(detailed information about this entry from Wikipedia)
Batman Begins is a 2005 motion picture based on the Batman character created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, directed by Christopher Nolan and written by Nolan and David S. Goyer. Although it is the fifth live-action Batman movie since 1989, the movie is a neither a prequel nor a sequel to the previous Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher movies, but rather a re-start of the movie franchise.
Plot
As a young man, Bruce Wayne leads a privileged life as the son of wealthy, philanthropist parents, both of whom stress their commitment to improving the lives of the citizens of crime-ridden Gotham City; it seems to be twisted irony at work when a desperate criminal robs and kills them in an alleyway, all while Bruce watches in horror. Filled with guilt over feelings that his parents' death was somehow his fault and psychologically scarred by the incident, Bruce grows to become an angry and detached young man, eventually dropping out of college to travel the world in hopes that he can escape his demons. It is during these travels that he meets Henri Ducard, a member of the mysterious "League of Shadows" who guides him in the study of martial arts -- and the ways in which an ordinary man can hone his senses to an almost superhuman acuity. It is with these skills and others he has gained during his travels that Wayne forms the Batman persona, hoping that he can once and for all find peace by bringing justice to the streets of Gotham.
Production
A fifth Batman feature had been in development for several years prior to Begins being greenlit for production. A plan had originally been set to create another addition to the original franchise to take place after the events of Batman and Robin with Joel Schumacher attached to direct. George Clooney and Chris O'Donnell were reportedly set to reprise their roles as Batman and Robin with an un-named actor to appear as the Scarecrow; Steve Buscemi and Jeff Goldblum were rumored to be in consideration for the part. Owing to Batman and Robin's poor reponse both from fans and critics, Warner Brothers quickly dropped their plans for the sequel, deciding instead that while the franchise still remained promising, it would be in their better interest to take another approach.
Wanting to remain involved with the project, Schumacher returned to Warner Bros. a year later, this time with a pitch to remove Robin from the equation and film a Batman prequel based on Frank Miller's Year One graphic novel. Warner bit on the concept, but seemed to have no interest in keeping Schumacher on as director, instead hiring Darren Aronofsky to direct the feature and Frank Miller to help co-write a new version of the script. Wanting to have another option available, the studio also began developing a Batman vs. Superman film, to be directed by Wolfgang Petersen and written by Andrew Kevin Walker as well as a live action version of Batman Beyond, with Paul Dini and Alan Burnett hired for scripting duties.
Soon after, Warner Bros. ended production on Aronofsky and Miller's project, being dissatisfied with their take on the film, reportedly a revenge tale set in the 1970s. With the Year One story put off, Warner still had eggs in two baskets, but Peterson was unable to make any progress with Batman vs. Superman, and eventually left to make Troy. The Batman Beyond project faired no better, eventually being sqaushed before almost any work had been done. Joss Whedon also pitched an origin story, but the studio chose not to take it.
By 2003 the plans for a new Batman feature had collapsed one after another, and the studio was left wanting for a film but with few prospects. Starting the process from scratch, the studio hired David Goyer to pen a new script. Liking the project and Goyer's initial story, Christopher Nolan signed on to direct and went so far as to take on co-writing duties as Goyer left to direct Blade: Trinity. The studio liked the script and the production ideas the two had put together, and eventually greenlit the project for production.
The film is the first part of DC Comics and Warner Bros.' intentions to compete with a mass of films based on Marvel Comics licences. Their plan is to release one critically and commercially successful film a year, as opposed to a slew of hit-and-miss pictures, with Bryan Singer's Superman Returns following in 2006, Joss Whedon's Wonder Woman in 2007, Nolan's sequel to Batman Begins in 2008, and Singer's sequel to Superman Returns in 2009. This is made possible by Warner's ability to make its own films based on DC properties, and more tightly control the exposure of their "brands."
On the set
On the set, costumed Christian Bale constantly had two people trailing him to keep the Batsuit smudge-free. Director Christopher Nolan originally didn't want Jonathan Crane to wear a mask or be referred to as the Scarecrow. Parts of the film were shot in Chicago, so the plates were made to resemble Illinois plates for continuity with other cars in the scenes.
Comparison to other Batman media
In the movie, Dr. Crane declares Falcone hitman Zsasz insane as a favor for the mob boss. Rachel calls him on it and says Zsasz really isn't crazy. Incidentally, the comics' version of Zsasz really is quite insane. He also appears in a quick cameo in Arkham Asylum, when the patients are escaping. The Ra's al Ghul decoy Bruce Wayne encounters at the party wears a green cape with a high collar, a reference to the comic version of Ra's. His facial hair is also done in a variation of the style used by the comic Ra's. However, the decoy's role in the League - as well as the real Ra's assumed role as the decoy's second in command - can be considered a reference to the comic Ra's' relation to his loyal and ever-present servant Ubu. In the movie, Bruce Wayne is shown arriving at a fancy hotel in a Lamborghini Murciélago. The track listings on the soundtrack are all named after different bat species. The first letters of tracks 4 through 9 spell out "BATMAN." The calling card the Joker leaves is a replica of the Joker card from the 1989 graphic novel Batman: Arkham Asylum. The evidence label on the bag reveals the name of the officer who discovered it: J. Kerr. This is a common alias the Joker uses in the comic books. The licence plates on the cars in the city resemble Illinois's but actually say "GOTHAM" across the top. Parts of the story and plot are similiar to the episode titled "Dream in Darkness" of Batman: The Animated Series. In the movie, Ra's' name is pronounced "Ra-as", whereas the cartoons pronounce it "Ray-sh"; both pronunciations are considered correct, however.
Inspiration
The film's overall look, feel and story were inspired by several works, primarily the Batman: Year One stories and the Dark Victory and Long Halloween graphic novels. In addition, many individual comics from the Frank Miller era were used as inspiration, including Miller's graphic novel, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. However, the films creators have made it clear that, though a major inspiration for the film, Begins is not an adaptation of any Miller comic.
Batmobile
Design
The Tumbler, the
Batmobile used in
Batman Begins.
Unlike previous Batman films, which have all included a version of the Batmobile inspired by the comics, director Christopher Nolan and screenwriter David Goyer decided to go in another direction with the new film. According to interviews and their commentary on the Begins DVD release, the two wanted everything about the "new" Batman to seem realistic, as Bruce Wayne has no super powers and must work with technology that is readily available to him in the real world. Although early Batman comics show him driving a highly customized street car, most of the series depicts the Batmobile as being a custom built one-off vehicle designed by Bruce and built in secret to his specifications; Batman Returns features a scene of Bruce forced into repairing the vehicle himself, as very few others would be capable of doing so and it would be impossible to simply take the Batmobile out for repair.
In order to satisfy their desire to make the Batmobile a realisticlly plausible vehicle while still allowing it to have the kind of mobility, functionality and battle-readiness neccesary for it to be Batman's transport of choice, Nolan and Goyer decided that the unit would have needed to start life as a military design. Working with that as their primary parameter, the design team came up with the new vehicle, calling it "The Tumbler", rather than the Batmobile, to signify that the design (and thus its name) had originated prior to Wayne. Within the world of the film, we find that The Tumbler is a Wayne Enterprises product, designed by a team within the company working under contract to the United States federal government and tasked with creating a bullet-resistant, all-terrain vehicle capable of forcing open heavily guarded enemy lines and moving at high speed. Although we are informed in the film that the government chose to pass on the final design, Bruce finds use for it as his Batmobile. It has been speculated that the Tumbler is meant to look like the Batmobile in Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns.
Functionality
Although more than one unit was built and not all the units were fully functional, four mostly-working Tumblers were built for the film. Driveable versions were powered by 5.7 litre Chevrolet V8 engines producing more than 300 horsepower, giving the vehicle the capability to accelerate from a standstill to sixty miles per hour in about six seconds; one stand-in Tumbler featured a working jet engine, while another had working flaps.
Reaction
Critical reactions to the film were generally enthusiastic, with critics such as Roger Ebert, who had panned previous Batman movies, giving Batman Begins 4 stars out of 4 and calling it "the Batman movie I've been waiting for". Most fans gave the film positive reviews as well, especially for keeping what many of them feel is the proper tone for a Batman story as well as for creating a world that is both akin to that of the comics and seemingly very plausible.
Despite the overall good marks, there have been some criticisms of the film, generally from dedicated fans of the comic books and mainly directed at the distinct appearance of the Batmobile used in the film, the changing of several story elements and the introduction of the Rachel Dawes character, who does not exist in the comic books. There was also some amount of debate over the introduction of the Ra's Al Ghul character into the film, who did not appear in the comics until years after Bruce's creation of the Batman and who was introduced after having kidnapped Batman's sidekick, Robin, who does not yet exist in the new film franchise. The fighting scenes present in the movie were also criticized as being too dark and confusing, though some fans maintain this is deliberate, displaying the fight from the point of view of the villains, not Batman.
Awards and nominations
78th Academy Awards
2005 American Society of Cinematographers
- Nominated - Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Theatrical Releases (Wally Pfister)
2005 Art Directors Guild
- Nominated - Excellence in Production Design Award (Nathan Crowley)
2005 BAFTA Awards
- Nominated - Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects (Janek Sirrs, Dan Glass, Chris Corbould)
- Nominated - Best Production Design (Nathan Crowley)
- Nominated - Best Sound (David Evans, Stefan Henrix, Peter Lindsay)
2005 Costume Designers Guild Awards
- Nominated - Excellence in Costume Design for Film - Fantasy (Lindy Hemming)
2005 Golden Raspberry Awards
2005 Golden Trailer Awards
- Nominated - Summer 2005 Blockbuster
2005 Hollywood Film Festival
- Won - Sound of the Year (David Evans)
2005 Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA Awards)
- Nominated - Best Supporting Actor in a Feature Film (Cillian Murphy)
- Nominated - Audience Award - Best International Actor (Christian Bale)
- Nominated - Audience Award - International Film Award
2005 Online Film Critics Society (OFCS Awards)
2005 Visual Effects Society (VES Awards)
- Nominated - Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Motion Picture (Alex Wuttke, Pete Bebb, Dayne Cowan, Imery Watson) - For the Gotham City monorail chase
2005 World Soundtrack Awards
Sequel
- Main article: Untitled Batman Begins Sequel
Warner Brothers has already voiced its intentions to make a sequel to Batman Begins, and has confirmed that most of the film's cast will be returning; upon its release, Christian Bale will become only the second actor to have portrayed Bruce Wayne/Batman in more than one motion picture (Michael Keaton being the other). Christopher Nolan is again slated to direct, although it is rumored that his brother Jonathan will be co-scripting the film in David Goyer's place. Although there has not been any distinct confirmation, it is widely believed that The Joker will be the villain of the second film, owing to a reference at the end of Begins; several actors are reportedly being considered for the role.
Rumors suggest that Two-Face (Harvey Dent), Black Mask and The Penguin may make appearances in the second film, although it is unknown if these characters will remain part of the story through future script revisions or if they will be more integral parts of a third film.
DVD release
DVD cover of the Widescreen Deluxe Edition of
Batman Begins.
The Batman Begins DVD was released on October 18, 2005 in both single disc and two disc "deluxe" editions. In addition to the film disc, the deluxe edition contains a second disc of bonus materials and a small paperback booklet containing Detective Comics #27, Batman: The Man Who Falls and an excerpt from Batman: The Long Halloween.
Owing to the popularity of the film, DVD sales were high and for several weeks after the film's release to DVD, many retailers had only very small batches in stock, with some stores being unable to keep a contiguous stock on the shelves. The deluxe edition proved to be the more popular of the two releases initially, making it more difficult to find. This lead to rumors that it would only be available in limited numbers for a short period of time, and that many retailers would soon no longer be able to get any more of them. As of May, 2006, most retailers appear to still have a stock of the deluxe release, and many retailers, including Amazon, even sell the item at a discount. Recently another version of the film has come to market as a sort of "compromise" release, as it contains the two-disc set from the deluxe edition package but without the paperback booklet.
Warner Home Video announced that the film is to be released on HD DVD sometime in 2006.[1]
Video game
- Main article: Batman Begins (video game)
On June 15, 2005, a video game adaptation was released onto the PS2, Xbox, GameCube, and Game Boy Advance consoles. It featured all of the principal cast members and their likenesses reprising their roles from the film, with the exception of Gary Oldman.
References
- ^ Business Wire. Warner Home Video Announces Titles and Release Dates for HD DVD. January 5, 2006.
External links
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