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The story of this special guest is so incredible he must tell it to believe it. Michael Uslan worked for DC Comics in the 1970s. In 1979, he and his business partner bought the film and TV rights to Batman with the intent of making a "dark" Batman movie. Previously, the only movie that had been made was the 1966 film based on the Adam West TV show. Still, Uslan has been the Executive Producer of every Batman film since 1989's Batman through 2022's The Batman. That includes the Tim Burton movies, the Joel Schumacher films, The Christopher Nolan Dark Knight Trilogy, Batman: The Animated Series, The Joker Movie, The Ben Affleck Batman movies, and even more. In this special episode, Uslan gives great details about how he acquired the rights to Batman. For someone who gives lectures and teaches courses, this episode attempted to ask questions of Uslan that were unique and interesting. Examples include: was there ever a conversation about trying to have Michael Keaton and Christopher Reeve onscreen together? How did Prince get involved in 1989's Batman movie? Was he supposed to score the film? What about the rumor that he could have played Robin in Batman Returns? This episode also includes the entire Joel Schumacher story, including the rumored "Schumacher Cut" of Batman Forever. This is Part 1 of 2. Uslan's next appearance will cover the Dark Knight Trilogy, Affleck, Joker, and more.

On today's #TheRalphReport : What's on your SEX PLAYLIST? Boozy TONGUE TWISTERS! An all-American TV TUNES TUESDAY! And, the Garmy pays tribute to TV's BATMAN, Adam West! Subscribe: www.patreon.com/theralphreport

The Dark Knight has a reputation for being one of the great superhero movies, and it is completely deserved. Revisiting this movie for the first time after my initial viewing I was blown away by the writing. This is a masterpiece of thematic story-telling. With fantastic performances, especially from Heath Ledger as The Joker. So let's see what Batman is up to this time as we discuss The Dark Knight. ----more---- Transcript Welcome to Nerd Heaven. I'm Adam David Collings The author of Jewel of The Stars. And I am a nerd. This is episode 93 of the podcast.   Today, we're talking about the movie  The Dark Knight   The description on IMDB reads When the menace known as the Joker wreaks havoc and chaos on the people of Gotham, Batman must accept one of the greatest psychological and physical tests of his ability to fight injustice.   The screenplay was written by Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan (who are brothers) With story by Christopher Nolan and David S Goyer It was directed by Christopher Nolan And it was first released on the 14th of July 2008   In 2008 I was raising a very young family. I had just bought my first house or was shortly about to. I wasn't made of money. Consequently, instead of buying this movie on DVD as I did with Batman Begins, I hired it from the local video rental place because that was cheaper. And forget the cinema. I didn't go to the cinema for years when my kids were little. So I've only ever seen this movie once.   I remember continuing to enjoy the serious tone, but it didn't have that origin backstory element that I loved so much in the first movie. So I was really interested to see how I'd react to a rewatch after all these years.   The movie has a very silent beginning. So much so I had to keep checking that the sound was working on my computer.   We know from the ending scene of Batman Begins that this movie would introduce The Joker as its villain. The Joker is well known as the most famous, most iconic Batman villain. And this in large part thanks to the Adam West TV show, I believe.   I think it was smart to use lesser-known villains in the first movie, like Falcone, Scarecrow, Ra's Al Ghul and Even Victor Zzazz. It expanded the world for those not familiar with the comics and gave Batman room to really shine as he came into his own.   But this was the time to introduce his famous arch-nemesis.   When we first see a criminal wearing a clown mask our natural inclination is to think, this has got to be the joker, or someone who works for him, right? Turns out these guys are working for him, but it's not a close association. He planned this heist, and he wants a cut.   He calls himself The Joker because he wears makeup to scare people, like war paint. We'll come back to this. It's a shock when one robber is killed by another as soon as he's finished his work on the security system. And it would seem to make sense at first. One less person to split the money with, and these are hardly moral people. Unless something goes wrong and you need that guy again, or if you get a bad reputation for killing your team members and nobody wants to join your crew for future endeavours.   Turns out, this is a mob bank. One of the workers has a shotgun. I have to admit, the idea of the mob owning a bank is a concept I'm struggling to get my head around.   Looks like none of these crooks really know the full plan. Half of them are instructed to kill the other half.   The mob guy makes a good point. If you work for someone like the joker, who orders his own people dead, he'll only do the same to you.   Except the guy he's talking to ends up being the joker. In the end, he doesn't have to share the money with anyone. But who's gonna want to work with him? So taking a more active role than it appeared. He definitely has a flair for the dramatic in the way he kills people.   Using the school bus as a getaway vehicle to blend in with all the other school buses is clever, but it would require expert timing, and wouldn't the back of his bus be banged up from crashing through the wall?   I was surprised to see someone wearing the scarecrow mask from the last movie.   It's not surprising, however, that there would be a copycat batman or two. But this guy doesn't compare to the real thing.   And It seems it's actually Doctor Crane himself. Has he escaped from jail? And why would he now be playing vigilante? That's a bit weird. There's a story-telling reason to do this. The idea is you show the villain who was such a threat last time as being ineffectual compared to the new villain, thus emphasising how powerful and threatening the new villain is. Except, Doctor Crane was never much of a threat to Batman. Ra's al Ghul was the main threat. The big difference, of course, between Batman and these fakes, is competence. He's got the skills, the experience, and the equipment. They don't.   Bruce has obviously affected some upgrades to the tumbler. It has some auto-drive features, which are not so unbelievable in 2022, but were still science fiction 2008.   Batman doesn't always come when Gordon turns on the signal, because he's busy. But Gordon likes to do it anyway, to remind people that Batman is out there.   That one scene when Alfred brings breakfast into an empty bedroom speaks volumes without a line of dialogue. Of course, the next scene has the dialogue which is almost redundant. Bruce has set himself up with a temporary batcave under a Wayne Enterprises facility while the mansion is being rebuilt. It's a massive empty area with white ceiling. It looks somewhat unreal. Alfred warns Bruce that he needs to know his limits. Bruce says Batman doesn't have any, and Alfred points out that Bruce does. What's going to happen on the day when he realises them.   And that's a clear ominous warning about a coming theme in this movie. And while Bruce likes to think that Batman has no limits, he clearly does, because even as a symbol, he's portrayed by a human being. Batman is built on the flaws of that human.   We meet the exciting new DA. Harvey Dent. And for those who haven't picked up on it, we see him making decisions by flipping a coin. Rachel is not only working for Dent, she is apparently dating him. She gave Bruce a little sliver of hope that maybe they could be together someday when Gotham no longer needs Batman, but at the same time, it doesn't seem that she's willing to wait for him. I'm not saying that she should, but by dating someone else it makes her offer kinda hollow.  So now we have to talk about Katie Holmes. Because Rachel has mysteriously changed her face like a timelord.   Katie Holmes didn't return for this movie. And we don't know exactly why. We probably never will. We know that Christopher Nolan wanted her to return and was reportedly a bit upset that she didn't. She was quite busy at the time and has said publicly that it was a decision that was right for her at that moment but would love to work with Nolan again someday.   I was disappointed when I learned that the character had been recast. I quite liked Katie Holmes in Batman Begins. The role went to Maggie Gyllenhaal. And I have to say, having just re-watched this movie, she did a fantastic job. It can't be easy to come in and portray a character previously played by someone else, especially if you're supposed to be in the same continuity as the previous. But Maggie made me believe. And while I really liked Holmes in Batman Begins, I think I can say that Maggie Gyllenhaal gave a better performance in The Dark Night. She plays Rachel as a little older, a little wiser. And I really enjoyed what she did.   The new head of Falcone's crime organisation, Maroni, who's played by Eric Roberts, an actor I quite like, has apparently got a fall guy to admit to being in charge, much to the amusement of everyone in the audience. I'm sure that's not what they're called in a court case, but you know what I'm talking about.   This guy has smuggled a gun right into the courtroom, even up to the witness stand, which is a little hard to swallow, but at least this movie gives an explanation. It's made of carbon fibre, which I'm guessing doesn't set off metal detectors? Last movie, both Bruce and one of Falcone's men got guns into the courtroom and that was never explained.   Dent comes across as very cocky, but also very capable. He disarms the witness without a single hint of anxiety.   Gordon and Batman are trying to cripple the mob by depriving them of their money. They plan to raid the mob banks before the Joker and rob them. The Joker is a side-problem at present.    Bruce is falling asleep in board meetings because he's out all night being Batman, but that doesn't mean he's neglecting the company. He's keeping a tight eye on things, more so than appears. I like that.  This is his father's legacy, after all.   The rivalry between Bruce and Harvey over Rachel is kind of embarrassing to observe. I guess I can't blame him. Bruce and Rachel are not together, but not by Bruce's choice. Often in Superhero stories, you'll have the hero tell his love interest that they can't be together but then get all moody and belligerent when the woman pursues something with someone else. I believe Smallville did this once or twice. But you can't have it both ways. Anyway, nothing quite so angsty is going on here. Bruce would have Rachel in a second if she'd have him, and Harvey is in the way of that. This is a point we'll connect back to later when we talk about character goals.   As far as we know, Harvey has no beef with Bruce, but when another guy puffs out his chest at you in a passive-aggressive kinda way, you're gonna puff back. That's just how it works, right. So there's this mutual ribbing that's going on during the conversation. I mean, it was quite rude of Bruce to intrude on their date the way he does. But he doesn't really care.   They begin debating the merits of Batman. Ironically, Harvey is in defence, and Bruce against. I like how Bruce's date isn't just portrayed as a bimbo. She has considered opinions and she's the one who brings up the topic.   Rachel points out the example of Cesar, who was appointed by the people to defend them but then never gave up his power. Could the same end up being true of Batman? Harvey's answer is important. This is his thematic sentence. “You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”   Let's see how this particular theory plays out with our main characters throughout the story.   But Harvey thinks Batman doesn't want to do this forever. He's looking for someone to take up his mantle. Maybe even somebody like him.   And he'd be shocked to learn just how right he is about this. Bruce is sold. He wants to throw his financial support behind Dent. But he has his own ulterior motives.  What if Harvey Dent is the hero that can solve Gotham's problems in a more ‘by the book' kind of way? What if he could take over the mantle from Batman? That would then leave Bruce free to pursue a relationship with Rachel - one she claims she'd be interested in once Batman is a thing of the past.   Ultimately, Batman is thinking more about his own personal wants and needs here than about what's best for the city. It's hard to blame him. He's an imperfect person who does have wants of his own. But we'll have to see what he ultimately puts priority on when the time comes. That will determine what kind of man he is.   So surprise, Lau, the guy that Wayne Enterprises was thinking of doing business with, the guy that Bruce decided not to work with, is involved with the Gotham Mob. The Joker has stolen a few million dollars from them. But Maroni isn't convinced that the Joker is the real problem. The cops are the bigger issue. They're trying to seize the rest of their cash. Lau hides the money for them so when Gordon gets in there, there's nothing to find.   And that's when the Joker barges into their little meeting. This scene is the first introduction we really get to Heath Ledger's Joker. His first act is to kill one of the mob guys who tries to throw him out, using a pencil. Now, this whole pencil in the eye stunt really disturbed me the first time I saw it, and it really stuck in my memory. I remember cringing in revulsion. That wasn't something I needed to see. This time around, it didn't affect me as much, possibly because I knew it was coming. That first time, when it happened, I really thought through the implications. Really disturbing.   It's clear to the Joker that the mob are afraid of Batman. Despite what they say, they're not having their meetings in broad daylight because of Harvey Dent.   The Joker makes an offer. I'll kill the Batman, but not for free. That's why he's here.   But can they take him seriously? He's shown he's clever. He's shown he can pull off a heist. He's demonstrated his competence and his boldness by stealing some of their money.   But does that mean he's capable of killing Batman? That's quite a different task than stealing money from a mob bank. The outspoken gangster, Gambol, isn't impressed and says he's putting a price on the Joker's head, but I think their new leader is seriously thinking about it all.   So let's talk about this version of The Joker. I see Heath Ledger as the definitive on-screen version of The Joker. I know a lot of people will point to Mark Hamill, but I'm just not really into a lot of animated stuff. So to me, Ledger was the ultimate portrayal of what I traditionally thought of as The Joker. His personality is creepy. He comes across as somewhat unhinged, but at the same time capable, and a worthy adversary for Batman. The make-up is dishevelled and badly done, and he has big scars on his cheeks, extending into a sickening smile, covered crudely with lipstick. It gives a wonderfully creepy vibe that works wonderfully for me. If the makeup was applied better, it would lose all its power. Incidentally, that's why I didn't like Joaquim Phoenix's look for the Joker in the trailers, although when I watched the movie and understood the character's backstory, I realised that it worked for that version of the character.   But some people took issue with the whole make-up idea. I know a friend of mine has talked at length about how he didn't want a joker wearing makeup. He wanted a joke with chemical-bleached skin.   Now because I don't have much of a comics history in my youth, I was simply unaware of this aspect of the character. I'm bingeing on DC comics now, but that didn't help me in the past. You see, I always thought The Joker wore makeup. My main previous exposures to the character were Ceasar Romero, who wore makeup right over his moustache, and Jack Nicholson.   As I explained last time, I completely misinterpreted what was going on in the 1989 Batman movie. I thought that Nicholson's Joker wore makeup to cover his disfigurement from landing in the chemicals. It was only very recently that I learned that the natural skin tone was in fact the makeup, and the clown face was his real skin. And I'm sorry, but I just find that kind of silly. Especially the hair. I can buy the idea of bleached skin from chemicals, but not if it just looks like white makeup. And green hair from landing in chemicals. No. That doesn't work for me at all.   So to me, The Joker has always been, and probably always will be, a creepy guy who wears clown makeup. I'm sorry, but I didn't know any different before, and now that idea is solidified in me.   Anyway, it goes without saying that Heath Ledger's performance in this movie is outstanding. He won an oscar for it. It's just such a tragedy that he died before even receiving it.   So Dent and Gordon meet Batman on the rooftop. There's a lot of blame going around for what happened, but what really matters is they need to get Lau back. He's fled to Hong Kong. Harvey can get him to talk if Batman can get him back somehow.   Is it just me or are all the actors in this movie really young?   When Bruce goes to Lucious for help. The scene always plays like a Bond film, where 007 gets his latest gadgets from Q. But somehow, that works.   The Joker comes to see Gambol, but his method of arrival is suitably theatrical. He arrives in a body bag, pretending to have been killed. And that's when we hear his question for the first time. “Do you want to know how I got these scars?” It's not the last time he'll ask somebody that question, and each time, he'll give a completely different story, each as dark and twisted as the last. Of course, at this point in the movie, we don't realise that, so we take the story about his wife-beating mother at face value. Ah, so that's why The Joker is so messed up. But that's too easy. Too trite. Does a tragic childhood justify the person The Joker is? It certainly doesn't excuse it. Does it explain it? Plenty of people have had horrible childhoods like the story he tells, but they don't grow up to be psychotic serial killers. Ultimately, I think the reason the writers had him give all these conflicting stories is that they're showing that no one incident really truly explains or justifies what he is. He's just insane.   Normally, I don't like it when explanations are not fully given, when stuff like this is left hanging as a mystery that's never resolved. Often, it's done badly so it leaves me feeling unsatisfied. But here, it works wonderfully. So I'm with it.   The Joker is slowly taking over the criminal underworld in Gotham. But he's doing it in such a Joker way. He has Gambol and some other goons fight it out, to the death, for the privilege of joining his team.   This guy really is sick.   Fox has a clever way of getting into the interior of Lau's building and planting another jamming device in there. I quite like seeing these two working in the field together.   This part of the movie really does feel like a spy thriller. Batman usually confines himself to Gotham. I think this is the first time I've seen him operating in another country on screen.   The method of extracting Bruce and Lau from the building into the plane looks awesome, but man it would be terrifying.   It seems strange to me that Rachel - a lawyer for the DA's office, is interrogating Lau, not a police officer. Is that normal in America? Because here, it's the police who interview people. Then, when they think they have sufficient evidence, they charge the suspect. Then they appear in court. Although, interestingly, we don't have District Attorneys, like in America. As far as I understand, it's actually the police themselves that prosecute criminal cases. You hear the term police prosecutor.   Gordon makes mass arrests. Rachael and Dent have worked out some legal options where if you get a conviction on one, you can get a conviction on a bunch of their accomplices. I don't fully understand, but it's looking pretty nice for the good guys at the moment.   Until the Judge finds a playing card, a joker, amongst her papers. The Joker makes a direct challenge to Batman by dumping the dead body, in Joker makeup, of one of the copycat batmen into the Mayor's window.   The Joker wants Batman to step up and take off the mask. Every night he doesn't, people will die.   Despite the jokes and ribbing, Bruce is genuine when he says he believes in Harvey Dent. Yeah, he's got his ulterior motives, but he genuinely believes Harvey is what the city needs, maybe even more than it news Batman. Gotham needs a hero with a face. Bruce opens up to Rachel. He believes that day is coming very soon when Batman won't be needed. And when that day comes, he's asking her to be there for him.   The people The Joker plans to kill tonight are quite important. The judge and Commissioner Loeb are among them. Harvey Dent may be another. The Joker crashes Bruce's fundraiser for Dent.   Rachel stands up to him and that's when he tells his second scar story. This one is about a wife who was disfigured. He disfigured himself to be like her, and she left him.   When Batman shows up, The Joker throws Rachel out the window. Batman has to jump out, catch her, and reach the ground safely. His cape barely opens as he's seconds from crashing into a car uncountable stories below. This is even more unbelievable than the fall out the window in Batman Begins. It's laughable to expect us to believe that Batman and Rachel are still alive. That's a real problem for me.   Alfred seems to have a greater understanding of The Joker. This is not a man with a rational goal. He's not after the things that most criminals are after. Some men just want to watch the world burn.   So how do you understand a man like that? How do you defeat him? Batman has been called the world's greatest detective. We get to see him doing a little detective work. Specifically, some forensic work, analysing gunshots into brick.   I really like how the movie acknowledges that somebody in Wayne Enterprises is going to notice their own tech from applied sciences being used out there by Batman. That's only logical. But Lucious is quite capable of dealing with that.   What's harder for me to swallow is that Bruce gets a fingerprint of the shooter off the hundreds of shards that were once a bullet.   The Joker's next target is the mayor, who is giving a speech at Loeb's funeral. It's interesting to see the Joker out of makeup as he pretends to be one of the cops giving a rifle salute.   Gordon has been shot, but we know he can't die because he hasn't become commissioner yet. Still, they play it for real. And they portray the emotion of it very well.   Rachel is the next target. Harvey needs someone he can trust, and Rachel suggests Bruce Wayne.   So, you know the trope, where the vigilante holds the crook out a window, threatening to drop them. We know they won't. The crook knows they won't. In this case, Batman has specifically chosen a height that won't kill Maroni, so that he can make good on his threat when Maroni calls his bluff.   Maroni makes a good point. Batman has rules. The joker has no rules. Nobody is gonna cross The Joker for Batman. The only way to find him is to take off his mask and let the Joker come to him. Or he could just let more people die while he makes up his mind. Harsh truth.   Dent is trying a different tactic. Putting a gun to the mobster's head. But Maroni was right. This guy won't talk. Dent offers a toss of the coin. But is he really gonna kill the guy? I know he's worried about Rachel being the next target, but is the DA really ready to take a life in cold blood? Turns out, this guy is a paranoid schizophrenic. There's not a lot Dent is gonna learn from him. Batman has some words for Harvey. He is a legitimate voice standing against the crime in Gotham. Doing it by the book. That's the first ray of light this city has seen in decades. What would happen if people saw their white knight holding a gun to a man's head? Bruce is convinced that the people need someone better than a vigilante in a bat mask. They need somebody working on the correct side of the law with his face uncovered. That's something Batman can never be.   I love how all of this is building toward the conclusion of this movie. It's like a tapestry where all the threads are coming together to make something greater. There really is some great writing in this one. It's all very thematic.   Bruce is ready to pass on the torch. Right now. He's going to unmask himself so nobody else dies on his behalf.   Dent considers giving up. Even Rachel isn't convinced that this will keep The Joker from killing people. But it may flush him out and allow somebody to stop him. I understand Bruce's perspective. What choice does he have? He can't just keep watching while people die. Is protecting his secret identity really more important than all those lives? I think he's making the only call he can under the circumstances.   Rachel admits she meant what she said to him at the end of Batman Begins. If he ends Batman, she'll be with him. But she believes that if Bruce turns himself in, they won't let them be together. “They” could refer to a lot of people. The Joker, any criminal with a grudge against Batman. The police.   Bruce is destroying any evidence that could lead back to Lucious or Rachel. Today, Bruce has found out what Batman can't do, but as predicted, Alfred doesn't want to say “I told you so.”   At a press conference, Dent debates whether Batman should be turned in with the crowd. They all want his head, so he gives in. As Bruce begins to step forward, Dent falls on his sword. “I am the Batman,” he says.   Bruce hesitates. He doesn't turn himself in. What should he do?   Rachel isn't impressed. Dent reveals how he makes his own luck - both sides of his coin are heads.   The Joker makes his move to capture Dent from the prison transport. But Batman makes his move as well, essentially proving that Dent is not Batman by appearing in the tumbler.   Action scenes with The Tumbler are always fun. But sadly, it's been damaged beyond immediate repair. So…..Bruce ejects in a motorbike.   This is a problem. I can't believe that the bridging vehicle was designed to come apart and partially transform into a motorbike. Clearly, Bruce and Lucious have made a lot of alterations. But I just can't buy that. I mean, the bike with the massive wheels looks cool and all, but this breaks the believability a bit too much for me. This is no ordinary bike, though. It can do some really cool things. Despite all he has done, Bruce still holds to his rule. He doesn't kill The Joker.   Just when all hope looks gone, who should show up but Jim Gordon. Alive and well. Now they have The Joker in custody. Gordon says he couldn't risk his family's safety, which is why he went through this ruse. But he still put them through the heartbreak of thinking he was dead. And that's pretty bad. And they haven't even found out the truth yet. Gordon is on his way home to tell his wife he's alive now. She gives him the slap that I think he deserves. But in all the commission, one thing that I missed in my first watching all those years ago. The mayor names Gordon Commissioner. So he's finally reached the position he's known for.   They've found no Id on him. No idea what The Joker's true identity is. His name.   How do you charge someone without knowing their name? It's not like they can just call him “The Joker.”   But there's some bad news. Dent didn't make it home. So who has him? Gordon lets Batman do the interrogation. This is where we see the beginning of the nemesis relationship. The Joker doesn't want Batman dead. What would he do without Batman? Go back to knocking off mob bosses? The Joker needs a worthy adversary. Batman completes him.   The Joker tells Batman he's going to have to break his one rule tonight - his rule against killing. And he's already been considering it. But it seems the Joker knows who Batman is, or at least, he knows there is a connection between Batman and Rachel. Batman is going to have to choose between Dent and Rachel. One life or another. The Joker tells Batman where each of them are. Batman's decision is made without even thinking. He's going after Rachel. The police will go for Dent.   It's a sick setup. They're both wired to bombs, but there's a speakerphone between them, so they can talk to each other. Hear each other's screams.   The Joker's method of escaping is clever, but disturbing.   Rachel doesn't want to live with Harvey, so he finally gives him the answer he's been waiting for. The question is obvious. Her answer - yes.   So…seems she's not willing to wait for Bruce after all. She'd already decided that, as we'll learn from her letter. She's convinced a day will never come when Bruce doesn't need Batman.   And now comes the real tragedy of this whole thing. Batman bursts into the location where he was told Rachel would be. But it's Harvey. The Joker gave him the wrong addresses. He switched them. So that by thinking he saved the one he chose, he'd actually be killing them.   Harvey is not happy that Batman came for him instead of Rachel - which of course he didn't mean to do.   And Rachel has to calmly accept it. It's that moment when you realise you're about to die and there's nothing you can do to stop it, so there's no use struggling. But at least the one you love is safe.   And then it happens. The buildings explode. Harvey is saved, but Rachel is not.   Rachel is dead. And Batman unknowingly killed her. This is a heart-breaking tragic moment. It was a gutsy move. It was not normal, especially at the time, for a superhero to actually kill off the love interest like this. That was dark.   Of course, I'm not against tragedy or darkness in stories. But ouch. This hurts. But sometimes stories are supposed to hurt. That's what makes them powerful.   Before she died, Rachel gave Alred a letter for Bruce, telling him she'd decided not to wait for him. She was gonna marry Harvey Dent. Alfred ultimately decides to destroy this letter rather than give it to Bruce. I think he reasons that the rejection on top of the death is just another level of grief he doesn't need. He'll at least let Bruce keep the hope that Rachel was going to be with him. It's hard to say which would be more painful, knowing that you could have been with her if only she'd survived, or knowing that no matter what, you'd never have been able to be with her.   Harvey's face is half-burned in the explosion. We know what that means. When I first saw this movie, I was embarrassingly unfamiliar with Harvey Dent, and who he was destined to become. I think the coin gave me some hints but I remember being surprised when I realised where this was going.   So…..Two Face is born. The makeup effects are very well done. But….it looks really gross. Not something I actually want to look at. Harvey is not accepting skin grafts. I'm no doctor, but I don't think he's going to be able to just walk around with a big hold in his cheek, with his eyeball all exposed like that, without getting some serious infection.   Maroni claims he can tell Gordon where the Joker will be tonight.   The Joker proves he's a different kind of criminal when he burns all the money. He's an agent of chaos. Then he calls the talkback show that's about to reveal Batman's identity and threatens more chaos unless someone called “Coleman Reese” isn't dead within the hour. It wasn't entirely clear to me at the time, but Coleman Reese is the guy who has figured out Batman's identity.   Rese is not dead, so true to his word, The Joker sets off a bomb destroying the entire hospital.   They managed to clear it, fortunately.   Bruce has developed a system where he can use every mobile phone in the city to listen in and pinpoint people of interest. As Lucious points out, it's a clear violation of privacy and potentially gives too much power to one person, even though the only person Bruce trusts to use it, over even himself, is Lucious.   It's an interesting dilemma. It may help Bruce find The Joker, and Lucious is willing to help him this one time, after which, he'll resign.   Batman is a vigilante. He operates outside the law. It's interesting that this is the line that Lucious feels so strongly about.   What do you think? Has Bruce crossed a line here? And if it helps him stop The Joker, is it worth it?   Havey is after the people that took Rachel. Moles within the police department. The Joker has threatened more chaos and death in the city, and half the population are evacuating Gotham via ferry.   The joker is running a sick social experiment. Two boats. One full of criminals. Another full of evacuating civilians. Each rigged with a bomb. Each with a detonator to destroy the other boat. At midnight he blows both boats up, unless someone on one of the boats pushes their button - destroying the other. The Joker will let that boat live. So by sacrificing (murdering) the people on the other boat, they'll save themselves. The civilian boat is taking a vote. The guards on the criminal boat are desperately trying to stop the prisoners from rioting and pushing the button.  This kind of sick game is exactly the kind of thing that The Joker delights in.    Meanwhile, Harvey has taken Gordon's family. It's all happening.   There's lots of fantastic drama as the crews of the boat try to make their decisions. It's really interesting how it all develops.   Thanks to his invention, Batman has found The Joker. And so begins their epic showdown. In the end, neither crew destroys the other. Likewise, Batman and the Joker won't kill each other, Batman because of his morals, and the Joker because fighting Batman is too much fun.   The joker is fighting for the soul of Gotham. That's not gonna be won with a fistfight. Much  like Lex in Batman V Superman, he's trying to make a philosophical point about morality. But the people in those barges have just proven that the city is full of people willing to do good.   But for how long? The Joker has taken the white knight - Harvey Dent, and transformed him into something ugly. I'm not talking about his face. He's turned Dent into a killer. The beacon of hope that Bruce so believed in. When people see that, their idealism, their hope in good, will evaporate.   THAT is the joker's victory.   But the Gotham police arrive and arrest him. He'll spend the rest of his life in a cell, and that's the last we see of him in this movie. But there's still a good 20 minutes left of the film. How can you have a climax without your primary villain? Isn't that The Joker? Well, he may in fact be the primary villain, but putting aside that word, he's not the primary antagonist. Harvey Dent is the primary antagonist. The antagonist is the one who stands opposed to the protagonist's goal in the story. Our protagonist is Bruce Wayne. And what does he want? Ultimately his goal in this movie is to stop being Batman, so he can be with Rachel. He wants to raise up Harvey Dent as a different kind of hero, a better hero, a white knight who can do the things Batman can't.   Harvey opposes Bruce's goals the whole way through. First, simply by being with Rachel, keeping her from a relationship with Bruce. But ultimately, by becoming bad. By failing to be the hero Bruce wanted him to be. By constantly making bad choices, proving that he's not the good person Bruce so desperately wants him to be. And that's what we're about to see play out in this final sequence as Harvey threatens Gordon's family.   So if the Joker isn't the antagonist, what role does he place in this movie? I learned this from an old episode of the Writing Excuses podcast about the Hollywood Formula with a guy named Lou Anders. The Joker is what is referred to as the relationship character. The relationship character is the embodiment of the story's theme. The Joker is constantly trying to convince Batman that he's more like The Joker than he is like the idealised hero he wants Dent to be. “You're a freak - just like me.” In the end, Batman fulfils this by accepting his role as The Dark Knight. This is fascinating stuff to me.   It's interesting to me that Harvey has chosen Gordon as the target of all his rage. I understand he failed to save Rachel, but there are bigger targets. The Joker is the most obvious, of course, but he has his reasons why he wants to go for someone more directly connected to the failure.   Batman is a more logical target. Batman was the one who went to the wrong place and saved Harvey instead of Rachel.   I could totally understand Harvey targeting Batman, but Gordon? I guess the difference is, Gordon is tangible. Gordon is a real person with an identity and a family. What is Batman? A persona. How do you hurt Batman? Who are his loved ones? You can't know that without knowing who is behind the mask.   And Harvey's approach is very Joker-like. He's playing games. He's gonna pick one of Gordon's family, the one he decides Gordon loves the most. That's the life he's going to take. One for one. He doesn't even want to escape from this, and that makes him especially dangerous.   Batman shows up, mercifully. Harvey feels betrayed not just on a personal level because of Rachel but on a larger leve., “You lied to me. You said we could be decent men, in an indecent time. You were wrong. The world is cruel. And the only morality in a cruel world is change.” In his mind, that's fair.   The Joker chose Harvey because he was the best of them. Joker wanted to prove that even a man like Harvey Dent could fall. Sadly, Harvey has proven him right. That's the tragedy of this whole story.   The heavy drama here is powerful. Doubly so because I'm a parent.   So Batman rescues the boy, and Harvey dies in the struggle, leaving Gordon and Batman with a dilemma. The Joker has won. Any hope for saving Gotham dies with Harvey's reputation.   So Bruce does the only thing he can. There is only one way left to defeat the Joker, and he can't let the Joker win. Batman claims responsibility for Harvey's crimes. “Tell them I did it,” he says to Gordon. Batman takes the fall for Harvey so that Harvey's reputation can remain untarnished, thus preserving hope for the people of Gotham.   Batman calls back to something Harvey Dent said early in the movie. He has now grown old enough to see himself become the villain. But not in the way anyone expected.   As Bruce rides off on his bike, Gordon's son says “But he didn't do anything wrong.”   I can't help but see strong Christ parallels here. An innocent man taking on the crimes of the guilty, for the good of others. And Christ parallels always hit me right in the heart, because of my own personal beliefs.   This is a tragic but beautiful ending.   So Bruce has now become The Dark Knight. The hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs. The name takes on so much new significance at the end. It wasn't just a case of “well, we can't call it Batman, so what's another name for Batman?” No. The Dark Knight has deep meaning, especially when contrasted with Harvey Dent as the White Knight. Love it.   Critics of DC films, particularly the ones that get a reputation for being dark, tend to say that the movies are without hope, without optimism. Nothing could be further from the truth. This movie is dripping with hope. It's all about hope. I feel the same way about Man of Steel and Batman V Superman. I love this movie. It's so well written. It all fits together so nicely. Events are foreshadowed. Themes are set up and then paid off satisfactorily. It's almost poetic.   So, having now re-watched both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, I might still say that Batman Begins is my favourite because I really like the origin story aspect, but I think I might have to say that The Dark Knight is actually the better film. But we're talking about the difference between two awesome movies, so what does it really matter? The point is, they're both fantastic.   Next time, we'll conclude our look at this trilogy by watching The Dark Knight Rises, which I've also only seen once.   And then after that, we launch into our new series on Star Trek Continues.   Have a great two weeks Live long and prosper   Make it so  

Batman Begins is my favourite standalone Batman movie. It set a precedent for the kind of grounded serious superhero movie that I would love going forward. So let's dig in an talk about it. Over the next three episodes, I'll be covering the Dark Knight Trilogy, but it all begins here with Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins. ----more---- (Player control to listen to this podcast at bottom of page) Transcript Welcome to Nerd Heaven. I'm Adam David Collings The author of Jewel of The Stars. And I am a nerd. This is episode 92 of the podcast.   Today, we're talking about the movie Batman Begins.   The description on IMDB reads After training with his mentor, Batman begins his fight to free crime-ridden Gotham City from corruption.   The story for this movie was written by David S. Goyer The screenplay was written by Christopher Nolan. It was directed by Christopher Nolan And it first released in June 2005  In order to share my thoughts and reactions to Batman Begins, I need to very briefly talk about my past experience with Batman. Much like Superman, Batman has always been a part of my consciousness. I can't remember a time in my life before I knew about Batman. He was just always there.   The first version of the character that I actively remember engaging with was the 60s TV series, although I'm sure there was awareness before that. I wasn't alive in the 60s, of course, but I saw the show on repeats. Remember Saturday morning cartoons in the 80s? Our local TV station did their own Saturday morning show, and amongst all the cartoons, they always showed one live action show. At one point they showed the Beverly Hillbillies. At another point, it was Adam West Batman.   I enjoyed the show, but I think even at the time, I was aware that it was incredibly cheesy and silly. But to me, Superheroes were not silly. I took them very seriously.   When news of the 1989 Tim Burton movie came out, my ears pricked up. I didn't see the movie at the cinema. We just didn't really go to the cinema much when I was a kid. We watched everything on Video. And that's how I eventually saw this movie. But I remember seeing the marketing. And I had a hardcover book about the making of the movie. I remember looking at the darker aesthetic and thinking, wow. This is a gritter, more serious take on Batman. I was VERY interested. Would this movie take the character as seriously as I did?   When I finally saw the movie, I enjoyed it. It was more grounded. I liked how they explained the Joker's smile. He had to have his skin stretched after his accident, so he used makeup to make it less weird. At least, that's how I interpreted it. It wasn't until a few years ago that I realised that the normal skin tone was actually the makeup, and the white skin was real.   This movie was much closer to the kind of Batman I wanted, but it still had more campiness than I expected. Most of that came from the Joker. Seeing him prance about with his goons spray painting the museum, it felt like I was right back in Adam West land. But it was more than that. There was a thick veneer of un-realness over them, especially the second. It was the architecture, the people, the 1930s cameras, Penguin's father's monocle.   And the movies in that series got progressively more and more silly. I don't want to speak too disparagingly about that series, because there's lots of good stuff to like.   But when they announced that the Batman movies were getting rebooted, I was very interested once again.   And this time, they really were taking it seriously. Batman Begins was a more serious grounded Batman. This was a movie that took the character as seriously as I did. It treated him like a person and really fleshed out Bruce Wayne as much as it did Batman. This was EXACTLY what I'd been looking for. And to this day, Batman Begins is still my favourite stand-alone Batman movie. It'll be interesting to see if that still holds after I re-watch The Dark Knight, which I've only ever seen once. I say standalone because Batman V Superman was a multi-hero movie. But Batman Begins primed me for Zack Snyder's work. Batman Begins made me fall in love with the grounded serious Superhero movie. And I've never looked back.   So let's dig in and talk about it.   So the movie begins with a shot of the sky with bats flying everywhere, and Batman's logo revealed in the background. That logo is so recognisable that you really don't need any text. That's something the marketers knew even back in 1989.   Bruce is running around his garden as a child. Most Batman stories begin with Bruce walking through the alley with his parents at night, but this is a different take. This is Bruce before the tragedy. It's all bright colours and sunny. Bruce has a big smile on his face as he plays with his childhood friend Rachel. But he's a bit of a little ratbag. Rachel has found something cool, it's an old arrowhead, and he snatches it from her. It seems that child Bruce has developed a sense of, I can have what I want, because I'm rich. Not exactly the lesson his parents would want him to pick up, we'll see later that they're really good people. But this is an attitude that could easily develop in a child raised in an environment like this, unless much care was taken to help him unlearn that kind of stuff.   As Rachel chases him, Bruce falls through a hole into an old boarded up well. rachel runs to get help from her Mum, who is in Wayne Manor, which looks really cool. I'm surprised they didn't take more care to fence it off or something. This well connects to a cave system underground, and it is filled with bats. Young Bruce freaks out as they flap around his face, giving him a life-time fear of bats. This is an important element that will come back later in a way that I thought was really cool.   That's when we cut to Bruce waking up as an adult.   Now I've heard from some sources, some criticisms of this movie and it's realistic take. Pointing out that there are things in it that are far from realistic. Bruce's fall without apparent injury could be classed as one. Although we'll later learn that he did break his leg, but a bit more visible pain on his face would have helped.   For me, when I say I love this movie for its realistic take, it's not about every little moment being perfectly realistic. It's about the realistic take on the characters. It's about the world feeling like ours, rather than having that thick veneer of fakeness plastered over it like the previous movie series. As I said before, it's about this movie taking itself seriously.   This is a Bruce Wayne we've never seen. He's got a beard. He's lying in a foreign prison. Okay, What is going on here?   Most Batman stories do the parents' death and then cut straight to Batman fully costumed and operating in Gotham. But there's a big jump between those. How do you get from one to the other? That was the big promise of this movie. They were going to delve more deeply into Batman's origin story, a story that had never really been told on screen before. We see how Bruce as a young man goes off in search of his destiny, and finally finds it. Finds a way to deal with the pain of his parent's death, and ultimately, becomes the Batman we know. This was a story that was completely new to me, and I loved it.   We don't yet know what Bruce is in here for, but another of the prisoners has it out for him. Is bullying him. I quite like it when the bully refers to himself as the devil, and Bruce says, “you're not the devil. You're practice.”  That tells you so much about Bruce's mindset here. He's using everything around him, every experience, to learn and develop. To become what he wants to become. And that's very Batman.   We get to see a nicely done fight scene. It's fierce and brutal. When the guards drag Bruce away “for protection” and then reveal it's not for him, it's for all the thugs he beat up, I audibly laughed. A little humour, but not the kind of humour that pulls you out of the seriousness of the scene.   Somebody is waiting for him in his cell. A well-dressed Liam Neeson calling himself Ducard. He says something very interesting. “Are you so desperate to fight criminals that you get yourself locked up so you can take them on one at a time.” This gives us a lot of insight into who Bruce is at the moment, and what's going on in his head. Did he deliberately get himself locked up in here? I wouldn't put it past this version of Bruce Wayne.   Of course, Ducard has figured out exactly who Bruce is. And he says he works for Ra's al Ghul, a name I hadn't heard before I watched this movie the first time.   Bruce has been exploring the criminal underworld, but in the process, he's become lost. Rotting in a foreign prison. He may be learning about criminals here, but he's certainly not going to do anybody any good.   Ra's al Ghul can offer him a path. Something he needs but isn't yet convinced about. The path of the League of Shadows.   Ra's al Ghul shared Bruce's hatred of evil. He can provide a way to serve true justice. So a vigilante. Bruce isn't sure that's what he wants to be.   But Ducard sees al Ghul differently. A vigilante is just a man lost in the scramble for his own gratification. He can be destroyed or locked up. Kinda like Bruce right now. But if you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, and if they can't stop you, then you become something else entirely. A legend. There's some good dialog in this film.   And now he's got Bruce's attention. Because he's offering a concrete way to become what Bruce really wants. A way to truly make a difference against the kind of evil, so rampant in his home city, that destroyed his life.   This is as good a time as any to talk about a theory I have. You see, the whole idea of a man dressing up as a bat to fight crime is absurd. It's ridiculous. You might even say, it's pretty stupid. So why does it work? How do you make it work?   When you're adapting a comic book to a movie, and you come across something in the comics that's silly, there's two main ways you can deal with it.   The first is to basically hang a lantern on it. This has become quite popular in recent time, but has been for a long while. The MCU did this when Hawkeye says “I'm fighting robots with a bow and arrow. None of this makes any sense.” I really don't like this approach. It's the acknowledgement, of, this is silly, we know it's silly, but let's just go with it, yeah?   Even Zack Snyder's Justice League does this a little bit, when Aquaman derides Bruce for “dressing up like a bat” and later says “I dig it.”   At the other extreme, you've got the approach that Batman Begins takes. When you find something that's silly, you either find a way to make it work, to make it less silly, or you eject it.   An example of this is the penguin. I believe Christopher Nolan has been quited as saying that The Penguin would never have worked in his trilogy because the character just wouldn't fit with the more realistic take he'd developed.   But right here, in this scene, we're seeing that Batman Begins is going to try to explain why an orphaned boy grows into a man who eventually wears a bat costume, in a way that doesn't feel silly. And for me, personally, it works really well.   Ducard has arranged for Bruce to be released from prison tomorrow. He's instructed to find a rare flower that grows on the mountain. If he can pick one, and bring it to the top of the mountain, he may find what he's been looking for all this time.   I'm liking the character development they're already doing with Bruce. He knows he's looking for something, and he's been stumbling around the world trying to find it, but so far he's failed. This is exactly the kind of person that Ra'as al Ghul would try to recruit. And yes, Bruce may have finally found what he's been searching for.   The scenery in this next sequence is quite beautiful. The grassy plains and the snowy mountains.   He makes his way up the mountain, past villages. They warn him to turn back. I guess there are stories about the questionable people who live up at the top.   Bruce is being put through a physical challenge to reach his destination. It's one thing to want to fight injustice, but it's another to have the strength of body and will to do so. Bruce first has to prove himself capable. Which he does.   Bruce finds an old asian man sitting in a chair when he finally reaches his destination. “Ra'as al Ghul?” he asks. And you'll notice the man doesn't answer. He speaks in another language, and Duard translates. I'm not sure exactly what country this is. I get the impression it's somewhere like Tibet or maybe Nepal.   Bruce is asked “What are you seeking?” “A means to fight injustice. To turn fear against those who prey on the fearful.” Bruce sounds like somebody who has already given a great deal of thought to the answer to that question. We know he's been seeking this for some time.   He presents the flower to Ducard.   “To manipulate fears in others, you must first learn to control your own.” Which seems to make sense.   Bruce can barely stand after his climb, but is still expected to defend himself. Ducard is testing him. He learns that Bruce is afraid, but not of him. Bruce has been in fights with thugs so many times before. He used to that. When Ducard asks him what he fears, we cut back to that childhood memory. Being rescued from that cave full of bats.   We learn here but Bruce did indeed break a bone, so points back for the realism thing. We also see that Rachel's mother works for Wayne as a maid. Importantly, we see Bruce hand the rock back to Rachel as they go past. It seems he's learned a lesson of sorts through this experience. Maybe life isn't all about having everything you want, and taking the things you desire from others.   His father is trying to impart an important lesson to Bruce. “Why do we fall? So we can pick ourselves back up.” That's a lesson that adult Bruce has really taken to heart, which is how he's survived so long in this lifestyle. But he'll have to re-learn it later.   In this scene, we get our first glimpse of Michael Caine as Alfred. Superhero movies are usually cast with unknowns. That makes a lot of sense, especially for the titular heroes. But Christopher Nolan deliberately cast a lot of big name stars in this movie. Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Katie Holmes.  Nolan's thinking was, why shouldn't a superhero movie deserve to have the very best actors available. Of ourse, star power isn't always directly equal to acting ability, but these actors all do amazing jobs in their roles in this movie.   I was a little sceptical about someone as famous as Michael Cain playing Alfred. Would I really be able to see the character through the famous face? But it absolutely worked for me. All these actors sold me on their characters, and after this, I couldn't imagine anybody else ever playing Alfred. Who could possibly top Michael Cain? Of course, then Jeremy Irons blew me away in Batman V Superman, but that's another story.   Bruce is having recurring nightmares about the bats. They've really scared him. His father explains that they attacked him because they were afraid of him. All creatures feel fear - especially the scary ones. This conversation will really shape who and what Bruce will become.   And then his father shows him a pearl necklace he plans to give Bruce's mother. That's ominous. We know what those pearls mean. Right?   The next scnene gives us some great insight into who Thomas Wayne is. He's not only a good father, he's a good man. The people of Gotham have been going through hard times. He's used his money to provide cheap transport for the city, and he's not above using it himself, by the way. He owns Wayne Enterprises, a big successfully company, but he doesn't take an active role in running it. Instead, he chooses to spend his time working in a hospital as a doctor. In his own way, Thomas Wayne is a hero. He instilled a lot of values into his son.   There's been one or two interpretations of Thomas Wayne where he's a corrupt businessman. Not a nice guy at all. And while I appreciate the grittiness of that approach, I prefer this version of Thomas. The idealistic nice guy who established a legacy for Bruce to follow.   And notice that Thomas is wearing a tuxedo, and Martha is wearing the pearls. We know what's coming.   The actors in the opera seem to be dressed as bats. It's freaking poor Bruce out. There's a little exchange between father and son. First of all, he says “Can we go?” And that just comes across as any restless child who is bored and wants to leave. My response to that would be a quiet firm “No.” But his face shifts and he says “please” in a pleading kind of way. And Thomas sees what's really going on inside Bruce. And being the good father he is, Thomas leaves the show, something he probably spent good money on, something he was probably enjoying himself. But for the sake of his child, there's no question.   Martha hasn't picked up on it the way Thomas did. She asks what is wrong, and Thomas covers for him. I'm not sure exactly why he felt the need to do that. Maybe so as not to embarrass Bruce over his fears. I got another chuckle when Thomas said “A little opera goes a long way, right Bruce.”   So they've left early and are walking through the alley, and that's when it happens. The inevitable moment that defines Bruce's life.   When the mugger appears, Thomas is calm. He's willing to hand over whatever this guy wants. Again this shows the man's values. He cares about his family far more than money. And he's trying to calm the mugger.   But when the wallet drops, the mugger gets jumpy. The mugger wants the jewelly as well. He raises his gun toward Martha. And suddenly it all happens so fast. The previously calm Thomas reacts on instinct. It's not about the pearls. Somebody is pointing a gun at my wife. I must protect her. He stands in front of her. The sudden movement spooks the mugger and he fires. It's all so tragic. They were so close to getting out of this without anybody getting hurt.   Somewhere along the way Martha is shot as well.   And the poor kid is left there in an ally all alone, next to the dead bodies of his parents.   And it's all because they left early. It's all because Bruce was afraid of the bats. That's got to hurt. This is a good addition to the mythology because it drives that knife even deeper into Bruce's heart. And it's that pain that pushes him to become Batman.    The death scene is done pretty well here, but I have to say, after seeing the version Zack Snyder did in Batman V Superman, well, this just can't compare to that. That haunting music! And the lack of blood seems to detract from the realism somewhat.   We get our first look at Commissioner Gordon, although he won't be a commissioner at all during this movie. Right now, he's just a uniform cop. Probably a constable. I don't know exactly how police ranks work in America. You can tell right away he's a good cop. He shows a lot of compassion and empathy for Bruce.   The detective delivers the good news. They got the guy who did this. But that's got to be very little comfort to a child who has just lost his parents.   One of the Wayne Enterprise executives promises they'll be watching over the empire until he's ready. Again, that's the last thing that Bruce cares about.   Bruce breaks down and admits the guilt he's feeling to Alfred. And we see the beginnings of the father figure that Alfred will be from now on. That's a dynamic that I really like.   Back in the present, Ducard asks Bruce if he still blames himself for his parent's death. He says that his anger outweighs his guilt. Honestly, I'm not sure which is healthier.   Bruce has buried his guilt with that anger, but Ducard is going to help him confront it and face the truth.   Next we get something of a training montage. Not quite a montage because there's snippets of dialogue through it.   Bruce has come a long way with his own training, but Ducard will take what he can do and take it to new levels. There are a lot of similarities between Batman, the way he operates, and a ninja. Both use stealth. This movie digs into that and outright makes ninja training a part of Batman's background. I imagine a lot of this is drawn from comics, but I'm not familiar enough to know exactly what. I'm still pretty early the comics-reading journey I recently started.   But it's all good stuff.   One little detail that I love is that during their sword fight, Ducard is wearing armoured spikes on his arms, these are a famous part of Batman's costume.    There is an emphasis on theatricality and deception. These also lead very naturally into what Batman will be and lend believability to the whole thing that I really appreciate.   When Bruce is shown a criminal in a cage, we get some insight into the zero-tolerance that the league of shadows have for crime. Ducard says “criminals thrive in the indulgence of society's understanding.” We'll see shortly the kind of justice that they believe in.   The next conversation explores this idea of guilt and blame.   Ducards says “Your parents' death was not your fault. It was your father's. He failed to act.” Bruce defends his father. “The man had a gun.” “Would that stop you?” “I've had training.” “The training is nothing. Will is everything. The will to act.”   So Ducard is placing the blame firmly on Thomas, for not having the strength of body and will to stop the mugger. This is a very interesting perspective.   The truth is, there are a thousand different things that contributed to them being there at that moment. Bruce's desire to leave early, their decision to go to the opera, Thomas's gift of jewellery to his wife, probably many factors that lead the mugger to choose that particular night, that particular alley.   But ultimately, the blame for his crime, in my opinion, has to fall on the mugger. He made the moral choice to steal from these people, and he made the moral choice to kill them. The responsibility for that crime rests on him.   There's another nice quiet character scene with Bruce and Ducard around a campfire. Ducard displays a keen insight into the kind of pain Bruce has at the centre of his life. The anger he has wrapped around the guilt. The way it has affected him. He shares a little of his own story. He knows Bruce's pain because he shares it, because of the death of his wife.   Then he says something important. “Your anger gives you power, but if you let it, it will destroy you.” And isn't that the truth!   When Bruce asks what helped Ducard, he says vengeance. And I'm going to have to dispute that one. From what I've observed, Vengeance rarely makes people feel better. It doesn't take away the pain. We talked about this in Stargate Universe when Rush took revenge on Simeon for killing Amanda Perry and Ginn.   Bruce says vengeance is no help to him. He asks why Bruce never took revence for his parents.   And that leads us to another flashback. Bruce is now a young man, probably just out of his teens. He's been attending Princeton, which I believe is a pretty high profile university, but he's back home with Alfred for a hearing. Related to the man who killed his parents. Justice works very slowly. But that's probably a good thing. If there's one thing where you don't want to risk making a mistake, it's the justice system. Sadly, of course, no matter how slow and careful they are, there are still mistakes made.    Bruce is not returning to Princeton. Apparently, he hasn't ingratiated himself to the staff there. But he can't see Wayne Manor as his home either. This is his father's house. A mausoleum. Alfred doesn't see it that way. This house has been home to six generations of the Wayne family. Many times, it has passed from parent to child. The child becoming the new master of the home. Moving into the master bedroom is symbolic of that. The only difference is, Thomas's death happened so young, and so tragically.   Bruce doesn't understand why Alfred cares so much. But Alfred cares very much about this family, and thinks of it as his own. We see the same thing with Jeremy Irons' Alfred too. Thomas made Alfred responsible for that which was most precious to him. Bruce. Alfred takes that responsibility very seriously.   And then we find out why Bruce has little regard for his future. We see what Bruce plans to do. He has a hand gun.   But there's a lot more to it than just wanting revenge for killing his parents. We learn that Rachel works for the DA, and the DA is letting the mugger, Chill, go free. He shared a cell with Carmine Falcone. He's testifying against that crime boss in exchange for early parole. So this isn't the sentencing after all. I Guess justice doesn't move THAT slowly.   This is hard one. I understand why the justice system needs to make deals like this. You reward the small fish for helping you catch the big fish. The truth is, Carmine Falcone is a much greater threat to the safety of the people of Gotham than Chill is. If they can bring down Falcone, then a lot of lives can be saved. A lot of crime can be prevented.   But what about Bruce? What about his parents? Where is the justice for them? That's why Bruce feels somebody should be there to represent his parents at this hearing. To remind the world that Chill's crime had consequences. That his crime broke Bruce's life in a way that can never be repaired.   And this is also why he's planning to take justice into his own hands with that gun.   I'm not sure I noticed this when the movie first came out, but watching it now, as a 44 year old, Rachel almost looks too young to be a lawyer. Katie Holmes was famous as a teenage actor in the TV show Dawson's Creek. I didn't watch that show at the time, but I saw a little of it with my wife some time later. I'm still very much seeing that teenager in her face here in this movie. Of course, this movie came out in 2005. It feels like it was just yesterday, but that's actually 17 years ago. My first child was born in 2005. Anyway, I guess the moral of that, which I'm trying to say is that Katie Holmes retained her youthful look, so good on her, and … well….I'm getting kind of old.   As the DA, makes his case, he mentions a depression. To my knoweldge, the only depression that has occured in the last few centuries, was the great depression between the two world wars. We've had a number of recessions, but that's a lesser thing, right? And depression isn't something that just affects one city. A depression affects nations. Multiple nations. So that's a departure from real-world history.   Chill speaks of his regret for his crime. Yes, he was desperate, but that doesn't change what he did. I believe his remorse. It comes across as genuine. After 14 years of paying for the crime, how could you not come to regret it?   We all know regret right. I've been torn up by regret over all sorts of things. But none of them close to the severity of what Chill did.   When the judge announces that a member of the Wayne family is present, and invites Bruce to speak, the actor playing Chill does some great stuff with his face, showing the emotion that the character is feeling in that moment. The shame and guilt. The regret. How do you face the living victim of your murder?   But Bruce doesn't speak. He stands and walks out. And gets his gun ready. Bruce walks toward Chill, gun hidden in his sleeve, but he never gets the chance. Somebody else shoots Chill dead. No doubt somebody working for Falcone.   Bruce and Rachel talk about the difference between justice and revenge. Bruce posits that sometimes they are the same thing. Rachel says that justice is about harmony. Revenge is about making you feel better. But Bruce points out her impartial system is broken, which, it is. We talked about that, the imperfection of humans.   So Rachel decides to give him a real lesson. She takes him into the slums. She shows him the people living in poverty. Falcone floods the streets with violence and drugs. He makes these people desperate. The real villain in Bruce's story may not be the man who pulled the trigger. It's Falcone, who made Chill desperate enough to want to steal. (Which obviously doesn't exonerate Chill for his terrible crime). Rachel knows exactly where Falcone hangs out. He's there in that bar every night. But through corruption and threats, he keeps the police at bay. Nobody will touch him. They're all too afraid.   This scene is foundational to Bruce becoming Batman. This movie shows there's so much more to it than just the death of his parents and training to be a ninja. There's some real depth to the story in Batman Begins, and I love it.   Bruce admits to Rachel that he's not one of her good people. Shows her the gun. She gives him the slap he deserves. And she's right. His father would be ashamed of him right now.    So Bruce storms right into Falcone's bar and walks up to the crime boss. I like how the first half of this movie uses Falcone as its primary antagonist. In the grand scheme of things, he turns out to be a minor foe for Batman, but at this point in his life, Falcone is an untouchable, insurmountable foe to Bruce.   The conversation between Falcone and Bruce is fantastic. More great dialog. Falcone has the kind of power where he wouldn't hesitate to shoot Bruce in the head, right here, in front of cops and judges. That's power. The power of fear.   In a few quick sentences, he reminds Bruce how much he actually does have to lose. Rachel, his butler. He thinks he knows pain, but he knows nothing of desperation. It's ironic that Falcone is the cause of so much desperation in this city, but he understands it. He lives amongst it. Bruce doesn't yet comprehend that type of desperation.   But as we've seen earlier in the movie - he will.  This encounter with Falcone is the impetus he needs to go and start learning about desperation and fear. To begin his long training toward becoming Batman. So he can be one of Rachel's good people. A good person who won't just do nothing.   I don't know if Bruce will ever think of himself as good. He's too morally gray. But he's going to stand against the evil that has infested his city. Like his father did before him, in a very different way.   As soon as he's thrown out of the bar, Bruce begins to shed the trappings of his privileged life. His wallet, his cards. His fancy clothes. He sells his nice coat to a homeless man, exchanging it for a ratty old one. His journey has begun.   During this training, he lost a lot of assumptions about the simple nature of right and wrong. But he never fully gave in to it all. He didn't become one of them. He stole, but technically, the things he stole belonged to his company anyway. He still had a moral line.   So back in the present, Ducard is using drugs to teach Bruce a lesson. He must become more than a man. He must become an idea. He must use fear against his enemies. The drug is from that purple flower that grows on the mountain. It has hallucinogenic properties.   Ra's Al Ghul is satisfied that Bruce has overcome his fear. He's ready to join the league of Shadows and lead these men. But first, he has to prove his commitment to justice.   He has to behead a criminal in front of them all. But this is one of those lines Bruce has set. He's not an executioner. He won't kill this man. That's not justice. That's what Rachel tried to teach him.   This is where he differs from the League of Shadows. He'll fight men like this in Gotham. But he won't kill them. Ducard brings up a classic objection. “You compassion is a weakness your enemies will not share.” And Bruce has a good comeback. “That's why it's so important. It separates us from them.”   Ducard makes a point that Bruce knows well. Legal systems are corrupt. They are often not fit to dispense true justice. Bruce has seen this first hand in Gotham. The League has turned their sights on Gotham. That city has become so corrupt, it's time for it to die. And Bruce, as their “Prince” as Falcone called him, “is the perfect one to deliver that justice.” They plan to destroy the entire city. As they believe, this is necessary.   And so is born this Batman's no-kill rule.    I have no problem with this Batman having a no-kill rule. I quite like it. This Bruce still has some idealism left. I like idealism. I also have no issue with Ben Affleck's Batman having no such rule. That's Bruce at a very different time of his life, in a very different situation. Batman has certainly killed before, in comics, and in other movies. Remember that time when Michael Keaton's Batman casually murdered a minor goon and then cracked a joke over his corpse?   Bruce attacks the league to make his escape, burning the temple, and saving Ducard's life. Because he's still a good person.   Now Bruce is ready to be Batman. It's time to go home. Alfred is very happy to see him as he arrives in a private jet. People need a powerful symbol to shake them up. He can't do that as Bruce Wayne. As a man, he can be ignored and destroyed, but as a symbol, he can be indestructible.   We get a nice little moment of humour as Alfred expresses some concern over his safety with Bruce's new endeavour. We also learn that Bruce was declared legally dead by the Wayne Enterprise shareholders. They wanted his majority share, but luckily, he left everything to Alfred, who is now a wealthy man in his own right. The overhead view of the Gotham skyline shows us a very realistic looking city. A place we can well believe exists. A far cry from the gothic cartoonish Gotham we've seen in previous Batman movies. This was a breath of fresh air to me. I could never really connect with the setting of the previous movies. The city just felt so overwhelmingly fake and non-real.   Now, before we see the birth of Batman, we need to meet a new character, One who will be an important villain in this movie going forward. Doctor Crane. The psychologist that gets all of Falcone's thugs declared insane, and transferred to his care, rather than facing criminal justice.   Rachel is onto him, of course, as probably everyone else is. But she's the only one with the courage to do something about it. Interestingly, Rachel seems to be taking on something of the role that Jim Gordon generally fills in the comics. The one brave good person who is willing to stand up when everyone else just looks away, either for money, or out of fear.   Of course, we see Jim Gordon doing that as well in this movie, but so far, he's been largely absent.   Rachel is warned to back off by one of her colleagues. You can't take on somebody like that. You just have to pretend it's not happening.   Bruce's first step is research. And that's a very Batman quality. Preparation. He needs to know if he'll have any allies out there. He finds some newspaper clippings about Gordon.   And that's when he sees the bat. And after all that Ducard taught him, he has an idea. He goes down the well that he fell into as a child, and finds the cave.   The cave is very rustic. It's not a habitable place, as caves generally aren't. I love the waterfall. As Bruce stands up, allowing the bats to flap all around him, he finds that he has overcome his fear of them. Now that he has it under control, it's time to share that fear with his enemies.   Despite his bravado, Rachel actually has Crane a little spooked. He has a deal with Falcone. He gets his thugs off the hook, and Falcone brings in a shipment of something for Crane. Falcone is more interested in favours than money, and for somebody like him, that makes a lot of sense. Falcone has plenty of money, but it's the favours, the connections, that make him who he is. That's the basis of his power. Other people doing what he wants so he remains untouchable. Anyway, Falcone is gonna take care of Rachel for him.   We see in the board meeting, that they are wrestling with the idea of going against the kinds of business practices that Thomas Wayne believed in. One of them argues that after 20 years they should be able to stop thinking about what Thomas Wayne would have done. And …. In part….. I think he does have a point. Thomas is no longer alive and hasn't been involved in this company for two decades.  They're the ones running this business. They need the freedom to take it in their own direction.   But, in terms of values, that's a little different. Thomas Wayne clearly set precedent for the kinds of moral and ethical values that Wayne Enterprises stands for. And those values are something that perhaps should endure. Especially when you're carrying on the legacy of your founder.   Bruce says he's not here to interfere with the company. He just wants a job to get to know the company his father built. He's interested in the applied science division. Of course, he has something of an ulterior motive here.   And this is where we get to meet Lucias Fox. Now as I understand it, this character was created for the movie, and he became so beloved, that they actually added him into the comics. This kind of thing has happened before. Batgirl was first created by the Adam West TV show, and later became part of the comics. Harley Quinn, as well. I think it was an animated series for her.   Anyway, I like Lucias Fox, and it's hard not to when he's played so warmly by the one and only Morgan Freeman.    Fox is surprised Bruce would want to be here. This division is a dead end, to keep Fox from causing any trouble for the board. A whole bunch of prototype technologies, not in production. Exactly what a young Billionaire needs when he wants to come a superhero vigilante.   This scene is great because it legitimises all of Batman gadgets. His suit is an advanced body armour, not used in active duty by the military because it's too expensive. But perfect for a vigilante who only needs one or two.   I've often heard the criticism that Batman can't have body armour any more advanced than what the US Military use in real life because they always have the best that has been invented. I think this scene goes some way to help address that.   This is what I was talking about earlier. You find something that's kind of silly in a superhero's story. In a movie like this, you either make it feel believable, or you dump it.   And that's the key. Making it feel believable, even if it's not strictly 100% realistic. That's not the point. It needs to feel sensible, not silly. It needs to give you enough to help you suspend your disbelief.   And for me, Batman Begins does that perfectly.   I love how Fox sees completely through Bruce's excuse. But all this stuff belongs to him. If he wants to use it, why not?   Alfred gives us another nice little bit of texture. Back in the civil war, Bruce's great-great-grandfather was involved in the secret railroad, helping free slaves. The caves under the mansion came in handy. There is already a passage down into them. Another nice touch that adds an extra veneer of believability to this whole thing.   Bruce is now making his suit. Painting the body armour and adding the arm spikes he learned about with Ducard. Alfred helps him figure out the logistics of ordering the materials he needs to assemble everything without raising suspicion.   We check back in with Jim Gordon. He's in an interesting situation. He's not that courageous good man standing against corruption yet. He refuses to take bribes himself, but he does sit idly by while his partner Flass collects his money. He even assures Flass that he's no rat. He won't tell anyone about the bribes. He's resigned to the fact that there's nobody to rat to.   Gordon is in a small way still part of the problem. He's definitely not yet a part of the solution.   But Bruce pays him a little visit.   I like how on Bruce's first time out, he doesn't have the full cowl. He's just wearing a balaclava. I kind of like it when origin stories do that. The slow build-up to the real suit.   Jim needs a little push. It's not until Bruce tells him about Rachel that he really considers taking a stand himself. Bruce wants to take Falcone down for the drug shipments he brings in each week. The shipments that nobody does anything about.   Bruce definitely lacks the elegance we'll come to expect from Batman as he clumsily falls and crashes around the city. He's gonna need more stuff from Fox.   The memory cloth that will form the basis for Batman's cape is pure science fiction. But couching it in science fiction terms once again gives it that sensible believability to me.   I like the exchange between Bruce and Fox. Fox is happy with the plausible deniability of it all. He knows Bruce is up to something. Bruce knows he knows. They don't have to keep pretending otherwise.   And that's when Bruce notices the tumbler.   I love the tumbler.   Designed as a bridging vehicle. They could never get the bridge to work, but the vehicle itself is fine. Perfect for Bruce's needs. I love how they introduce the batmobile in this way. I love how you first see it in Army cammo colours, but Bruce asks if it comes in black. I love everything about the tumbler. The batmobile is one of the silliest things about batman. That name especially. Thank goodness that term is never spoken aloud in this movie, or in the Synder movies. You don't need to call it that on screen, it just needs to be present. I always thought the idea of Batman driving around in a car was pretty silly. But this thing? Now you're talking!   Now, there are some issues with the tumbler in the second movie, which we'll get to. But just looking at Batman Begins in isolation, this is absolutely perfect.   You can see a defined difference between the way Bruce is approaching Falcone now, as opposed to how he did it as a young man. Back then, he was hot-headed. He burst into Falcone's bar armed with nothing but anger and emotion. And he was humiliated. Now, he's taking his time. Doing surveillance. No longer a child, Bruce has become a man. There's still a lot of emotion driving him, of course, but that emotion is no longer in the driver's seat. Bruce has learned to control it.   In reality, this isn't just a drug shipment. There are drugs, but there's also something special for Crane. Flass is actively helping Falcone protect the shipment. And he's all but offered to kill Rachel. And this is where we first see Batman in action. I love this scene. It takes all the tropes of a horror movie and inverts them. It's the bad guys that are being terrorised, and Batman is the monster. In a lot of ways, this scene defined for me, who and what Batman is. I remember playing the Arkham Asylum game. This scene was in my mind as I played that. It impacted how I played the game.   The crooks are vanishing one by one. Being taken by something in the shadows. It's creepy and it's cool. Possibly the best scene in the movie. I love when the crook screams “where are you you?” And then we hear that gravelling voice behind him, as an upside-down Batman says “here.”   They actually use the “hide the monster” trope here, but in the way I like, not in the way I hate. Because the crooks don't get a good glimpse of Batman. Not until right at the end, we finally see Batman in all his glory, as he pulls Falcone out of the car.   Bruce saves Rachel's life, and gives her the leverage she needs to get the judge to do the right thing.   It seems everything is all wrapped up. In one night, Batman has taken down Carmine Falcone, something the police in Gotham haven't been able to do in 20 years.   So Falcone is strapped to a massive floodlight. Making the image of a bat on the clouds. It's this movie's take on the bat signal.   This is a moment that gets criticism. Those floodlights get extremely hot. In reality, Falcone would be burned to a very dead crisp. And I can't argue against that. First of all, I'll point out that this light is hardly at full strength. You can tell just by looking at it that the light is pretty dim. But then, there's no way it'd be able to project that image up into the sky to be visible like that. This scene is a cheat. I'll admit that.   I always found the bat signal pretty silly. I never liked the idea that Gotham police had Batman on speed dial. Gordon, sure. But he needs a much more subtle way of getting in touch with him.   I'll admit this moment doesn't quite work, but given the overall tone of the rest of this movie, I kinda don't care.   The point is, we've established just how powerful Bruce has become, in his new persona. Up until this point, Falcone has been the big bad of the movie. He was the primary villain. And he seemed a very powerful, very intimidating villain. How can one man bring down somebody like that?   But Batman has done what that young Bruce could never have conceived of. He's brought down Falcone, and it feels kind of effortless.   Bruce Wayne has come of age.  But they've already laid the seeds of a greater challenge that Batman will face. This movie actually has an escalating scale of villains, three different levels. Bruce has just cleared level 1.   And the way the movie has done it, taking all of this time to establish Bruce's journey, it convinces me. The idea of a man dressing up as a bat and running around with a cape at night no longer feels ridiculous and preposterous. The journey has sold it. That's really important to me.   I've always been primarily a Superman fan, but looking back, while I'd always liked Batman, I think it was this movie that really made me love Batman. This movie gave me a version I could believe in. This movie finally delivered on the promise that I first saw when they started advertising the 1989 movie on TV.   Rachel has a rock-solid case. Batman has given her everything she needs.   But the police chief wants Batman off the streets. This is the tension I like. Batman is doing the right thing, he's getting the job done, and Gordon sees the value in that, but officially speaking, Batman is a criminal, pursued by the police just as much as any of his rogues are. That's what Batman was designed to be.   Alfred has some good advice for Bruce. If he's going to live this double life, he's going to have to put some effort into his Bruce Wayne persona as well. Just as Supermam cultivates an akward nerdy Clark Kent, Batman needs to cultivate a frivolous playboy Bruce Wayne to throw people off his scent. Now we introduce a new but important element. A microwave generator has been stolen from Wayne Enterprises. Designed for desert warfare, it vaporises an enemy's water supply. This is more science fiction. But again, I'm okay with science fiction. This is still a superhero movie, after all. And that's what this movie does so right. You establish the silly elements of the story in a believable sensible way, and then you have room to suspect disbelief over things like this. I don't mind a little science fiction, in fact, I welcome it. What I don't want is silliness and cheese. That's why when people criticise the realism of elements like this, I think they're missing the point.   Bruce's appearance at the hotel, with the weird skinny-dipping ladies goes a good way to establishing Bruce as a frivolous playboy, the last person you'd expect to be Batman. Why those women decided to get naked and hop in the water feature I'll never comprehend. Maybe Bruce paid them to do so.   Bruce is willing to be seen in this light in order to protect his true self. But there's one person whose good opinion he doesn't want to lose. Rachel. He tries to tell her, without telling her. “Inside, I am more.” But she's not buying it. “It's not what you are underneath, it's what you do that defines you.” And this is a very thematic statement for the whole movie. I partially agree with what Rachel says here. While, I think we are defined by more than just what we do, What she's getting at is the whole idea of putting your money where your mouth is. You can have the best of intentions inside, but if your actions don't match your intentions, then those intentions aren't worth much, are they? It actually reminds me of James chapter 2 in the Bible. Faith without actions is dead.   Falcone wants Crane to get him off on the insanity plea, just as he has with his goons. But more than that. He wants in one whatever Crane and his mysterious boss are up to.   But this is the moment that Crane replaces Falcone as the primary villain. Crane gases Falcone and Falcone goes genuinely insane from whatever is in that gas.   It's obvious at this point, that Crane is the Batman villain Scarecrow.   And this is the moment it really becomes a comic book movie. Weird gas that makes people go crazy? But because everything has been established in such a grounded sensible way up until now, I'm willing to buy it, I mean fully buy into it.   We won't be seeing Falcone again. He's done with. But we've learned how sinister Crane is. He's doing experiments with his patients, using whatever was in that shipment Falcone brought him.   Bruce already knows some of the shipments went elsewhere. He wants to know where. He'll get it out of Flass. Which he does. Batman is a pretty effective interrogator. And Flass is a coward.   So he tracks the shipment to Crane. The shipment is what he uses to make that gas, not to mention the microwave generator. We see that the gas amplifies people's fears. Makes them see what they're afraid of.   Bruce jumps out of a window many stories up, while on fire. And miraculously survives the fall without even a broken bone. That's not realistic. I call valid criticisms on this moment. But the funny thing is, they have their explanation for that. The memory cloth can turn his cape into a glider. Why didn't this scene use that device?   Under the influence of the gas, Bruce becomes that scared helpless little boy again. He cries out to Alfred for help. And of course, Alfred is there for him.   Bruce recognises the hallucinogen. He's felt it before, but this is more concentrated. Weaponised.   Fox has invented an antidote.   Bruce is supposed to have a birthday party tonight, but Rachel is heading to Arkham Asylum to figure out what's going on with Falcone. And she's gonna need backup from Batman to keep her safe.   Why does Crane show Rachel the truth of his whole operation? I know he drugs her afterwards, but why show her what he's doing? He's pouring that hallucinogen into the city water supply.   Batman crashes the party and uses Crane's own gas on him. I love how he sees Batman as a weird human/bat hybrid creature. The gas allows this movie to do some crazy sci-fi/fantasy looking stuff that would otherwise not fit in a movie like this at all. And we learn that Crane's mysterious boss is none other than Ra's Al Ghul. But isn't he dead? Didn't he die when that temple turned?   Bruce calls in the bats presumably using pheremons to attract them, so he can get away wtih Racel, to give her the antidote. Not sure the bats would smell the pheromones from that distance, though.   This is when we first get to see the Tumbler in action. Bruce uses the bridging vehicle's ability to jump to his advantage.   There are a couple of moments of humour that work for me in the chase. It's a pretty cool action scene. Anyway, he gets Rachel to the cave in time to the cave, where Fox has left the antidote waiting.   Crane has dumped his entire supply of this stuff into the water supply. Been doing it for weeks. But it hasn't affected anyone because it needs to be absorbed through the lungs. So why dump it in the water?   Crane is in custody. Bruce uses Rachel to get the antidote to Gordon so he can protect himself and mass produce it.   Level 2 cleared. The final ultimate villain will soon be fully revealed.   Alfred is concerned that Bruce is losing himself in this monster. Bruce argues he's using the monster to help others. But this can't be personal or else he's just a vigilante.   The mansion is full of guests. Bruce wants to get rid of them. There's too much going on right now. Alfred doesn't want Bruce to destroy his father's name. It's all that's left of him. The playboy persona is one thing. But Thomas's legacy is important and shouldn't be tarnished. And, Bruce agrees, for now.   Fox figures it out. The microwave emitter would allow somebody to disperse the toxin into the air supply. He's just been fired for asking too many questions about it.   And now we meet the final boss. The true villain of this entire movie. Bruce is introduced to a Mr. Ra's Al Ghul. It's Ducard. He was Ra's all along. The man Bruce watched die was just a decoy.   Bruce wants Ra's to let the guests go. They're innocent. His only reply “You can explain the situation to them.” And so, in order to save their lives, he must offend them. Dragging his father's name through the mud. They'll never know what he sacrificed to save their lives.   Crane's toxin was derived from the blue flowers on the mountain. He wasn't a member of the league of shadows, just a pawn. Ra's plans to vaporise the toxin and watch Gotham tear itself apart. He said near the start of the movie that he planned to destroy Gotham. He was serious. The League of Shadows has been a check against human corruption for thousands of years. They sacked rome, released plague rats, and burned London to the ground. When a civilisation reaches the peak of decadence, they come in to return the balance.   But you can't fight evil with evil. They may think they're the good guys, but they've murdered billions of innocent people along the way. Bruce believes Gotham isn't worth saving. He wants more time. Ra's rgues the very fact they've been able to do what they're doing is proof of its corruption.   We're seeing here that everything from the start of the movie is coming full circle. It's almost poetic. I love it.   As his goons burn the mansion to the ground, Ra's drops another bombshell. They tried to destroy Gotham in the past, through economics. Create so much hunger that everyone becomes a criminal. See them rip themselves apart.   But Bruce's parents got in the way of that plan, by helping alleviate the poverty where they could. It was Ra's al Ghul who created the circumstances that lead to his parent's death. Falcone was only a piece of that.   We see here how alike Bruce and his father are. Both, in Ra's opinion, are misguided idealists trying to save the city that deserves to be destroyed. There's a lot of symmetry in this movie, and I love it.   Alfred saves Bruce from the burning house. Bruce feels he's destroyed everything his father left behind, but Alred reminds us what we've just learned. The Wayne legacy isn't bricks and mortar. It's that idealism that tries to save Gotham. Ultimately, Thomas failed, and now so has Bruce. And then that line from his childhood returns. “Why do we fall?”  “So that we can learn to pick ourselves up.”   I think Thomas would be proud to see what a fine father figure Alfred has become.   Ra's activates the microwave generator and the gas bursts out of the ground. Right under the narrows - the worst part of Gotham.   Fortunately, Gordon has the antidote.   Everything has gone to hell. All the riot cops are on the island already, and they've been affected by the gas. There's nobody left to send. And just as Commissioner Loeb says that, the tumbler bursts through the air behind him. That's a very effective shot. Love it.   The monorail follows the path of the water mains. They're gonna load the generator on the train and infect the entire city.   Batman is going into battle. He may die. Rachel at least wants to know his name. He replies with that same line “It's not what I am underneath, but what I do that defines me.” And this, of course, has a double meaning. In one sense, it means, it doesn't matter what my identity is under this suit. It only matters that I'm trying to help. But, of course, by using that phrase, he's letting her know exactly who he is.   The shot of Batman gliding in like a giant bat and landing is awesome.   A lot of people are getting infected while Bruce struggles to catch the train. More with every metre. This brings us to the climactic fight scene. It's suitably tense. I like it. Gordon uses the tumbler to take out part of the monorail. It's interesting that ultimately he's the one that saves the day. Bruce is there to make sure Ra's doesn't go on to cause havoc another day.   And now we reach that controversial moment. Has Bruce finally learned to let go of his compassion? Ra's asks. “I won't kill you, but I don't have to save you.” Many people feel this is a betrayal of the “no-kill” rule that Bruce established for himself early in the movie. And strictly speaking, it is. Bruce is cutting that moral hair mighty thin.   But I don't see this as a negative to the movie. Bruce is a morally gray character. This is when he really steps into that. This is why he and Superman never get on, because they are different. Yes, Batman may be an idealist compared to the likes of Ra's al ghul, but he's not as cut and dry as Superman. And even Superman is forced into some of those gray areas, which I'm also fine with.   The train is stopped, and Ra's al ghul is finally dead. But there's still a lot of people out there who will need that antidote. A lot are gonna get hurt and killed before they get it. It's Batman. It's messy.   The next scene is very satisfying. The company went public, but Bruce bought up most of the shares through various charities and trusts. He's placed Lucious Fox in charge as the new CEO, the previous one, who fired Fox, is out.   Rachel comes to see Bruce, who she has newfound respect for. Bruce thanks her for giving him that first lesson that started him on his journey of transformation.   Now that she knows the type of man Bruce truly is, she's started to hope. They grew up as childhood friends, but there's a lot more between them than just friendship. They've loved each other for years, in some form. The movie probably could have done a better job of portraying that romantic undercurrent of their relationship, though. But there's a problem. Bruce has changed. He's a good man, but the real Bruce that she remembered is gone. Maybe he'll come back someday when Gotham no longer needs the Batman. And that line perfectly sets up the primary conflict of the next movie.   Bruce is going to rebuild his father's house, but it might be a good opportunity to do some work on the foundations.   The bat signal re-appears at the end. Gordon is going to use it when he wants to summon Batman. There's a lot of trouble still out there.  Gordon teases the villain of the next movie by mentioning a thief and murdurer who leaves a calling card - a joker.   And the credits roll.   This movie changed everything. It created a new era for DC comics movies, and started the journey that would eventually lead us to the Snyder Cut.   Without Batman Begins, there would be no Man of Steel. No Batman V Superman.   This movie presented a new way of portraying superheroes. They were no longer something to laugh at or make fun of. They were something to take seriously.   This movie made realistic, those things it could, which made the speculative elements all the more easy to accept. It was a perfect balance.   It's like Christpher Nolan reached into my soul and said “Let's create the perfect Batman movie for Adam Collings.”   There was a lot in this movie. Heaps to talk about. And there'll be plenty more to talk about next time, in a movie I've actually only ever seen once. The Dark Knight.   Have a great two weeks, Live long and prosper, Make it so.  

►Start with Your Guide to Batman https://silverscreenguide.podbean.com/e/your-guide-to-batman-1989/   2 years after the Superman franchise blew up like Krypton, Tim Burton's Batman came out of the shadows as the next big franchise. With mainstream audiences only having a familiarity with the character through the campy Adam West TV show, Burton subverted expectations with a dark, captivating vision, truly showcasing the potential for comic book stories on the big screen. Earning high marks not only at the box-office but with critics and audiences alike, it was well-received at the time. Now, less than two weeks before its 33rd anniversary, join Corbin as he gets nuts to review Batman to find out! Question after the show: Who is your favorite live-action Joker? ►Email me at silverscreenguide95@gmail.com   Find Out What We're Watching Every Week: ►Corbin's Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/cwriley95/ ►Allen's Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/rankineugallen/   1989 Movie Reviews ►Last Weeks Review: Man of Steel (2013) https://silverscreenguide.podbean.com/e/man-of-steel-2013-movie-review-eighth-in-superman-review-series/ ►Catch up on Jurassic Reviews! https://silverscreenguide.podbean.com/category/jurassic-park-movie-reviews/ ►Superman & Batman Reviews https://silverscreenguide.podbean.com/category/batman-reviews/ ►Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Review https://silverscreenguide.podbean.com/e/indiana-jones-and-the-last-crusade-1989-movie-review/ ►Back to the Future Part II https://silverscreenguide.podbean.com/e/back-to-the-future-part-ii-1989-movie-review-second-in-back-to-the-futue-movie-review-series/ ►Christmas Vacation https://silverscreenguide.podbean.com/e/national-lampoons-christmas-vacation-1989-third-annual-christmas-special-movie-review/ ►Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure https://silverscreenguide.podbean.com/e/bill-and-teds-excellent-adventure-1989-movie-review-first-in-bill-and-ted-movie-review-series/ ►Ghostbusters II Review https://silverscreenguide.podbean.com/e/ghostbusters-ii-1989-1511036811/ ►The Nightmare Before Christmas Review https://silverscreenguide.podbean.com/e/tim-burtons-the-nightmare-before-christmas-1993-movie-review-thanksgiving-special/ ►MPAA Discussion https://silverscreenguide.podbean.com/e/mpaa-discussion/ ►Find many more 1989 reviews in the archives at https://silverscreenguide.podbean.com/ --------------------------------- Upcoming reviews: *Due to COVID-19 episode release dates are subject to change* Subscribe to the podcast to hear these exciting upcoming reviews! ►Batman Returns (6/20) ►Jurassic World Dominion (6/27) ►Batman Forever (7/4) ►Batman and Robin (7/11) ►Support the podcast | Get bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/silverscreenguide   Follow SSG on your favorite platforms! ►OFFICIAL WEBSITE ►SUBSCRIBE ON iTunes ►SUBSCRIBE ON YouTube ►FOLLOW ON Spotify ►FOLLOW ON FACEBOOK ►FOLLOW ON TWITTER ►SUBSCRIBE ON STITCHER ►SUBSCRIBE ON Listen Notes ►SUBSCRIBE ON TuneIn + Alexa Also available on Deezer, Overcast, Pocket Cast, Castro, and Castbox   Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:04:22 - Discussion 00:21:59 - Closing   Silver Screen Guide is dedicated to delivering the best guides and reviews for movies, TV shows, and video games. Follow our podcast for a new movie review every Monday and follow our YouTube channel for reviews and guides of brand new movies along with classics. We love talking about movies and we love talking about them with you. When you follow us on your favorite platforms and share with your friends you'll never miss your guide to the silver screen.

2 years after the Superman franchise blew up like Krypton, Tim Burton's Batman came out of the shadows as the next big franchise. With mainstream audiences only having a familiarity with the character through the campy Adam West TV show, Burton subverted expectations with a dark, captivating vision, truly showcasing the potential for comic book stories on the big screen. Earning high marks not only at the box-office but with critics and audiences alike, it was well-received at the time. Now, less than two weeks before its 33rd anniversary, join Corbin as he gets nuts to guide you through the production, behind-the-scenes drama, box-office, and impact of Batman! Subscribe to the podcast so you won't miss the full review coming next Monday!   Find Out What We're Watching Every Week: ►Corbin's Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/cwriley95/ ►Allen's Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/rankineugallen/   1989 Movie Reviews ►Last Weeks Review: Man of Steel (2013) https://silverscreenguide.podbean.com/e/man-of-steel-2013-movie-review-eighth-in-superman-review-series/ ►Superman & Batman Reviews https://silverscreenguide.podbean.com/category/batman-reviews/ ►Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Review https://silverscreenguide.podbean.com/e/indiana-jones-and-the-last-crusade-1989-movie-review/ ►Back to the Future Part II https://silverscreenguide.podbean.com/e/back-to-the-future-part-ii-1989-movie-review-second-in-back-to-the-futue-movie-review-series/ ►Christmas Vacation https://silverscreenguide.podbean.com/e/national-lampoons-christmas-vacation-1989-third-annual-christmas-special-movie-review/ ►Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure https://silverscreenguide.podbean.com/e/bill-and-teds-excellent-adventure-1989-movie-review-first-in-bill-and-ted-movie-review-series/ ►Ghostbusters II Review https://silverscreenguide.podbean.com/e/ghostbusters-ii-1989-1511036811/ ►The Nightmare Before Christmas Review https://silverscreenguide.podbean.com/e/tim-burtons-the-nightmare-before-christmas-1993-movie-review-thanksgiving-special/ ►MPAA Discussion https://silverscreenguide.podbean.com/e/mpaa-discussion/ ►Find many more 1989 reviews in the archives at https://silverscreenguide.podbean.com/ --------------------------------- Upcoming reviews: *Due to COVID-19 episode release dates are subject to change* Subscribe to the podcast to hear these exciting upcoming reviews! ►Batman (6/13) ►Batman Returns (6/20) ►Jurassic World Dominion (6/27) ►Batman Forever (7/4) ►Support the podcast | Get bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/silverscreenguide   Follow SSG on your favorite platforms! ►OFFICIAL WEBSITE ►SUBSCRIBE ON iTunes ►SUBSCRIBE ON YouTube ►FOLLOW ON Spotify ►FOLLOW ON FACEBOOK ►FOLLOW ON TWITTER ►SUBSCRIBE ON STITCHER ►SUBSCRIBE ON Listen Notes ►SUBSCRIBE ON TuneIn + Alexa Also available on Deezer, Overcast, Pocket Cast, Castro, and Castbox   Silver Screen Guide is dedicated to delivering the best guides and reviews for movies, TV shows, and video games. Follow our podcast for a new movie review every Monday and follow our YouTube channel for reviews and guides of brand new movies along with classics. We love talking about movies and we love talking about them with you. When you follow us on your favorite platforms and share with your friends you'll never miss your guide to the silver screen.

Batman has a comically huge cultural footprint, from SNES games, to animated cartoons, Hollywood blockbusters and children's underwear. Did you know that there was even Batmanga? Written and drawn by Jiro Kuwata, the three volumes of Batmanga tell sci-fi themed stories with original villains that have more in common with the Adam West TV show than Frank Miller. Should a curious Bat-fan check them out? I mean, do whatever you want, we're not the boss of you. We can help you make an informed decision though!   Music is by Free Rap Beats. Find us on Twitter at @armyofcrime and @dustin44444 or on the web at www.armyofcrime.com   Topics for this episode are Batmanga volume 1-3 written and drawn by Jiro Kuwata.

Hosts Mat Bradley-Tschirgi, William Thrasher, Jersey Jason, and special guest Tyler Smith of Battleship Pretension discuss Tim Burton's first Batman film. The Dark Knight squares off against the Clown Prince of Crime! A departure from the Adam West TV show from the 1960s, Batman reimagines the hero as a brooding man haunted by his past. Michael Keaton acquits himself well with Bruce Wayne's pathos, but is blown off the screen by Jack Nicholson's meatier stab at the Joker. Danny Elfman's rousing score would influence film soundtracks for decades to come.    Follow the show on Twitter @Sequelcast2 Like our Sequelcast 2 Facebook Page Sequelcast 2 is delighted to be a member of The Batman Podcast Network. Hear more great podcasts here! Watch Thrasher's tabletop RPG YouTube show d-infinity Live!. Listen to Marc with a C's music podcast Discography. Buy One Starry Night, a Cthulhu Live scenario Thrasher contributed to, from DriveThruRPG!  Watch Alex Miller's YouTube series The Trailer Project!

The Two Gay Geeks talk about The Mummy in our first segment. We also have our birthdays and listener/viewer feedback, and in our second segment we talk about the loss of Adam West and the importance of fans and celebrities having the opportunity to engage at Cons and other events. As always we welcome your feedback, let us know what you think, good or bad we want to know. Thank you for listening, we really do appreciate you taking time out of your day to spend with us. Our YouTube channel is Two Gay Geeks (audio only):  Show Notes / Links: TG Geeks Episode 117 TG Geeks Episode 118 TG Geeks Episode 119 TG Geeks Episode 120 The Mummy – Universal's mediocre attempt at launching Dark Universe Wonder Woman is the hero, and the movie, we have been waiting for! Adam West TV's Batman Has Died   Featured Podcast Bumper of the Week Technorama If you have a podcast or know of a podcast we should be aware of, please use the contact form below and send us the information and we will take a look.   Come See Us and Say HiWe will be at the following Events: Hollywood on June 16th at the Egyptian Theater seeing Tron in 70mm at 7:00 PM Comicon in San Diego for the Con and a panel on Thursday July 20th at 1:00 PM Horrible Imaginings Film Festival in San Diego on Saturday September 9th Phoenix Comicon Fan Fest in November 11 - 12, 2017   Phoenix Comicon Info Phoenix Comicon is May 25th through May 28th, that's right it is back on Memorial Day Weekend. Check out the guest lineup, tickets, and hotels at www.phoenixcomicon.com .   Thank You The Arkle Times Post Dispatch News - Social Justice Skald on Twitter @arkle Please have a look at Arkle’s other venture: Incorrect Voyager Quotes Doctor Who Fancast Guide - Dr Who: Talking Who on Twitter @TalkingWho SciFi Obsession on https:www.facebook.com/scifiob/ Thank you to The Lookie Show for their continued support on Twitter. @LookieShow Check them out on Youtube as well here We want to give a special shout out to the Facebook Group “The Gay Geek” for graciously allowing us to post our episodes to their page. Look for them at www.facebook.com/groups/thegaygeek. And a special Thank You to Jeramiah Reeves, the moderator, for being such a great guy.   Are you a writer?The Two Gay Geeks have recently been deemed “worthy” by the PR houses to attend film press screenings, but we can’t view every film that gets released. So, if you fancy yourself as a movie reviewer, and wish to write a review of a new film, get in touch with us using the contact us page and use the subject line of "Movie Review Options." We can then contact you and work out the details. Thank you.   Support Independent CreatorsAs you may know by now, we have become huge supporters of Independent Creators, not just film, but any kind of creative outlet that is of an independent nature. We know we are always pushing something, but this is what we have become passionate about. We just ask you to take a look at those independent creators that we talk about and others you may discover on your own and give a helping hand. It doesn’t always have to be much, usually as little as five dollars helps in the scheme of things. Please consider supporting Independent Creators.   Social MediaWe can now be found on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Google +, see the links on the right sidebar.   You are Important To UsWe welcome your suggestions. Let us know what you like or don’t like or if you have an opinion or comment on an article or the show. You may email us below, comment on Facebook, or call our listener line at 469.TG Geeks (469.844.3357). Let us know if there is something we should be watching and why, and we may just give you a shout-out in a future episode. We will not publish or use your email address to spam you. Please be sure to read the Privacy / Terms and Conditions Of Use.   About Amazon AdsWe have placed ads in our artic...

Whether you're a fan of the Adam West TV show, the Christopher Nolan film trilogy, or the comics, everyone loves the Dark Knight. This is our ode to the one, the only, Batman! In this episode, Dave and Matt discuss Batman's history as well as their favorite Batman portrayals, villains, and vehicles.

Tonight we talk about Batman and the new Dark Knight Rises Movie. We talk everything bat from the Adam West TV series to the new Dark Knight Rises. We talk about the Joker and Bane and all bat goodness. So enjoy our talk about the cape crusader, the dark knight and the The BAT.