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Director : Christopher Nolan Christian Bale : Batman |
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Jim Gordon; "I never said thank you."
Batman: "And you'll never have to."
We see how Bruce Wayne is affected by his parent's daeth, and the fears that he is facing in life. But Bruce is determined not to give in to those fears. He moves to Asia and toughens up in a jail. There he Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson) who tells him that he may find the answers to what he is seeking if he goes up in yo the Himalayas. Bruce does and once there he meets Henri again, and Ra's al Ghul (Ken Watanbe). He asks Bruce what he seeks and Bruce says the means to fight injustice and to turn fear upon those who prey on the fearful. The training then begins.
When Bruce was young he fell in to an old well and was attacked by bats. That is his nightmare. We then see the Waynes going out for an evening at the opera. Bruce is scared by the bat-like creatures in the play and asks to leave. When the family gets outside a robber kills both his mother and his father.
Back with Henri Bruce says his anger now outweighs his guilt. Henri teaches him a variety of different martial art skills. We flash back to the parole of Bruce's parents' killers. he is being released after 14 years, because he has provided information about another important case. On the way out Bruce plans to shoot him, but someone else does it first. Bruce goes to see Carmine Falcone, who runs the city. He throws Bruce out of his place. Instead of heading back to Princeton Bruce heads off to Asia : to lose his fears.
At the end of his training Bruce is asked to kill a criminal, to demonstrate his commitment to justice. Ra's al Ghul tells Bruce that Gotham must be destroyed so that it can rise again. Henri says that you must have the courage to do what id right. Bruce won't kill him and then fights his way out. As the burning building falls, he carries his teacher Henri out with him, and then saves his life.
Back in Gotham Bruce is determined to take the city back from the criminals. Bruce crawls back down in the well to face his fears. The Batman is born. Bruce then goes back in to the board room, and gets a job with the firm. Lucius Fox shows Bruce all the little toys that they built through the years but never developed. Bruce begins to put together his ensemble.
Batman decides to make his first appearance disrupting a drug shipment of Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson was terrific). Batman brings Falcone in, and then he protects his old girl Rachel from Falcone's men. Then Batman delivers Falcone to the police.
When Batman goes after The Scarecrow, he gets hit with some hallucinogenic dust and then set on fire. Next Rachel gets dusted and a recovered Batman comes around again and he dusts The Scarecrow. Jim Gordon finds out that the whole water supply is slowly being poisoned but Batman has the antidote.
Ra's Al Ghul shows up at a party and it is really Henri Ducard. He wants to destroy corrupted Gotham so he can start it over again. Bruce insults everyone and clears the party out. Ra's Al Ghul tells Bruce that for thousands of years the League of Shadows has destroyed corrupt civilizations. Bruce says that Gotham can be saved. Al Ghul burns down the mansion but Alfred pulls out Bruce.
As the city descends in to the chaos of a hallucinogenic fog, Batman appears. Batman goes after Al Ghul. When he catches him on a train it is a one on one duel between master and student. Batman escapes from the crashing train, and he doesn't save Al Ghul. Of course, in the end Batman get the girl.
To me, this is the best of all the SuperHero movies. A really good plot, great character development and great acting make for an unbeatable combination.
