pleasant or over, retaining the believability that every comic book or film fan can appreciate.