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Batman Begins
a film by Christopher Nolan
Plot (Spoiler Alert)Since childhood, Bruce Wayne has been trying to find a way to seek to fight injustice after his parents were murdered right in front him. It has haunted him for years. Bruce ends up in a Bhutanese Jail where he is found by a man who goes by the name of Ra’s al Ghul and offers Bruce the fighting skills he requires. Bruce also learns how to face his worst fear which is bats. Bruce’s training is nearly complete. All he has to do is to take a criminal’s life, but Bruce feels that murder is not the right way to go. Bruce burns the temple down. Ra’s is unconscious, but Bruce saves his life. Bruce returns to Gotham for the first time in seven years. Bruce informs his butler, Alfred Pennyworth, that he’s going to show the criminals that Gotham City doesn’t belong to them, but he can’t do it as a man. He feels he needs to be some kind of symbol in order to do that. Bruce discovers a cave beneath Wayne Manor. Bats show up and Bruce turns his worst fear into that symbol he’s been looking for. Bruce shows up at Wayne Enterprise wanting to know about applied science division. Lucious Fox, the person in charge of applied science, shows Bruce a lot of useful supplies and gadgets he could use for crime fighting. Bruce designs a bat suit thanks to some of Lucious’ supplies. Bruce now poses himself as Batman, a crime fighter of the night. Batman spoils a drug shipment and captures their crime boss, Carmine Falcone. Word spreads fast of a bat like creature bringing fear into the criminals on the streets of Gotham. One of Wayne Enterprise's cargo ships has been robbed of the weapon it was carrying that can vaporize an enemy’s water supply. Batman trusts one of the few cops who devotes himself to the law Sergeant James Gordon and informs him of what he knows so far that half of that shipment of drugs was going to dealers. Batman investigates where the other half was going. Batman discovers that a corrupt psychiatrist, Dr. Jonathan Crane is helping smuggle the drugs into Gotham. Batman takes out two of Crane’s men and Crane infects him with one of the drugs causing his mind to go insane. Batman escapes and calls on Alfred for help. Alfred calls Lucious Fox to find out what the cause is and how to cure it. Lucious wipes up an antidote and Bruce is recovered after being out for two days. Rachel Dawes, a Gotham City district attorney goes to Arkham Asylum after being informed that Falcone had a nervous breakdown. Crane poisons her after she stumbles upon his men dumping the drugs into the water supply. Batman shows up and takes out Crane. The police department shows up at Arkham. Gordon goes in alone and Batman brings him to Rachel informing him that Crane poisoned her and that he has been dumping his drugs into the water supply. Batman has no idea what Crane’s plan was, but Crane did inform him that he was working for somebody. Batman escapes using his vehicle, the Tumbler and rushes Rachel back to the Batcave to give her the antidote before her mind becomes lost. Gordon questions Crane what his plan is, how he was going to get his toxin into the air and who he is working for, but Crane says nothing. Alfred takes Rachel’s unconscious body home. A birthday party is going on at Bruce Wayne’s house and Lucious informs Bruce that a machine that can vaporize all the water in the mains has been stolen. Bruce tells Fox to make some more of that antidote. Ra’s al Ghul shows up at the party as a guest and Bruce has everyone leave by pretending to be an ass hole so that nobody gets hurt. Ra’s reveals that his plan is to have Gotham tear itself apart by infecting the citizens using the machine to vaporize the water with Crane’s drugs mixed in. Bruce gets knocked out while Ra’s and his men burn his house. Shortly after Alfred shows up and takes Bruce down to the Batcave. Meanwhile a breakout goes on at Arkham Asylum and the police go after them. Ra’s and his men load the machine onto the monorail and activate it. The monorail heads across the streets of Gotham and it’s main target is the central water main beneath Wayne Tower. Batman shows up and puts Gordon in charge of the Tumbler and has him drive it to Wayne Tower and take out the monorail tracks using the cannons from the Tumbler. Batman fights Ra’s al Ghul on the monorail. Gordon blows up the tracks and Batman escapes leaving Ra’s behind to die. The monorail crashes in the parking lot underneath Wayne tower and the machine blows up. Batman and Gordon have successfully stopped Gotham from tearing itself apart. Lucious Fox gets promoted to the lead board member of Wayne Enterprise and Gordon gets promoted to lieutenant. Batman and Gordon have now become good friends and Gordon informs Batman about a new criminal they must investigate on who goes by the name of Joker. 
Blaine: Christopher Nolan was interested in taking on the project when he heard Warner Bros. was looking to re-invent the franchise. Chris went to Warner Bros and explained to them how he saw the Batman franchise. Christopher Nolan was interested in taking on a superhero story, but treating it in a realistic fashion and Chris has always been a fan of Batman. The thing was he wasn’t a big comic book expert, so he needed someone who really knew the character and to help him co-write the script. Chris found David S. Goyer, who had been wanting to write a Batman movie since he was a kid. David couldn’t write the script at the time because he was preparing to direct “Blade: Trinity”, but through phone, David gave away his ideas to Chris and it sounded great to Chris. Shortly after, Chris had contacted David again saying he has to do this project because he needed as much help with the script as he could and David was having a hard time resisting. David would take some time off from “Blade: Trinity” to work on the story with Chris and write the first draft. Christopher Nolan has an office in the back of his garage and David S. Goyer wold come and visit there throwing ideas around for the story with Chris. David knew if they were re-inventing the Batman franchise, it would have to start off as something dramatic like the fact that Bruce's parents get killed right in front of him. David wanted to tell Batman’s origin story because that was something that hadn’t been in a film before. David said that in the comics there’s not really a story of the journey Bruce goes on in order to become Batman. As Chris and David were working on the first draft, Chris had his production designer Nathan Crowley brought in and they started working on designs of the look of “Batman Begins" in his garage. David S. Goyer thought it was an interesting way to work because they were feeding each other information and what ever they found interesting they would put that into the script. David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan were going through a lot of Batman comics while writing the script and one of the comics “Batman Begins” is based off of is “Batman: Year One”. Christopher Nolan wanted the script to be a top secret from the public until it was finished and they gave it a fake name so that no one would suspect they were writing the new Batman movie. After the script was finished, the executives at Warner Bros. came over to Christopher’s house and read it in the garage. It was very important for Chris to figure out who could betray the role of Batman before the were officially done with the script. They couldn’t find a lot of people who could be good at playing both Bruce Wayne and Batman. Christopher Nolan had met with Christian Bale before the script was ever written and when he looked into Christian’s eyes, it was clear to Christopher that Christian could make you believe in the possibility of someone devoting their life to something this extreme. Chris had informed Christian what he was looking for in the character as more of a dangerous volatile as you’ve never seen him before. Christian was very thin when Nolan first met him for a movie he did called “The Machinist” and he needed to represent to Warner Bros. that Christian could play Batman, so Christian put on 200 pounds of muscle weight by stuffing his face with food and doing a lot of lifts. There was a moment where he got too big and they were wondering if he would fit into the Batsuit. So then he had to loose that weight and he managed to get the right amount of weight before principal photography began. Christian would wear the bat suit Val Kilmer wore in “Batman Forever” during his audition. Christian had figured out that Bruce would have to not only disguise his face, but the voice as well so through his audition, he did this deep voice. Chris Nolan thought the “Superman” movie from 1978 had a great ensemble to make it so epic and he felt Batman needed a similar treatment. So they looked for the best actors to play these characters that surround Bruce Wayne/Batman. Chris went to Michael Caine’s house with the script and asked Caine if he was interested in the project or not. Michael had to look through the script and give a answer immediately because Chris wanted the script back. Chris said casting Michael Caine in the role of Alfred helps create a rounded character who can be a father figure to Bruce Wayne. Liam Neeson plays the main villain of the film, Ra’s al Ghul, and what was interesting for Liam is that this is the first time he has played the bad guy. David S. Goyer said that Liam is best known for playing fatherly or mentor like characters which is what they needed in Ra’s al Ghul and he turns evil after Bruce disobeys and destroys everything he has built. Ra’s al Ghul is someone who gains immortality and strength through the Lazarus Pit. He is also the leader of the League of Assassins in the comics. In “Batman Begins” he is the one who teaches Bruce how to fight and how to be a camouflage in the shadows. But things go wrong between Bruce and Ra’s because Bruce disagrees with killing a man even though he is guilty. Liam Neeson says it’s always about the story that drives him to the projects he does and he loved the “Batman Begins” story after he read the script. Liam had never taken the time to watch any of the Batman movie or T.V. shows, but he thought a project like this would be exceptional after Chris Nolan informed him of what his plans were to to reinvent the character. Ra’s al Ghul is one of the villains who hasn’t been shown in any of the Batman movies before “Batman Begins”. Another villain is Scarecrow. Cillian Murphy had originally auditioned for Batman and wore the Val Kilmer bat suit as well, but Chris felt he wasn’t right for the part, but he did feel that Dr. Crane/Scarecrow was more suitable for him. Lucious Foxx is the person who helps Bruce’s quest to become Batman by giving him the gadgets that he needs and it was important to Chris that Bruce assembles the tools he needs in order to fight crime. Lucious doesn’t quiet know at first what Bruce is planing, but he finds it interesting and believes whatever Bruce is doing is for a good cause. It was David S. Goyer’s idea to cast Morgan Freeman as Lucious Foxx. Chris had met with Morgan Freeman and told him his plans for the project and Morgan thought it was an unusual and intelligent approach to Batman. Chris thought that Gary Oldman was the right choice for James Gordon even though he is best known for playing a lot of villains, but he has also played a few nice guys in his career. Chris said that Gary is a chameleon and he inhabits the role of Gordon. “Batman Begins” shows James Gordon as more of a main character compared to the earlier “Batman" movies when the late Pat Hingle played the character. “Batman Begins” also shows more of a relationship between Batman and Gordon and how close they become. Both Batman and James want justice in Gotham and Jim Gordon is happy to find someone who he can call a partner. Gary Oldman looks like James Gordon and he is the best and only person who can pull off as the character. Chris and David knew it was important to have a person who was a childhood friend of Bruce's, who was close to him and who isn’t a damsel in distress. Amy Adams would do the screen tests with Christian Bale and Cillian Murphy as Rachel Dawes and I don’t know if she was auditioning for the part, but I think she would have been a better choice because I think she is more of a professional actresses than Katie Holmes. The look of Gotham City would have to be like New York on steroids. Production designer Nathan Crowley said they would travel to New York and Chicago to help them know how they were going to design the look of a city. Nathan would build these model sets of the slums of Gotham in Chris Nolan’s garage. Chris wanted the city to look real and they had built these small model sets of Gotham for distance shots. Other shots like when Bruce is looking out the window as he returns to Gotham would be done digitally by computer. For Wayne Manor, Chris said they wanted to represent the way the audience sees the wealth of the Wayne family and that was very important to the story. They went through twenty manor houses and they chose Mentor Towers in England. They wanted to explain that the Bat cave isn’t a man made place, but just a cave that sits under Wayne Manor. The bat cave was shot at the H stage of Shepparton Studios. They had to build it from wood and thousands of sheets that are casts off of existing rocks. It was a dark set and cinematographer Wally Pfizer’s goal was to try and find a way to sneak some light into it, but also remain dark. When Bruce discovers the bat cave, it’s a wide shot of the cave and the cgi bats flying around him are an interesting part of the shot. 
Chris wanted to re-think of how the Batmobile should look and while he and production designer Nathan Crowley were working on the look of “Batman Begins” Chris had made a little clay model as an example of how he wanted it to look. Chris’s first thought was it being a combination between a Lamborghini and a Humvee. Nathan Crowley would then do a model of his own by mixing together these different model figures together. Chris and Nathan made five or six Batmobiles and it took eight weeks to build them. When Chris and David presented their script to Warner Bros. they also had all these photoshop elements as well of the Batmobile. Chris was lucky to find people who could construct a full sized version that is something you could drive. They had stunt cars of the Tumbler because whenever they shot scenes of the Tumbler crashing through cement and other stuff, it would get scratches on it or some other kind of damage. Chris wanted the chase scene to be something like “The French Connection” and they had to shut down streets in order to shoot it with the Tumbler going in full speed. Chris liked the idea of Bruce Wayne disappearing, not being seen for seven years and returning to Gotham as a new person after learning the skills he needed in order to fight crime. They wanted a dramatic landscape for the monastery Bruce travels to. The location needed to have sea level, a glacier, mountains, no tress, a rocky landscape and they chose Iceland. They built a village on the edge of the glacier and it took two months to build. They built a model of the monastery that would later be cut together with the footage they shot in Iceland because they couldn’t build something that big in that kind of weather. Chris knew they had to shoot in Iceland as soon as possible because he needed a frozen river for one of the training sequences and it would be gone by February. They didn’t do any rehearsals, Chris just wanted to do it and get it over with before it thawed out. While they were shooting it the ice river it would make these loud cracks noises and they had to make sure there weren’t more than five people on the ice. Cinematographer Wally Pfister would be sitting on a sled while two men scooted him across the ice for one of the shots in that sequence. By the next day the ice was all melted. My rating on “Batman Begins” is five out of five stars. Parodies Robot Chicken Christopher Nolan 
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