Batman Begins(2005)

As the title suggests " Batman Begins"  is the first of the batman trilogy.  Directed by Christopher Nolan this marks the beginning of one of the best superhero films of all times.

Cast: Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman Michael Cain, Katie Homes, Liam Neeson

Plot and summary:

Batman begins tells the story of Bruce Wayne(Played by Christian Bale), the prince of Gotham and how he becomes a symbol feared by the underworld " The Batman". The film begins with his childhood where he first meets his fear of bats. He falls down a closed well where an group of bats fly over him and he stays there for hours until his dad  rescue's him.  He wakes up in a prison   somewhere near the Himalayas. He is beaten up by the thugs gets thrown in a solitary confinement.

He meets Ducard a member of league of shadow( played by Liam Neeson). He tells Bruce that "you are truly lost, trying to fight injustice u have lost your identity". He offers to train him to  as a member of the league of shadows.  There is an interesting quote which inspires Bruce to make the journey

" if you make yourself more than just a man, if you devout yourself to an ideal completely. You become something else entirely ". In many ways the league of shadows gives Bruce the idea of turning into the Batman.

During his training with Ducard he explains his past, how his parents were murdered and  why he has fled Gotham to understand the criminal mind(part of which comes later in the film). After his graduation from Princeton he comes home once to attend the trial of his parents murderer. He actually wants to shoot the killer to take vengeance. But after the trial one of Falconi's men ( the mob boss of Gotham) kills the murderer. Rachael drives Bruce home, she tells him that it was very unfortunate that he had died. Bruce tells his true intentions to Rachael . She drives to falconi's place and asks him to look at the true state of Gotham. Falconi meets Bruce and tells about his parents and how he murdered them. Bruce is helpless and gets thrown out. Then he runs away into a random cargo ships and then his narration ends. After Bruce's   completion of his training he is given a task to execute a man for his wrongdoings. Bruce refuses and tells that he should be tried like any other criminal. The head of the league of shadows explains Bruce about his grand plan to destroy Gotham city. Bruce burns the whole place down rescuing only his teacher and flees away.

He calls Alfred(played by Michael Cain) and tells his whereabouts and his plan to return to Gotham. He also tells him about the idea of a symbol(the batman). He meets Lucius Fox(played by Morgan Freeman) the head of the R&D firm at Wayne enterprise. He goes back to Wayne manor and starts living with Alfred. It is here where he learns to face his fear and makes a symbol out of it( he goes into the well once again and meets the bats and

The first thing he does as Batman is his meeting with Jim Gordon(played by Gary Old man) one of the few good cops in Gotham city.  He explains his arrival and his plans for Gotham and flees away. His attire and gear gets improved by his regular meeting with Lucius  (the tumbler- the batmobile is born here- the most bad ass superhero cars ever).

Then the plot slowly unravels and we can see that the drugs getting dumped i  the water mains of Gotham  and the whole city is going to die of fear. Bruce also learns at the end that Ras Alghul is Ducard himself and he meets him in his house. Ducard tells Bruce that he is similar to his father ," you don't have the courage to do what was necessary, Now we will complete what we started and there will not be a mistake" they burn his place down and flee. Alfred finds Bruce and reminds him of his father's words" why do we fall? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up".

As Gotham burns in chaos of fear. Bruce tries to stop the inevitable and finally kills Ducard with the help of Rachel, Lucius and Jim. The film ends with Bruce trying to reconstruct Gotham manor and Rachel meets him. Rachel finds out the true identity of Bruce the night before and tells that she will wait for him when Gotham city no longer needs Batman.

Batman Begins with ends with batman turning into the symbol for the thugs and badguys in the city. There is an introduction of the Joker card at the end telling what we can expect from the next one in the franchise.

Verdict:

A Brilliant start to a great saga. Though the scenes in the slumps are a bit exaggerated and too messy. Its an excellent executed till the end. Christian bale convinces both as Batman in the action scenes as batman and as Bruce Wayne. The soundtrack is fitting to the scenes and the screenplay is racy. Finally as in all Nolan films the dialog are crisp and perfectly suited to the scenes. Many favorites will arise throughout the film.