Movie #88: Batman Begins

Movie #: 88
Movie Title: Batman Begins
Year Released: 2005

Director: Christopher Nolan
Notable Cast: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson, Rutger Hauer, Ken Watanabe

Short Description: After training with his mentor, Batman begins his fight to free crime-ridden Gotham City from the corruption that Scarecrow and the League of Shadows have cast upon it. (IMDB.com)


Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)

AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: N/A
Ranker.com: #63
Lifed.com: #85
Empire.com: #81
FilmCrave.com: #49
FlickChart.com: N/A



Date Watched: 7/7/2016

Grade: 4 out of 5 (Excellent)

Rationale: In a world that’s full of superhero movies, you’d be hard pressed to find an origin story that’s more complete and satisfying than Batman Begins. Dark and gritty is a welcome tone compared to the flashy and disgusting Batman movies of the mid to late 1990’s. Christopher Nolan made excellent casting choices with Christian Bale as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Michael Caine as Alfred, Gary Oldman as not-yet-Commissioner Gordon, and Liam Neeson as Batman’s foil Henri Ducard/Ra's al Ghul during the ascension of Neeson’s popularity surge in the 2000’s. While superhero movies may never fall into the realm of realistic, Batman Begins is the closest there is and I wholeheartedly appreciate the grounded feel of it.