Batman Begins (2005) is a American film based on the comic book character created by Bob Kane. The movie was first released on June 15, 2005, directed by Christopher Nolan, and written by Nolan and David S. Goyer. Although it is the fifth live-action Batman movie since 1989, the movie is neither a sequel nor a prequel to the previous Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher movies, but rather a complete revision or reboot of the series. It more closely follows the darker psychological theme of the Batman comics and graphic novels. It was a critical and financial success from most viewpoints.

Batman Begins explores the origins of the Batman legend and the Dark Knight's emergence as a force for good in Gotham City.

A young Bruce Wayne (Gus Lewis), while playing with young Rachel Dawes (Emma Lockhart), falls down a well and is attacked by a flurry of bats. After his father, Thomas Wayne (Linus Roache), pulls him from the well, Bruce begins having nightmares about bats. One night, the Waynes go to the opera where Bruce becomes scared at some of the dancers' portrayals of bat-like demons (from Mefistofele). Bruce experiences a panic attack and begs his father to leave the theatre early. The family exits into an alley where they are confronted by a mugger, who, despite the calm submission of Thomas, shoots both him and his wife. Fatally wounded with a bullet in his chest, Thomas Wayne's last words to his son are, "Don't be afraid." Bruce is left physically unharmed, but in a state of total mental shock.

After being comforted at the police station by police sergeant Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) and being told "good news" about the shooter, Joe Chill, being arrested, Bruce is taken home by family butler Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine), who raises him in the absence of his parents.

We cut to roughly 14 years later; now a young adult, Bruce (Christian Bale) has returned from Princeton University for the parole hearing of his parents' murderer which was arranged as part of a deal to testify against the crime boss Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson). Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes) is now a Gotham City Assistant District Attorney. The killer is granted parole, but is murdered immediately after the hearing by a mob operative. Bruce Wayne was planning to kill him as well, but was robbed of the opportunity. When Rachel learns this, she explains the difference between vengeance and justice to Bruce, and then tells him that his father would be ashamed. Bruce becomes ashamed of himself and promptly goes to confront Falcone. After the fateful meeting, a disillusioned Wayne steals away on a cargo ship, and travels the world seeking the means to fight injustice and "turn fear against those who prey on the fearful.

He is later arrested and jailed by Chinese police for the theft of goods that, ironically, belong to Wayne Enterprises. In jail he is approached by Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson) representing Ra's al Ghul (Ken Watanabe) of the League of Shadows, a group of fanatical assassins. Traveling to the home of the League of Shadows in the Himalayas, Wayne learns to use theatrics and deception as his greatest weapons. However, after his training, Ra's and Ducard tell Wayne that he must lead the League to destroy Gotham, a source of evil according to the group. Wayne refuses to destroy the city he loves while vowing to fight evil his own way, and battles Ra's before making his escape. Ra's is killed in the battle, but Wayne manages to save Ducard.

Thus prepared, Wayne unveils his alter-ego: Batman, a masked superhero who uses his strength, intellect, and an array of high-tech gadgets to combat the sinister forces that threaten the city. To that end, Wayne returns to Gotham and befriends an unjustly demoted senior company researcher, Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), recruiting him as his armorer. Fox uses his job as lowly caretaker to grant Wayne secret access to various unused company prototypes for his own use which includes body armor that makes up the Batman costume and a prototype car that becomes the first Batmobile. Two of his first foes come in the forms of Falcone and Dr. Jonathan Crane (Cillian Murphy), who later becomes better known as the Scarecrow. Batman eventually discovers that Ducard is actually the real Ra's al Ghul, and has conspired with Crane to poison Gotham's water supply with a toxin that would cause the inhabitants of the city to riot, destroying each other and Gotham itself. They battle and Batman eventually defeats Ra's. As the movie ends, Wayne takes total control of his company with Lucius as his CEO and a promoted Gordon expresses gratitude for what Batman has done. Gordon explains that a criminal in the lost "Narrows" area of Gotham has left calling cards at all his crime scenes in the form of a Joker playing card. At the end, Batman stands as the defender of Gotham.

Early reviews from professional film critics were enthusiastic, with Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times (who panned all the previous live action adaptations of the character) calling it one of the best films of the year. Manohla Dargis of The New York Times also gave it high praise, dubbing the film "the most successful comic-book adaptation alongside Terry Zwigoff's Ghost World."

The movie was also received quite favorably by audiences and many fans, earning the highest rating of any film released in 2005 by users of the website boxofficemojo.com and garnering an 83% score at rottentomatoes.com. The film is currently on the IMDb's list of the Top 250 films of all-time [1]. All told, this movie is considered to be the favorite Batman movie for critics and audiences alike.

The film takes many liberties, despite being hailed for its more accurate portrayal of Batman as he is depicted in Bob Kane's comic universe. For instance, Batman's first comic book run-in with Ra's Al Ghul involved Robin being kidnapped, whereas in Batman Begins, Robin doesn't yet exist. Other criticisms of Batman Begins included the delayed first appearance of Bale in Batman regalia. It is worked on from roughly the 45 minute mark, but only appears fully an hour into the movie (1:01:26 to be exact). Also, some felt that the dark and erratic cinematography on the fight scenes make it difficult to discern what's happening; others feel that that is precisely the point (the ambiguity and confusion is an organic interpretation of what the criminals experience). The redesign of the Batmobile also evoked mixed reviews.

According to boxofficemojo.com, the $135-million movie has earned $205.3 million during its North American theatrical run and approximately $166 million elsewhere in the world, making it the second most successful Batman movie (next to the 1989 movie) and fifth most successful of summer 2005 (next to Revenge of the Sith, War of the Worlds, Wedding Crashers and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). However, taking ticket price inflation into account, Begins is only ahead of 1997's Batman and Robin, which had an adjusted U.S. gross of $150 million. (The inflation-adjusted U.S. gross of the other movies would be as follows: Batman $403 million, Batman Returns $251 million and Batman Forever $271 million). A recent poll at IMDb marked the film as #1 as the best summer movie of 2005 with Revenge of the Sith at second.

The movie also solidified Christopher Nolan's capability of directing a major blockbuster. Before then, he was known for directing low-budget movies that focused mostly on dark themes, but had substance and depth. Hiring him for this kind of movie, particularly one of Warner Brothers' biggest franchises, was a risky endeavour on the studio's part. But the movie marked a successful return of the Batman saga, erasing the legacy of its predecessor Batman and Robin and ensured the studio's plans to greenlight a sequel.

Early reviews from professional film critics were enthusiastic, with Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times (who panned all the previous live action adaptations of the character) calling it one of the best films of the year. Manohla Dargis of The New York Times also gave it high praise, dubbing the film "the most successful comic-book adaptation alongside Terry Zwigoff's Ghost World."

The movie was also received quite favorably by audiences and many fans, earning the highest rating of any film released in 2005 by users of the website boxofficemojo.com and garnering an 83% score at rottentomatoes.com. The film is currently on the IMDb's list of the Top 250 films of all-time. All told, this movie is considered to be the favorite Batman movie for critics and audiences alike.

The film takes many liberties, despite being hailed for its more accurate portrayal of Batman as he is depicted in Bob Kane's comic universe. For instance, Batman's first comic book run-in with Ra's Al Ghul involved Robin being kidnapped, whereas in Batman Begins, Robin doesn't yet exist. Other criticisms of Batman Begins included the delayed first appearance of Bale in Batman regalia. It is worked on from roughly the 45 minute mark, but only appears fully an hour into the movie (1:01:26 to be exact). Also, some felt that the dark and erratic cinematography on the fight scenes make it difficult to discern what's happening; others feel that that is precisely the point (the ambiguity and confusion is an organic interpretation of what the criminals experience). The redesign of the Batmobile also evoked mixed reviews.

According to boxofficemojo.com, the $135-million movie has earned $205.3 million during its North American theatrical run and approximately $166 million elsewhere in the world, making it the second most successful Batman movie (next to the 1989 movie) and fifth most successful of summer 2005 (next to Revenge of the Sith, War of the Worlds, Wedding Crashers and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). However, taking ticket price inflation into account, Begins is only ahead of 1997's Batman and Robin, which had an adjusted U.S. gross of $150 million. (The inflation-adjusted U.S. gross of the other movies would be as follows: Batman $403 million, Batman Returns $251 million and Batman Forever $271 million). A recent poll at IMDb marked the film as #1 as the best summer movie of 2005 with Revenge of the Sith at second.

The movie also solidified Christopher Nolan's capability of directing a major blockbuster. Before then, he was known for directing low-budget movies that focused mostly on dark themes, but had substance and depth. Hiring him for this kind of movie, particularly one of Warner Brothers' biggest franchises, was a risky endeavour on the studio's part. But the movie marked a successful return of the Batman saga, erasing the legacy of its predecessor Batman and Robin and ensured the studio's plans to greenlight a sequel.

Warner Brothers has announced its intentions to make a sequel to Batman Begins with most of the film's main cast, including Christian Bale, returning. This would make Bale the first actor since Michael Keaton (who appeared in the first and second movies) to play Batman more than once. Gary Oldman (James Gordon) and Michael Caine (Alfred Pennyworth) are also under contract to reprise their roles. At this time, director Christopher Nolan and screenwriter David S. Goyer will be returning for the sequels, though Goyer revealed in an interview that he and Nolan have devised a rough scenario for a trilogy, using The Joker as the antagonist in the second film and Two-Face in the third, loosely following the story from Batman: The Long Halloween.

On August 22, 2005, producer Charles Roven denied that any villain had been decided upon, and insisted that the reference to The Joker in the film was only intended as a tip of the hat to the 1989 Batman film.

However, rumours have placed: Adrien Brody, Paul Bettany, Lachy Hulme, Daniel Day-Lewis, Crispin Glover, and a slew of other actors in the role of the Joker for the sequel.

In order for the sequel to achieve the targeted release date of June (the month that all Batman films are released) 2008, pre-production will likely begin sometime in 2006, with major filming happening in 2007.

The Batman Begins DVD was released October 18, 2005. It is available in Fullscreen and Widescreen. In addition, a Deluxe Two-Disc Widescreen Edition was released which contains exclusive special features and copies of Detective Comics #27, Batman: The Man Who Falls, and an excerpt of the 13-issue Batman: The Long Halloween. Some vendors have reported that the deluxe edition of Begins was set only for a limited release, and thus only had a one time stock pile. This puzzling rumor has left many potential customers baffled, and concerned with how to obtain this commodity from the very few vendors that still have some in stock.

Also released on the same date was Batman: the Motion Picture Anthology 1989-1997, which contains each of the four Burton-Schumacher films in new 2-disc special edition format. The set includes many new & old documentaries, commentaries from both directors Tim Burton & Joel Schumacher, deleted scenes, music-videos, trailers, and new digital transfers for all four films: Batman (1989), Batman Returns (1992), Batman Forever (1995), and Batman & Robin (1997).