Batman Begins is the first movie in the Christopher Nolan Batman Trilogy starring Christian Bale as the iconic superhero. Batman Begins sets the stage for the other two movies to come introducing us to Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne and outlining how he became the Batman.

I'm a little late to the party with these movies. Batman Begins was released over a decade ago and this movie and the movies to follow have been described as not only the best Batman movies but also some of the best movies ever. However, these movies have been on my watchlist for some time now, particularly the sequel The Dark Knight which I have only ever heard good things about. I've seen little bits of the third movie The Dark Knight Rises as it's been played on free-to-air tv. The other week, The Dark Knight was also playing on free-to-air tv so I thought I had to watch it. I loved it so much that I thought it would make sense to go back and watch the first movie in the series.

I really enjoyed The Dark Knight and could easily understand why it has been described as one of the best movies ever made. However, I was a little confused with the plotline but I knew that it would probably make more sense if I watched the first movie. And although there weren't many "Ohh, that makes sense now" moments as I was watching Batman Begins, I can easily imagine that The Dark Knight will make much more sense when I go and watch it again. Based on my opinion of The Dark Knight, I was expecting Batman Begins to be a lot darker like its predecessor. However, it was more lighthearted and less serious than I had predicted. I laughed a few times and the character of Batman/Bruce Wayne was almost made fun of a few times. This actually reminded me of The Lego Batman Movie which was honestly the only Batman movie I had watched. I just assumed that the Lego interpretation was taking the Batman movies to another level of humour but Batman Begins wasn't far off. Of course, The Lego Batman Movie was made for kids (and the Christopher Nolan trilogy certainly is not) so there are clear differences there but Batman Begins wasn't as distant as I had initially thought.

I also think that my confusion regarding The Dark Knight wasn't just because I hadn't seen Batman Begins. I think that these movies are just confusing. The movies, including Batman Begins, have very complex storylines. In my recent review of Ticket to Paradise, I talked about how I often like simple movies as Ticket to Paradise demonstrated. However, that's not to say that I didn't enjoy Batman Begins but it is saying that some people may not like these Batman movies. You have to be fully awake when watching the movies to be able to follow the complex storyline. The movies also assume that you vaguely know the story of Batman as Batman Begins doesn't spell out every little detail in great depth. This is what leads me to think that this movie could get better each time you watch it. The first time is to just get a broad understanding of the story, so the second viewing the viewer can understand what's going on, and then the third viewing is when the smaller details get noticed. It is a complicated storyline, however, it is still very easy to enjoy the characters and the action without understanding the plot. 

Batman Begins is full of action and excitement. The movie throws you straight into the action and doesn't wait for you to catch up. It then later goes back to explain things in a somewhat convoluted way so don't be surprised if it gets midway through the film and you are confused as to how we got here. But, everything does come together by the end and it all makes sense. The movie is constantly moving and keeps you excited about what happens next. I felt that I was always on the edge of my seat just dying to see what happened next. Director Christopher Nolan seems to have a real talent for merging suspense and excitement in perfect harmony which is something that was on display further in The Dark Knight. And this is obviously complemented by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard's fantastic musical score. Hans Zimmer similarly is able to blend these two important elements. This suspense caused the movie to feel like it was constantly getting better as it progressed. I'm not sure if this was actually the case or if it was just a trick caused by this suspense. Either way, this worked in favour of the movie.

There were so many other great things about this movie that I could talk about. The stunt and fight choreography felt so gritty and real (which was the overall theme of the movie) whilst there was a thought-through thematic interconnectedness between the villains, Batman, Bruce Wayne and everything else that was going on throughout the movie. Something I noticed when watching The Dark Knight was how good the characters were (particularly Heath Ledger's Joker which won him an Oscar not long after he passed away). I similarly felt the same way in Batman Begins. Our hero was an extremely complex character but likeable enough for the audience to be rooting for him. The hero's sidekicks were loveable but didn't get in the way of the hero (plus I always have soft spot for any character played by Michael Caine). Not to mention the villains were portrayed to perfection. 

Despite all these amazing parts of the movie, Batman Begins wasn't quite as amazing as I had expected. I felt like I was going to be blown away by the movie which I wasn't. The movie was certainly a high-quality film but I didn't find myself loving it as much as I thought I would. This has resulted in me finding it very hard to settle on a rating for the movie. As I said earlier, I think it is the kind of movie that gets better after every viewing. I also watched this movie on a very small tv with a pretty bad sound system. So the next time I watch it, I think I will enjoy it much more.

Batman Begins is a movie with many fantastic elements. The characters, action and suspense are all things to be commended. However, the complex story and the fast pace of the movie make it a film not for everyone. Nonetheless, it is a movie that has stood the test of time so far and will be remembered for years to come.

Director: Christopher Nolan

Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson

Year released: 2005

My rating: 7.5/10

Review by Tristan Carr

Last edited: 13/11/2023