Batman Begins

Batman Begins is a 2005 superhero film based on the DC Comics character Batman. Directed by Christopher Nolan, who co-wrote the screenplay with David S. Goyer, the film stars Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman, with Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson, Rutger Hauer, Ken Watanabe, and Morgan Freeman in supporting roles. The film reboots the Batman film series, telling the origin story of Bruce Wayne from the death of his parents to his journey to become Batman and his fight to stop Ra's al Ghul and the Scarecrow from plunging Gotham City into chaos.
After Batman & Robin was panned by critics and underperformed at the box office, Warner Bros. Pictures cancelled future Batman films, including Joel Schumacher's planned Batman Unchained. Between 1998 and 2003, several filmmakers collaborated with Warner Bros. in attempting to reboot the franchise. After the studio rejected a Batman origin story reboot Joss Whedon pitched in December 2002, Warner Bros. hired Nolan in January 2003 to direct a new film. Nolan and Goyer began development on the film in early 2003. Aiming for a darker, more realistic tone compared to the previous films, a primary goal for their vision was to engage the audience's emotional investment in both the Batman and Bruce Wayne identities of the lead character. The film, which was principally shot in the United Kingdom, Iceland and Chicago, relied heavily on traditional stunts and miniature effects, with computer-generated imagery being used in a minimal capacity compared to other action films. Comic book storylines such as The Man Who Falls, Batman: Year One, and Batman: The Long Halloween served as inspiration.
Expectations for Batman Begins ranged from moderate to low, which originated from the poor reception of Batman & Robin that was credited with stalling the Batman film series in 1997. After premiering in Tokyo on May 31, 2005, the film was released in the United States on June 15. It was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $371.9 million worldwide against a $150 million budget, becoming the ninth highest-grossing film of 2005, and was the second highest grossing Batman film at the time of its release, behind Tim Burton's Batman. Receiving a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, the film elevated Bale to leading man status while it made Nolan a high-profile director.
Since its release, Batman Begins has often been cited as one of the most influential films of the 2000s. The film helped popularize the term reboot in Hollywood, inspiring studios and filmmakers to revive franchises with realistic and serious tones. It was followed by The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, with the three films constituting The Dark Knight trilogy.

Plot

In Gotham City, a young Bruce Wayne falls down a well and develops a fear of bats. At the opera with his parents, Bruce is unsettled by performers masquerading as bats and asks to leave. Outside, a mugger, Joe Chill, shoots his parents dead. Bruce is raised by the family butler, Alfred Pennyworth.
Fourteen years later, Chill testifies against mafia crime boss Carmine Falcone, and is paroled. Bruce intends to murder Chill to avenge his parents, but an assassin in Falcone's employ kills him first. After confronting Falcone, who says real power comes from being feared, Bruce spends the next seven years traveling the world, training in combat, and immersing himself in the criminal underworld.
In a Bhutan prison, Bruce is approached by Henri Ducard, who recruits him into the League of Shadows, led by Ra's al Ghul. After completing his training, he rejects the League's mandate that all criminals should be killed. He burns down the temple and escapes after learning that the League believes Gotham is corrupted beyond saving and intends to destroy the city. Ra's is killed by falling debris, while Bruce saves Ducard.
Intent on fighting crime and redeeming Gotham, Bruce returns to Gotham and to his family's company, Wayne Enterprises, which is being taken public by businessman William Earle. Company archivist Lucius Fox, a friend of Bruce's father, allows him access to prototype defense technologies, including a protective bodysuit and the Tumbler, an armored vehicle. Bruce poses publicly as a shallow playboy while setting up base in the caves beneath Wayne Manor and taking up the vigilante identity of "Batman", inspired by his childhood fear, which he has now conquered.
Intercepting a drug shipment, Batman provides his childhood friend, Rachel Dawes, an Assistant District Attorney, with evidence against Falcone and enlists Sergeant James Gordon, one of Gotham's few honest police officers, to arrest him. In prison, Falcone meets Dr. Jonathan Crane, a corrupt psychologist who smuggles drugs into Gotham with his help. Donning a scarecrow mask, Crane sprays Falcone with a fear-inducing hallucinogen, driving him insane and having him transferred to Arkham Asylum under his care. While investigating Crane, Batman is sprayed with the hallucinogen. He is saved by Alfred and Fox, who develop an antidote for it.
When Rachel confronts Crane, he reveals that he has introduced his drug into Gotham's water supply and drugs her. When Crane is captured, he claims to work for Ra's al Ghul. Batman saves Rachel and administers the antidote. At Bruce's birthday party, Ducard reveals himself to be the true Ra's al Ghul. Having stolen a powerful microwave emitter from Wayne Enterprises, he plans to vaporize Gotham's water supply, rendering Crane's drug airborne and causing mass hysteria that will destroy the city. He sets Wayne Manor aflame but Alfred rescues Bruce. The League of Shadows frees Crane and the other inmates from Arkham, while Ra's loads the emitter onto Gotham's monorail to release the drug at the city's central water source under Wayne Tower. Batman reveals his identity to Rachel before confronting Ra's on the train. Gordon uses the Tumbler's cannons to destroy the train track and Batman leaves Ra's to die as the train crashes.
Rachel now respects Bruce but refuses to be with him, promising they can be together when Gotham no longer needs Batman. Batman becomes a public hero. After purchasing a controlling stake in Wayne Enterprises, Bruce fires Earle and replaces him with Fox. Gordon is promoted to Lieutenant, shows Batman the Bat-Signal, and tells him about a criminal who leaves behind Joker playing cards.

Cast

Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman:

A billionaire socialite who, after witnessing his parents' death in a mugging at age 8, travels around the world seven years before returning home to inherit his family company Wayne Enterprises whilst operating at night as a bat-masked vigilante bringing justice upon the criminal underworld of Gotham City. Bale was relatively unknown when cast. Before he was confirmed on September 11, 2003, having expressed interest in the role since Darren Aronofsky was planning his own film adaptation, Eion Bailey, Henry Cavill, who would later be cast as Superman, Billy Crudup, Hugh Dancy, Jake Gyllenhaal, Joshua Jackson, David Boreanaz, Heath Ledger, who later played the Joker in The Dark Knight, and Cillian Murphy, who would later be cast as Dr. Jonathan Crane / Scarecrow, took interest in it as well. While still attached to the project, Aronofsky revealed in a 2020 interview for Empire magazine that he wanted Joaquin Phoenix for the role, but the studio wanted Freddie Prinze Jr. instead. Josh Hartnett met with Nolan about the role, but decided against pursuing it. Bale, Bailey and Murphy auditioned using the Batman Forever sonar suit donated by Val Kilmer, but the cape was lost, and Amy Adams served as the casting reader for the casting of Bruce Wayne / Batman in a favor to the casting director. Though his friends doubted him stating it was not going to work,
Bale was convinced by Nolan's approach and he felt that the previous films underused Batman's character, overplaying the villains instead. To best pose as Batman, Bale studied graphic novels and illustrations of the superhero. Director Nolan said of Bale, "He has exactly the balance of darkness and light that we were looking for." Goyer stated that while some actors could play a great Bruce Wayne or a great Batman, Bale could portray both radically different personalities. Since he had lost a great deal of weight in preparation for his role in The Machinist, Bale hired a personal trainer to help him gain of muscle in the span of only a couple of months to help him physically prepare for the role. After realizing he went over by, he lost the excess weight by the time filming began. Bale trained in Wing Chun Kung Fu under Eric Oram in preparation for the movie.

* Gus Lewis as Young Bruce Wayne.
Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth:

A trusted butler to Bruce's parents, who continues his loyal service to their son after their deaths as his closest confidant. Nolan offered the role to Anthony Hopkins but he declined. Nolan went to Caine's country home to personally deliver him the script, telling what his role would be and describing Alfred as "Batman's godfather". Nolan felt Caine would effectively portray the foster father element of the character. Although Alfred is depicted in the film as having served the Wayne family for generations, Caine created his own backstory, in that before becoming the Waynes' butler, Alfred served in the Special Air Service. After being wounded, he was invited to the position of the Wayne family butler by Thomas Wayne because, "He wanted a butler, but someone a bit tougher than that, you know?"

Liam Neeson as Henri Ducard / Ra's al Ghul:

The leader of the League of Shadows, an ancient society that uses chaos to punish the corrupt and decadent, who goes undercover as an associate of the League and trains Bruce in martial arts, later revealing himself in the film's climax. Writer David Goyer said he felt he was the most complex of all the Batman villains, comparing him to Osama bin Laden; "He's not crazy in the way that all the other Batman villains are. He's not bent on revenge; he's actually trying to heal the world. He's just doing it by very draconian means." Gary Oldman was the first choice for the part, but ended up playing James Gordon instead. Guy Pearce, who collaborated with Christopher Nolan on Memento, reported that the pair had discussions about him playing the role, but both of them decided that he was too young for the part. Viggo Mortensen was also considered for the role. Neeson is commonly cast as a mentor, so the revelation that his character was the main villain was intended to shock viewers.

Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes:

Bruce's childhood friend and love interest who serves as Gotham City's assistant district attorney and fights against corruption in the city of Gotham. Nolan found a "tremendous warmth and great emotional appeal" in Holmes, and also felt "she has a maturity beyond her years that comes across in the film and is essential to the idea that Rachel is something of a moral conscience for Bruce".

* Emma Lockhart as Young Rachel Dawes.
Gary Oldman as James "Jim" Gordon:

One of the few uncorrupted Gotham City police officers, who is on duty the night of the murder of Bruce's parents and, in this way, shares a special bond with the adult Bruce and thus with Batman. Oldman was Nolan's first choice for Ra's al Ghul, but when Chris Cooper turned down the part of Gordon to spend time with his family, Nolan decided that it would be refreshing for Oldman, who is renowned for his portrayals of villains, to play the role instead. Speaking of his role as Gordon, Oldman explained, "I embody the themes of the movie which are the values of family, courage and compassion and a sense of right and wrong, good and bad and justice”. He filmed most of his scenes in Britain. Goyer said Oldman heavily resembled Gordon as drawn by David Mazzucchelli in Batman: Year One.

Cillian Murphy as Dr. Jonathan Crane / Scarecrow:

A corrupt psychopharmacologist working as Chief Administrator of Arkham Asylum. A specialist in the psychology of fear, he has secretly created a fear-inducing toxin and plots with Ra's al Ghul to expose the entire Gotham population. Nolan decided against casting an Irish actor like Murphy for Batman, before casting him as Scarecrow. Murphy read numerous comics featuring the Scarecrow and discussed making the character look less theatrical with Nolan. Murphy explained, "I wanted to avoid the Worzel Gummidge look, because he's not a very physically imposing man – he's more interested in the manipulation of the mind and what that can do." Robert Downey Jr. was considered for the role.

Tom Wilkinson as Carmine Falcone:

The most powerful Mafia boss in Gotham, who shares a prison cell with Joe Chill after he murdered Bruce's parents. Later, after having Chill murdered for his decision to testify against their relationship, he goes into business with Dr. Jonathan Crane and Ra's al Ghul by smuggling in Crane's fear toxins through his drug shipments over the course of several months so that they can be mixed in with the city's water supply.

Rutger Hauer as William Earle:

The CEO of Wayne Enterprises, who takes the company public in Bruce's long-term absence.

Ken Watanabe as decoy Ra's al Ghul:

A member of the League of Shadows assigned to impersonate Ra's al Ghul during Bruce's training.

Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox:

A high-ranking Wayne Enterprises employee demoted to working in the company's Applied Science Division, where he conducts advanced studies in biochemistry and mechanical engineering and supplies Bruce with much of the gear necessary to carry out Batman's mission. He is promoted to CEO when Bruce takes control of the company by the end of the film.
Other cast members include Mark Boone Junior as Arnold Flass, Gordon's corrupt partner; Linus Roache as Thomas Wayne, Bruce's late father; Larry Holden as district attorney Carl Finch; Colin McFarlane as Gillian B. Loeb, the police commissioner; Christine Adams as Jessica, William Earle's secretary; Vincent Wong as an old Asian prisoner; Sara Stewart as Martha Wayne, Bruce's late mother; Richard Brake as Joe Chill, the Waynes' killer; Gerard Murphy as the corrupt High Court Judge Faden; Charles Edwards as a Wayne Enterprises executive; Tim Booth as Victor Zsasz; Rade Šerbedžija as a homeless man, who is the last person to meet Bruce when he leaves Gotham City, and the first civilian to see Batman; Catherine Porter as an assassin posing as a reporter, who kills Chill under Falcone's orders; Risteárd Cooper and Andrew Pleavin as uniformed policemen; Jo Martin as a police prison official; and Shane Rimmer and Jeremy Theobald as Gotham Water Board technicians. Jack Gleeson, who had previously co-starred with Bale in 2002's Reign of Fire and later found fame for his role as Joffrey Baratheon in the HBO series Game of Thrones, appears as a young admirer of Batman who is later saved by him from Ra's al Ghul's men; Gleeson was cast at Bale's recommendation. Actors John Foo, Joey Ansah, Spencer Wilding, Dave Legeno, Khan Bonfils, Mark Strange, Grant Guirey, Rodney Ryan, and Dean Alexandrou portray members of the League of Shadows. Hayden Nickel made his acting debut portraying James Gordon Jr.