Batman Begins

EEEK! We've made it to the best batman trilogy...only we dont have the final installment unfortunately. We decided to save these two movies so we could have a back to back marathon. The Dark Knight Rises is playing at the dollar theater down the street from us, but we decided to stay home and watch The Walking Dead instead tonight.

So Batman Begins is an amazing start to the series. I really love how we don't just come in to Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) already being batman, but we see what draws him to be this caped crusader. We first meet up with him where he has put himself in a third world prison so he can punish the criminals from in there with his fist. Liam Neeson shows up and invited Wayne to enter into a journey into discovering the true nature of delivering justice, through The League of Shadows. Wayne of course does it, who wouldnt?! I have just been informed that that was a flashback and he comes back from Princeton to be at a parole hearing for Joe Chill, the man who killed his parents. When Bruce was just a small boy he falls down a well attached to a bat cave and becomes seriously afraid of bats. Then his parents take him to an opera where bats are prominent. He gets freaked out and they leave early. Then they stumble upon a scared crook with a gun who gets spooked and jittery and ends up shooting the Mr and Mrs. This moment will forever associate bats and his parents murder, which is one of the greater reasons why he is still scared of bats even as a grown man. I'm a psych major, so i'm totally allowed to make that conclusion.



Let me just take a moment and talk about how great these flashbacks are. They aren't weird or too dramatic, but are just right. Mr. Wayne is perfect. He is an attentive and loving father who truly cares about making Gotham a better place. The Waynes built a free public transportation system for the city, and kept Gotham from falling into mass poverty by spending their own money for the city.

 

Anyway, Bruce considers killing Chill after the hearing, but the main mob boss in the city gets there first. Bruce's childhood friend and love interest Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes) is the lawyer on the case, and gets him free because he is going to give them the dirt on the Falcone's (the big mob family). However the Falcone's paid off the judge presiding so they could get Chill in the open and kill him. Bruce then gets put in prison in the third world country and then enters into his training with Ra's Al Ghul. Al Ghul hopes that he will become his successor, but when Bruce refuses to kill people no matter their crime and help destroy Gotham, his hopes are shattered. Bruce sets the place on fire but rescues Liam Neeson. 

Bruce returns to Gotham for good, clear now on his mission. He comes up with the idea to create a symbol that can be used to save Gotham,whether its through fear or hope. This idea carries on throughout the entire series.  He beats up lots of people, and intervenes and finally gets the police the hard evidence they need to put the Falcones away. Once Falcone is put away, his business partner Dr. Crane (Scarecrow) decides to turn him crazy with an aerosol hallucinogenic so he doesn't snitch. Crane turns out to be the henchman of the real Ra's Al Ghul that we learn is Liam Neeson's character, and his plan to destroy Gotham remains. They are putting the drugs that the mob was bringing in, which are also cut with the hallucinogen into the water system. Then they plan on using a fancy microwave device made by Wayne Enterprises to evaporate all the water in the area, therefore exposing the people of Gotham to panic and terror which will then destroy the city. My main qualm with this, is how does the microwave device not evaporate all the water in the human body and kill everyone right on the spot??

Batman saves the day by going toe to toe with Al Ghul on the speeding train headed toward the main water supply. With the help of the amazing Sergeant Gordon (Gary Oldman)  he is able to destroy the train/mircowave device/ Al Ghul all in one swift crash. Batman says he isn't the one to kill Al Ghul, but he doesn't have to save him.

In the process of all these events, Wayne Manor is burnt to a crisp. Some of the corruption of Gotham goes away, but only a little. Batman becomes Gordon's best friend, and Rachel learns the truth over who is Batman, and he uses Crane's own poison against him.

In this movie, Batman's voice isn't too terrible. You can actually understand him. He just takes is one step too far in the following movies. Also, does anyone else think that his teeth just naturally look like bat teeth?

I'm currently watching Dawson's Creek on instant netflix, and it's such a nice change to see Katie Holmes as a mature actress who isn't constantly bumbling and self analyzing every single action.

Oh, silly me, I forgot to mention Alfred!! He is truly one of the greater things about these movies.


I think I've overloaded this blog, so I will leave it here.


Andrews Closing Thought: They should have blown up Rachel Dawes in this movie

Up Next: The Dark Knight