Batman Begins 20th Anniversary Review

 

My Review of Batman Begins

To celebrate 20 years of the superhero film that changed the genre and brought back the Dark Knight after that god-awful Batman and Robin film and getting rid of those bat nipples. Batman Begins is one of the best superhero films/origin films. This film was a game changer because it showed how to craft a compelling superhero origin, offering a darker and grittier tone, but done right, unlike the 2003 Hulk film. 

Fun Fact: After the failure of Batman and Robin, the Batman movie franchise was on life support, and there were many attempts to do a reboot and do the character right. Even Joel Schuameler wanted to give fans a proper dark Batman film. Because Batman is better as a dark, gritty film series, you can have comedy once in a while, but we prefer dark and gritty as most dark superheroes should be. 

Christopher Nolan came and rebooted Batman, returning it to its dark roots. Without Nolan, we wouldn't have the good superhero films we have today. Nolan saved the Batman franchise, and we are now getting more Batman films, as well as spin-offs. 

The film's story revolves around Batman's origin and how he became Batman. The film does a great job of exploring how Bruce Wayne became the Dark Knight and how he was trained by the League of Shadows, but in the comics, it's the League of Assassins. After completing his training and defying the League's stance on killing criminals, he returns to Gotham and becomes Batman. As well, Bruce Wayne tries to take back his company and do good for Gotham, as both Bruce Wayne and Batman

Now, the cast of the film all do a great job. For instance, Christian Bale was fantastic as Batman. I know his Batman's voice is often made fun of, and Bale lost his voice during filming. The rest of the cast, including Gary Oldman and Jim Gordon, was great, and Nolan gave us a proper Gordon, unlike the Burton and Schumacher versions, which didn't do much. Also, Michael Caine was incredible as Alfred and Kate Holmes was great too as Rachel, an original character for the film. Morgan Freeman was great as Lucius Fox, and the fun fact is that he read Batman comics as a kid and didn't know about Lucius Fox till this movie. The villains of the film are Ra Al Ghul and Scarecrow, and they were good first villains to start out with instead of Joker. Liam Neeson and Cillian Murphy both did a great job playing those villains, and the Ra's Al Ghul twist was not that surprising if you think about it. Even I knew that the decoy Ra's Al Ghul, played by Ken Watanabe, wasn't the real deal because it was too obviously Liam Neeson. Still, the cast, like I said, all did a great job. 

As well the action and epic fights were great and when Batman takes out his foes and we love that scene with Falcone. That I'm Batman scene is the same level of epicness along with Keaton's. 

One thing fans love about this movie is the setup it made for the next film. When Gordon hands Batman the Joker card, I remember everyone in the theatre went wild because the Joker was coming. We all know what led to The Dark Knight. 

Overall, I love Batman Begins; it was a game-changer in the Superhero Genre, and it will continue to inspire many writers on how to retell a hero's origin. Hell, many people credit Batman Begins for great inspiration. I give Batman Begins an 8 out of 10. It's one of the best Batman films.