Batman Begins is a 2005 superhero film based on the fictional DC Comics character Batman, directed by Christopher Nolan. It stars Christian Bale as Batman, along with Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman, Ken Watanabe, Tom Wilkinson, and Rutger Hauer. The film reboots the Batman film series, telling the origin story of the character and begins with Bruce Wayne's initial fear of bats, the death of his parents, and his journey to becoming Batman. It draws inspiration from classic comic book storylines such as Batman: The Man Who Falls, Batman: Year One, and Batman: The Long Halloween.

Plot

Eight-year-old Bruce Wayne falls into a cave, where he encounters a swarm of bats. Having developed a fear of bats, he urges his parents to leave an opera featuring bat-like creatures. Outside the theater, they are mugged by Joe Chill, who proceeds to kill the parents. Bruce blames himself for his parents' murders.

Years later, Bruce returns to Gotham City from Princeton University, intent on killing Chill, whose prison sentence is being suspended in exchange for testifying against mob boss Carmine Falcone. Before the hesitant Bruce can act, one of Falcone's henchmen kills Chill. Bruce tells his childhood friend Rachel Dawes about his foiled plan, and she expresses disgust for his blind vengeance without regard for justice. Bruce confronts Falcone, who tells him that he is ignorant of the nature of crime, so Bruce decides to travel the world to understand the criminal mind. After nearly seven years, he is eventually detained for theft in a Bhutanese prison, where he meets Henri Ducard. Ducard invites Bruce to join an elite vigilante group, the League of Shadows, led by Ra's al Ghul. Wayne is freed, and travels to a mountaintop to begin his combat training with the League, who secretly intend to use him to destroy Gotham. Bruce completes his training with the League, overcoming his childhood fear of bats in the process. However, when he is ordered to execute a criminal, he disobeys the order and instead initiates a chaotic scene by lighting the building on fire to escape, destroying the League's headquarters and killing Ra's in the process. Bruce rescues an unconscious Ducard from the wreckage, and leaves his mentor at a nearby village.

Bruce Wayne returns to a Gotham City ruled by Falcone, and decides to plot a one-man war against the city's corrupt system. He seeks the help of Rachel, now an assistant district attorney, and police sergeant Jim Gordon, who consoled him in the aftermath of his parents' murder. After reestablishing his connections to his father's company, Wayne Enterprises (under the control of the unscrupulous William Earle), Bruce is able to acquire, with the help of former board member Lucius Fox, a prototype armored car and an experimental armored suit. In his new Batman costume, he disrupts a drug shipment by Falcone, and leaves the mob boss tied to a searchlight, forming a makeshift Bat-Signal. He also disrupts an assassination attempt on Dawes, leaving her with evidence against a judge on Falcone's payroll. While investigating the "unusual" drugs in the shipment, Batman is stunned by sinister psychopharmacologist Dr. Jonathan Crane, who sprays him with a powerful hallucinogen. Bruce's butler Alfred Pennyworth rescues Bruce, who uses an anti-toxin developed by Fox to save him. Crane later poisons Rachel after showing her that the toxin, which is harmful only in vapor form, is being piped into Gotham's water supply. Batman saves her and attacks Crane with his own poison. The police enter Arkham Asylum and arrest Crane while Batman escapes with Rachel. After administering the antidote to Rachel in the Batcave, he gives her two vials of it for Gordon – one to inoculate himself, and another to mass-produce for the city's general population.

During his birthday celebration in Wayne Manor, Bruce is confronted by a group of League of Shadows ninjas led by Ducard, who reveals himself to be the real Ra's al Ghul, and that the man killed earlier was a decoy. Ra's, who had been conspiring with Crane the entire time, plans to destroy Gotham by distributing the toxin undetected via Gotham's water supply, and then vaporizing it with a microwave-emitter stolen from Wayne Enterprises. Bruce insultingly dismisses his guests under the guise of being belligerently drunk, and fights briefly with 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. Batman arrives at the "Narrows" section of Gotham to aid the police in battling psychotic criminals, including Crane (now calling himself "Scarecrow"), whom the League set free from the asylum. Rachel is briefly confronted by Crane, but quickly wards him off; she is rescued by Batman when more criminals go after her. Batman intimates his identity to her, and leaves Gordon in control of the Batmobile to stop the elevated train used to transport the microwave-emitter to the city's central water-hub. Batman battles Ra's aboard the train, then escapes just as Gordon topples the elevated line using the Batmobile's missiles, leaving Ra's to crash to the ground with the train and perish in the resulting explosion.

Following the battle, Batman becomes a public hero. Bruce gains control of Wayne Enterprises and installs Fox as CEO, firing Earle. 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. Gordon mentions a criminal who, like Batman, has "a taste for the theatrical", and who leaves Joker playing cards at his crime scenes. Batman promises to investigate it. As Batman is leaving, Gordon mentions that he has not thanked Batman for his help in cleaning up the city. Batman replies that Gordon will never have to, and flies off into the night.

Reception

Based on 247 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, Batman Begins received an average 84% overall approval rating; the film was more balanced with the 40 critics in Rotten Tomatoes' "Cream of the Crop", which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television and radio programs, receiving a 63% approval rating. By comparison, Metacritic calculated an average score of 70 from the 41 reviews it collected. Common criticism focused on the realism behind the character, and certain character portrayals that hindered the film. There was dissension over Nolan's ability to create a complex character and Bale's ability to portray that character.

James Berardinelli applauded Nolan and Goyer's work creating more understanding into "who [Batman] is and what motivates him", something Berardinelli felt Tim Burton's film lacked; at the same time, Berardinelli felt the romantic aspect between Bale and Holmes did not work because the actors lacked the chemistry Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder (Superman), or Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst (Spider-Man) shared in their respective roles. According to Total Film, Nolan manages to create such strong characters and story that the third-act action sequences cannot compare to " the frisson of two people talking", and Katie Holmes and Christian Bale's romantic subplot has a spark "refreshingly free of Peter Parker/Mary Jane-style whining".