Batman Begins

For the video game based on the film, see Batman Begins (video game).

Batman Begins
Directed by	Christopher Nolan
Written by	Comic Book: Bob Kane Bill Finger Story: David S. Goyer Screenplay: Christopher Nolan David S. Goyer
Produced by	Emma Thomas Charles Roven Larry J. Franco
Starring	Christian Bale Michael Caine Liam Neeson Katie Holmes Gary Oldman Cillian Murphy Tom Wilkinson Rutger Hauer Ken Watanabe Morgan Freeman
Cinematography	Wally Pfister
Edited by	Lee Smith
Music by	Hans Zimmer James Newton Howard
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release dates	June 15, 2005
Running time	141 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$150 million

Batman Begins is a 2005 superhero film based on the fictional DC Comics character Batman. The film is directed by Christopher Nolan and stars Christian Bale as Batman.

Several years after the commercial and critical failure of Joel Shumacher's Batman & Robin in 1997, Begins was a reboot of the Batman film franchise. The lighter direction Schumacher had taken the franchise was abandoned, and the new film was written concerning the origins of Batman with some inspirations from classic comic book storylines such as Batman: Year One and The Long Halloween. The film was the first live action film to depict this stage of the character's history.

Batman Begins proved to be successful, and a sequel titled The Dark Knight was commissioned for a 2008 release with both Nolan and Bale returning.

Plot

Template:Spoilers As a young boy of 8, Bruce Wayne falls down a well, where he is attacked by bats. Though he is rescued by his father Thomas, Bruce is left with a fear of bats. When Bruce and his parents attend the opera Mefistofele, Bruce is frightened by the portrayals of bat-like demons in the performance. He and his parents exit into an alley, where they are confronted by an armed mugger, Joe Chill, who shoots and kills Bruce's parents. Chill is arrested and convicted for the double murder, but Bruce is left traumatized by the incident. The family's butler, Alfred Pennyworth, raises Bruce in the absence of his parents.

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Young Bruce Wayne, after his parents' murder.

When Bruce is 22, he returns home to Gotham City from college, intent on killing Joe Chill, whose prison sentence is being suspended in exchange for testifying against the mob boss Carmine Falcone. Chill is assassinated by one of Falcone's henchmen, depriving Bruce of his opportunity. When Bruce tells his childhood friend Rachel Dawes about his foiled plan, she expresses disgust. Bruce decides to confront Falcone himself, but the mob boss dismisses him as powerless. Bruce abandons his life at home, stowing away on a cargo ship and traveling the world for seven years. He associates with criminals to learn their ways and is arrested by police in China. After a prison brawl some time later, a man who identifies himself as Ducard invites Bruce to join an elite vigilante group, the League of Shadows, under the leadership of Ra's al Ghul. Bruce, freed the next day, travels to the top of a mountain to begin his combat training with the League. In his training, Bruce overcomes his fear of bats while under the hallucinogenic influence of a mountainside blue flower. When Ducard tells Bruce to execute a murderer as a final test before leading the League to destroy a corrupted Gotham City, Bruce refuses to obey and destroys the League's headquarters, killing Ra's in the process. However, Bruce rescues an unconscious Ducard from the wreckage and leaves his mentor at a nearby village.

Bruce Wayne returns to a Gotham City that is almost completely in the pocket of Falcone and begins plotting a one-man war against the corrupt system. He plans to seek the help of Rachel, now an assistant district attorney, and police sergeant Jim Gordon, who consoled him in the aftermath of the murder of his parents. Bruce pays a visit to Gordon one night in disguise to establish communication. After reestablishing his connections to his father's company, Wayne Enterprises, Bruce is able to acquire, with the help of former board member Lucius Fox, a prototype armored car and an experimental armored suit. He augments the suit with League of Shadows armor, and a special cape that can become a rudimentary hang glider. One night, he dons the completed costume to become Batman, interrupts a drug shipment by Falcone, and leaves the mob boss tied to a searchlight to form a makeshift Bat-Signal. He also disrupts an assassination attempt on Dawes, leaving her with evidence against a judge that has gone soft on Falcone in the past. While investigating the "unusual" drugs in the shipment, Batman is stunned by Dr. Jonathan Crane ("The Scarecrow"), who sprays him with a hallucinogenic drug. Bruce is saved by Alfred and an anti-toxin developed by Lucius. Crane later poisons Rachel after showing her that the toxin, which is revealed to only be harmful in vapor form, is being piped into Gotham's water supply. She is saved by Batman. The Police enter the asylum, and Batman escapes with Rachel in his Batmobile. After administering the antidote to Rachel in his cave, he gives her a vial for Gordon.

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Batman and Gordon assume new responsibilities.

That night, at Bruce's 30th birthday party, he is confronted by Ducard, who is revealed to be the real Ra's al Ghul. Ra’s, who had been conspiring with Crane the entire time, plans to destroy Gotham by distributing the toxin (which was extracted from his blue flowers) undetected via Gotham's water supply, and then vaporize it with a stolen device from Wayne Enterprises. Bruce, tricking his guests into leaving, fights Ra's while the League of Shadows set fire to Wayne Manor. Bruce escapes the inferno with Alfred's help just as the manor is destroyed. While the police are engaged in battle with psychotic criminals the League has released from Arkham, Batman arrives to help. After saving Rachel, who guesses his identity, he leaves Gordon in control of the Batmobile to stop the elevated train that is being used to transport the vaporizer to the city's central water hub. Batman battles Ra's, then escapes just as Gordon topples the elevated line using the Batmobile's missiles, leaving Ra's to crash with the train. Following the battle, Batman becomes a public hero. Bruce gains control of Wayne Enterprises and installs Fox as CEO. However, he is unable to hold onto Rachel, who cannot reconcile her love for Bruce Wayne with his dual life as Batman. Gordon, now a Lieutenant, unveils a Bat-Signal for Batman and mentions a new criminal that, like Batman, has "a taste for the theatrical", leaving a Joker playing card at his crime scenes. Batman promises to look into it and takes off into the night.

Cast

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Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne and Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth.

• Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman: A Gothamite billionaire whose parents were killed by a mugger when he was 8 years old. Traveling the world for several years to seek the means to fight injustice, he returns to Gotham. At night, Wayne becomes Batman, Gotham City's secret vigilante protector, and defends the city from the rampant crime that caused his parents' deaths. To protect his secret, Wayne pretends to be an irresponsible playboy.
• Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth: The trusted butler to Bruce Wayne's parents, who continues his loyal service to their son after their deaths. He is Bruce Wayne's closest confidante.
• Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes: A childhood friend of Bruce Wayne who works as an assistant to Gotham City's District Attorney and fights against the corruption in the city.
• Gary Oldman as James Gordon: A member of the Gotham City Police Department and one of the few uncorrupted cops in Gotham City.
• Cillian Murphy as Dr. Jonathan Crane / The Scarecrow: A psychiatrist who works at Arkham Asylum and has developed fear-inducing toxins. He takes on the persona of the Scarecrow to intimidate others.
• Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox: A high-ranking Wayne Enterprises employee who was demoted to working in the company's Applied Science Division. Fox supplies Bruce Wayne with much of the gear necessary to carry out Batman's mission and is also promoted to CEO when Wayne re-possesses the company.
• Liam Neeson as Henri Ducard / Ra's al Ghul: Assumes the identity of a second in command, Henri Ducard, for misdirection and trains Bruce Wayne to become a warrior. His methods and ideology are more extreme than the one Wayne embraces.
• Ken Watanabe as Ra's al Ghul (Decoy): Presented as Ra's al Ghul, the leader of the League of Shadows while Henri Ducard acts as his right hand man.
• Tom Wilkinson as Carmine Falcone: A ruthless crime boss who rules Gotham City with an iron fist, having many of the city's authorities under his control.
• Rutger Hauer as Mr. Earle: The unscrupulous CEO of Wayne Enterprises who takes the company public in the long-term absence of Bruce Wayne.
• Mark Boone Junior as Detective Flass: Member of the GCPD and Gordon's partner. A corrupt cop, Flass does work for Falcone by protecting his drug shipments.
• Colin McFarlane as Commissioner Loeb: The Commissioner of the GCPD, appears to be a honest cop who does not work for Falcone. He is the one who tells young Bruce Wayne that his parents killer has been caught.
• Linus Roache as Thomas Wayne: Bruce Wayne's father, killed by Joe Chill when his son was 8 years old.
• Sara Stewart as Martha Wayne: Bruce Wayne's mother, killed by Joe Chill when her son was 8 years old.
• Richard Brake as Joe Chill: The criminal who murders Bruce Wayne's parents.

Template:Endspoiler In September 2003, director Christopher Nolan was reported to be considering Billy Crudup, Jake Gyllenhaal, Christian Bale, Hugh Dancy, Joshua Jackson and Cillian Murphy for the role of Bruce Wayne. On September 11, 2003, Warner Bros. Pictures announced by press release that Christian Bale had been cast as the next Batman. Director Nolan said of Bale, "He has exactly the balance of darkness and light that we were looking for." Since he had lost a great deal of weight in preparation for his role in The Machinist, Christian Bale hired a personal trainer to help him gain 100 pounds in the span of only a couple of months to help him physically prepare for the role of Bruce Wayne / Batman. This effectively shattered the record of 70 pounds set by Vincent D'Onofrio in 1987 for his role in Full Metal Jacket. At first he went well over the weight required (taking literally Nolan's instructions to "get as big as you can"), and when he was first introduced to the crew there was concern over whether he'd look right for the part. However, Bale worked hard to lose the excess weight, and was ready in time for filming.

Actor Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later) was cast to portray "the Scarecrow" in the film. On the same day of Murphy's announcement, Michael Caine said in an interview that Nolan was considering Viggo Mortensen for the role of the film's villain, not yet announced. Actor Chris Cooper had been offered the role of Jim Gordon, but turned it down since the character did not meet his expectations.

Production

In January 2003, Warner Bros. Pictures hired Memento director Christopher Nolan to helm an untitled Batman film. In March 2003, Warner Bros. Pictures hired David S. Goyer to write the script for the untitled Batman project. In April 2003, Christopher Nolan was attached to helm The Prestige under Warner Bros. and Disney, indicating a possible delay in developing the new Batman film. In a July 2003 interview, however, Nolan said that the Batman film was in the early stages of production. In September 2003, Warner Bros. and director Christopher Nolan announced a production start in early 2004 for a 2005 release date. Director Christopher Nolan stated his intention to reinvent the film franchise of Batman by "doing the origins story of the character, which is a story that's never been told before". Nolan said that humanity and realism would be the bases of the origin film. "The world of Batman is that of grounded reality. [It] will be a recognizable, contemporary reality against which an extraordinary heroic figure arises," said the director. Screenwriter David S. Goyer said that the goal of the film was to get the audience to care for both Batman and Bruce Wayne. Christian Bale felt the previous films had underused Batman's character, overplaying the villains instead.

In January 2004, the untitled Batman project was scheduled to film in London, New York, and Iceland. In February 2004, crews transformed the restaurant Plateau in Canary Wharf for a hotel restaurant scene. In the same month, an airship hangar at Cardington, Bedfordshire was rented by Warner Bros. for constructing a set in time for filming in April 2004. Filming began on March in Iceland, and Nolan refused a second unit, to keep his vision consistent.

Influences

The film's overall look, feel and story was inspired by several works. DC Comics president Paul Levitz, director Christopher Nolan and screenwriter David S. Goyer worked as a team to draw ideas from thirty years' worth of Batman comics. Nolan's personal "jumping off point" was Batman: The Man Who Falls, a short story about the death of Bruce Wayne's parents and Bruce's travels throughout the world. The early scene in Batman Begins of young Bruce Wayne falling into a well was directly adapted from The Man Who Falls. The group also drew June 1971's Batman #232: "Daughter of the Demon" ("the classic arc that introduced Ra's al Ghul") and "the two or three best Scarecrow stories ever done" to help write the film's main villains. While the Scarecrow stories were mentioned more ambiguously, the Scarecrow's line in the film, "Dr. Crane isn't here right now…" was drawn from the story "Choices" from Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Special (December 1993) by Jeph Loeb. In addition, the story Batman: The Long Halloween influenced Goyer in writing the screenplay, with the villain Carmine Falcone as one of many elements which were drawn from Halloween's "sober, serious approach". The sequel to Halloween, Batman: Dark Victory, also served as an influence. Goyer used the vacancy of Bruce Wayne's multi-year absence presented in Batman: Year One to help set up some of the film's events in the transpiring years. In addition, the film's Sergeant James Gordon was based on his comic book incarnation in Year One. Frank Miller's Year One plot device about a corrupt police force creating Gordon and Gotham City's need for Batman was also used by the writers of Batman Begins.

In addition to drawing from Batman canon, director Christopher Nolan used the science fiction film Blade Runner as a source of inspiration for Batman Begins. The director screened Blade Runner to cinematographer Wally Pfister and two others to show the attitude and style that he wanted to draw from the film. Nolan described the film's world as "an interesting lesson on the technique of exploring and describing a credible universe that doesn't appear to have any boundaries", a lesson that he applied to the production of Batman Begins.

Design

Gotham City

Gotham City is depicted as still being affected by a long Depression, due in part to Ra's al Ghul bringing down what he perceives to be a corrupt city. Wayne Enterprises created a train line to connect the poverty stricken Narrows and the richer parts of the city, and the end point is also above the city's main water supply within W.E.'s main tower. Carmine Falcone is the main source of corruption in the city, having bribed many judges, policemen, lawyers whilst he oversees the drug stock. His partnership with Jonathan Crane allows his men to avoid jail. The Wayne family lives somewhere outside the city and has a long history: during the American Civil War Bruce's ancestor used the underground network to lead slaves to their freedom.

Director Christopher Nolan worked with production designer Nathan Crowley to create the look of Gotham City. Nolan designed Gotham City to be a large, modern metropolitan area that would reflect the various periods of architecture that the city had gone through. Elements were drawn from New York City, Chicago, and Tokyo, the latter for its elevated freeways and monorails. In Batman Begins, the Narrows was based on the slummish nature of the walled city of Kowloon in Hong Kong.

Batmobile

In Batman Begins, Bruce Wayne acquires a mothballed Wayne Enterprises military vehicle, called the Tumbler, to serve as his Batmobile. Originally sporting military camouflage paint, Bruce Wayne requests Lucius Fox to have the Tumbler painted black. The Tumbler possesses a jet engine which can propel the vehicle in the air over a short distance. The vehicle has two driving positions: one for actual driving, and one for flying via propulsion. Stealth capabilities are also built into the Tumbler, which includes a silent, electric motor drive that helps render the vehicle "invisible" at night.

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The Tumbler, the Batmobile used in Batman Begins.

Nathan Crowley, one of the production designers for Batman Begins, started the process of designing the Tumbler for the film by model bashing. One of the parts that Crowley used to create the vehicle was the nose cone of a P-38 Lightning model to serve as the chassis for the Tumbler's jet engine. Six models of the Tumbler were built to 1:12 scale in the course of four months. Following the scale model creation, a crew of over 30 people, including Crowley and engineers Chris Culvert and Annie Smith, carved a full-size replica of the Tumbler out of a large block of Styrofoam, which was a process that lasted two months.

The Styrofoam model was used to create a steel "test frame", which had to stand up to several standards: have a speed of over 100 mph, go from 0 to 60 mph in 5 seconds, possess a steering system to make sharp turns at city corners, and to withstand a self-propelled launch of up to 30 feet. On the very first jump test, the Tumbler's front end collapsed and had to be completely rebuilt. The basic configuration of the newly designed Tumbler included a 5.7-liter Chevy V8 engine, a truck axle for the rear axle, front racing tires by Hoosier, rear 4x4 mud tires by Interco., and the suspension system of Baja racing trucks. The design and development process took nine months and cost several million dollars.

With the design process completed, four street-ready race cars were constructed, with each vehicle possessing 65 carbon fiber panels and costing $250,000 each to build. Two of the four cars were specialized versions. One version was the flap version, which had hydraulics and flaps to detail the close-up shots where the vehicle propelled itself through the air. The other version was the jet version, in which an actual jet engine was mounted onto the vehicle, fueled by six propane tanks. Due to the poor visibility inside the vehicle by the driver, monitors were connected to cameras on the vehicle body. The professional drivers for the Tumblers practiced driving the vehicles for six months before they drove on the streets of Chicago for the film's scenes.

The interior of the Tumbler was an immobile studio set and not actually the interior of a street-capable Tumbler. The cockpit was over-sized to fit cameras for scenes filmed in the Tumbler interior. In addition, another version of the Tumbler was a miniature model that was 1:5 scale of the actual Tumbler. This miniature model had an electric motor and was used to show the Tumbler flying across ravines and between buildings. However, the scene in Batman Begins where the Tumbler flies through the waterfall was the actual race car.

Batsuit

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Batman uses the Batsuit to summon bats for distraction in the Arkham Asylum.

In Batman Begins, Bruce Wayne physically becomes Batman by wearing a fictional Nomex Survival Suit created by the Applied Science Division of Wayne Enterprises. Wayne modifies the undersuit by adding defensive gauntlets, Kevlar gloves, a cowl, and a cape. The cowl has a composite-graphite exterior with the interior containing microphones and a radio antenna. The cape is made of memory fiber, another fictional product of Wayne Enterprises' Applied Science Division, which allows the fabric to become stiff via electrical charge and enable the cape user to glide, mimicking the skeletal structure of a Bat's wings. Batman also has multiple gadgets on his utility belt, including a magnetic grappling gun. In addition, the Batsuit has a sonic device built into the heel of one of the boots to attract bats to use for distraction.

The filmmakers intended to create a very mobile Batsuit that would allow the wearer to move easily in order to fight and crouch. Previous film incarnations of the Batsuit had been stiff and especially restricted full head movement. Lindy Hemming, the costume designer for Batman Begins, and her crew worked on the Batsuit at an FX workshop codenamed "Cape Town", a secured compound located at Shepperton Studios in London. The Batsuit's basic design was a neoprene undersuit, which was shaped by attaching molded cream latex sections. Batman actor Christian Bale was molded and sculpted prior to his physical training so the team could work on a full body cast. To avoid imperfections picked up by sculpting with clay, plastiline was used to smooth the surface. In addition, the team brewed different mixtures of foam to find the mixture that would be the most flexible, light, durable, and black. The latter presented a problem, since the process to make the foam black reduced the foam's durability.

For the cape, director Christopher Nolan wanted to have a "flowing cloak... that blows and flows as in so many great graphic novels". Hemming's team created the cape out of their own version of parachute nylon that had electrostatic flocking, a process shared with the team by the British Ministry of Defense. The process was used by the London police force to minimize night vision detection. The cape was topped by a cowl, which was designed by Nolan, Hemming, and costume effects supervisor Graham Churchyard. The cowl was created to be thin enough to allow motion but thick enough to avoid wrinkling when Bale turned his head in the Batsuit. Churchyard explained the cowl had been designed to show "a man who has angst", so his character would be revealed through the mask.

For the film, three people were needed to dress Christian Bale up in the Batsuit. Since Bale wore the Batsuit for hours at a time, overheating became an issue. Plastic tubes were occasionally routed into the Batsuit as Bale wore it to provide a "cool suit" similar to those worn by high-altitude pilots and astronauts. To best pose as Batman, Bale studied graphic novels and illustrations of the superhero. Nolan said that Bale succeeded in his intimidating pose, recalling, "Everyone on set felt quite a charge when Christian would walk on in the Batsuit." Bale had a love-hate relationship with the suit, which had often sent him into foul moods, helping him transform into Batman. Bale said, "Batman's meant to be fierce, and you become a beast in that suit, as Batman should be — not a man in a suit, but a different creature."

Film score

See also: Batman Begins (soundtrack)

The film score for Batman Begins was composed by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard. Director Christopher Nolan originally invited Zimmer to compose the film score, and Zimmer asked the director if he could invite Howard to compose as well. The two composers collaborated on separate themes for the "split personality" of Bruce Wayne and his alter ego, Batman. Zimmer and Howard began composing in Los Angeles and moved to London where they stayed for 12 weeks to complete most of their writing. Zimmer wanted to avoid composing a film score that had been done before, so the score became an amalgamation of orchestra and electronic music. Zimmer and Howard sought inspiration for shaping the score by making set visits to Batman Begins. The film's orchestra was developed from members of various London orchestras, and Zimmer chose to use more than the normal amount of cellos. Zimmer enlisted a choir boy to help reflect the music in the film's scene where Bruce Wayne's parents are killed. "He's singing a fairly pretty tune and then he gets stuck, it's like froze, arrested development," Zimmer said. Zimmer also attempted to add human dimension to Batman, whose behavior would typically be seen as "psychotic", through the music. Both composers collaborated to create 2 hours and 20 minutes' worth of music for the film.

Reception

Box office performance

Batman Begins opened on June 15, 2005 in the United States in 3,858 theaters, accumulating $48,745,440 over its opening weekend. The film went on to gross $205,343,774 domestically and $371,853,783 worldwide. Batman Begins is the second highest grossing Batman film behind the 1989 Batman, which grossed $411,348,924 worldwide. Batman Begins was domestically the eighth highest grossing film in 2005.

Critical response

Batman Begins was positively received by the majority of professional critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film received 84% overall approval out of 235 reviews. The film also rated 70% on Metacritic. Roger Ebert, who had panned all previous live-action Batman movies, gave Batman Begins 4 stars out of 4, calling it "the Batman movie I've been waiting for". Empire magazine declared Batman Begins the second best film of 2005

Awards and nominations

Wally Pfister was nominated by the American Society of Cinematographers and was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts nominated the film for Best Production Design, Best Special Visual Effects, and Best Sound in 2005. The film was nominated Saturn Awards for Best Fantasy Film, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director, Best Writer, Best Music, Best Costume, and Best Special Effects. The film was nominated Best Movie at the MTV Movie Awards, with Cillian Murphy being nominated as Best Villain and Christian Bale winning for Best Hero. Katie Holmes was nominated for a Razzie for Worst Supporting Actress. Batman Begins won the fan-based "Best Film" Total Film Award.

DVD and HD DVD

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DVD cover of the Widescreen Deluxe Edition of Batman Begins.

The DVD of Batman Begins was released on October 18, 2005 in both single disc and two-disc deluxe editions. In addition to the film, the deluxe edition contained featurettes and other bonus materials. The edition contained a small paperback booklet, the first Batman story Detective Comics #27, as well as Batman: The Man Who Falls and an excerpt from Batman: The Long Halloween. Batman Begins achieved first place in national sales and rental charts in October 2005, becoming the top-selling DVD in the fourth quarter of 2005. The DVD grossed $11.36 million in rental revenue. The DVD held its position at the top of the sales chart for a second week, but fell to second place behind Bewitched on video rental charts.

Batman Begins was released on HD DVD on October 10, 2006.

External links

• Official site
• Official production notes
• Film analysis at IGN
• Scene-by-scene annotations of Batman Begins
• Comic Vs. Film analysis at IGN
• Batman Begins at IMDb
• Batman Begins at Rotten Tomatoes
• Template:Shh
• Batman Begins at Curlie