FILM REVIEW
Batman Begins
Director: Chirstopher Nolan
Cast: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson,
Morgan Freeman
Classification: 10V
Running Time: 139min
Opens On: 24 Jun 2005
How does one man change the world?
It's a question that haunts Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) like the specter
of his parents, gunned down before his eyes in the streets of Gotham on a
night that changed his life forever.
Tormented by guilt and anger, battling the demons that feed his desire for
revenge and his need to honour his parents' altruistic legacy, the
disillusioned industrial heir vanishes from Gotham and secretly travels
the world, seeking the means to fight injustice and turn fear against
those who prey on the fearful.
In his quest to educate himself in the ways of the criminal mind, Bruce is
mentored by a mysterious man called Ducard (Liam Neeson) in the mastery of
the physical and mental disciplines that will empower him to fight the
evil he has vowed to destroy. He soon finds himself the target of
recruiting efforts by the League of Shadows, a powerful, subversive
vigilante group headed by enigmatic leader Ra's al Ghul (Ken Watanabe).
Bruce returns to Gotham to find the city devoured by rampant crime and
corruption. Wayne Enterprises, his family's former bastion of
philanthropic business ideals, now rests in the hands of CEO Richard Earle
(Rutger Hauer), a man more concerned with taking the company public than
serving the public good.
Meanwhile, Bruce's close childhood friend Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes), now
an Assistant District Attorney, can't secure a conviction of the city's
most notorious criminals because the justice system has been so deeply
polluted by scum like crime boss Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson). It
doesn't help that prominent Gotham psychiatrist Dr. Jonathan Crane (Cillian
Murphy) bolsters insanity defences for Falcone's thugs in exchange for
nefarious favours that serve his own devious agenda.
With the help of his trusted butler Alfred (Michael Caine), detective Jim
Gordon (Gary Oldman) - one of the few good cops on the Gotham police force
- and Lucius Fox (Morgan Freman), his ally at the Wayne Enterprises'
Applied Sciences division, Bruce Wayne unleashes his awe-inspiring
alter-ego: Batman, a masked crusader who uses strength, intellect and an
array of high tech weaponry to fight the sinister forces that threaten to
destroy the city.
|
