Batman Begins

An origin film. Bruce Wayne saw his parents killed when he was a child. Years later he has left university, disappeared, and is living in a prison in Asia, fighting. A man finds him. There is an order in the mountains; Bruce is trained there and finally learns what the order intends for Gotham and leaves. From there the film is a construction story. The military stock in the company basement, the cave, how the suit was made, where the car came from, and the clumsiness of the first night, all shown one at a time. On the city side there is an assistant district attorney, one honest policeman and a force that has been bought. What the narrative is interested in is not revenge but fear: the film uses fear as both weapon and illness, and the villain's plan is exactly that. Who the main villain is changes once in the middle, which is the best written move in the film. The production leaned on computers as little as it could. The car was built several times as a working vehicle and actually driven in the street; the cave and Wayne Manor were built in an airship hangar in Bedfordshire. The mountain section was shot in Iceland. The screenplay is by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer. A different title was used on set during production to reduce leaks. Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman and Ken Watanabe are in the cast. Christopher Nolan directed. Who it is for: anyone who wants realism out of a hero film. Who it is not for: anyone who wants to see the fights clearly; they were shot very close and that was the main criticism at the time.