Batman Begins (2005)- The real (& honest) version of Gotham City

Batman Begins was an absolute revolutionary when it came out back in 2005. Not only did it revived the Batman franchise that seemed long dead for eight years, but it help set the foundation that properties surrounding superheroes and comic books can in fact be taken more seriously and still be really good. While it’s impact didn’t feel all the way felt until around the arrival of it’s sequel The Dark Knight three years later, it’s importance to the Caped Crusader along with the sub-genre should not go unnoticed. What stands out the most with Christopher Nolan’s incarnation of this dark and broody character was the way he intended to differ his version of Batman compare to the ones that came before it. Leslie H. Martinson gave us the campy Batman that you would see in a over-the-top Saturday morning cartoon. Tim Burton gave us the fantastical and stylish version of Batman which felt as if it could fit into any other universe that his own movies are set in (Come on! You could TOTALLY buy Michael Keaton’s Batman in the same world as Beetlejuice and The Nightmare Before Christmas) . Joel Schumacher brought back the campy Batman except adding in a bit more light and bright colors to the pictures. But now, we have Christopher Nolan’s take on Batman which aim to be the kind of Batman that would take place in the “real world”.

One could debate all day whether or not this was the right angle to go with these movies but no doubt, it helped difference itself from the other versions. As a result, Nolan made a decision to first tackle a Batman story that hadn’t really been address on film and barely even was address from it’s own source material, how Batman actually became Batman. What a noble and game changing idea! This means that this would be a movie that would bring together all these characters, story elements, and plot material that would help shape Bruce Wayne to become the masked but good-hearted vigilante known as Batman. These include things such as the death of his parents, his mansion and his Butler, the League of Shadows, Commissioner Gordon and the police force, and most importantly, Gotham City.

As I mention in my Batman Forever piece, sometimes the actual setting where your movie takes place in can be the most important element to your story. Not just because it’s the location where your main characters are going to spend the majority of the time in but it also gives the chance to make the setting of your movie it’s own character. That is the one element that Batman Begins nails better than it’s two sequels. Not just because it’s the one that makes Gotham City it’s own unique but tragically flawed character but it also feels like the kind of Gotham City that feels real and honest at the city’s own reputation.

What makes Begins stand out as feeling more in line of Gotham City than Dark Knight or Dark Knight Rises is how it makes Gotham look and feel as corrupt and haunted as it’s always mention as. While the two Dark Knight sequels made Gotham look like a large, breathtaking town that would look great on a brochure and be a nice place to visit when on vacation, Begins’s take on this dark town perfectly matches what Ra’s Al Ghul in the movie claims, a city that is beyond saving. Throughout the movie, we constantly see poor and homeless people living on the streets, criminals lurking around left and right, the prisons such as Arkham Asylum not being enough to hold everybody there, and even showing fear from the police department that they may lose control of their own city. It makes the villains of the film such as Scarecrow, Falcone, Ra’s Al Ghul, and the entire League of Shadows group fit perfectly with the city. This definitely feels like the kind of town that would make for a great playground for bad guys.

Best of all, this version of Gotham City matches well with Bruce Wayne’s arc throughout the film with his overall journey to becoming Batman. From the flashback to where he was a child that felt right down that hole to his first few days of becoming Batman to seeing the League of Shadow burn down his parents mansion, all of this ties back to Gotham City. It’s exists not just as it’s own setting and character but as the absolute motivation that drives Bruce Wayne to becoming Batman. Regardless of it involves his personal history or the history with the city itself, Gotham City is what gives the Batman his purpose. Not just any Gotham City but the one that perfectly fits the description that his villains through the course of the three movies, whether it’s Ras, Joker, Bane or Talia, views it as. It’s what makes Bruce Wayne feels whole as Batman. Even when he loses, he can always find a way to comeback and win as long as he lives. Not just because Batman doesn’t have anything else to do but that’s the only thing Batman can do. It’s this scene after witnessing the burning of his family’s home that Alfred brings Bruce back to reality.

I want to make something clear that I’m not saying that Nolan’s take on Gotham City with the following sequels was bad or doesn’t fit the purpose of those movies whatsoever. I understand that Nolan wanted to dive his version of Batman more into what could be described as the “real” version of Gotham with the following films. Both of those movies aimed to show off the size and scope of Gotham as a whole and showcases the massive amount of weight that the Batman legacy has to carry to be able to protect that city. Whereas with this movie, the purpose with Gotham was to show off the criminal underworld of the city, or as it’s called in the film the Narrows. The side of the city that is arguably the most corrupt. Where most people are poor or homeless, bad guy activity is at the most, and even the Arkham Asylum itself isn’t enough to hold all of them in. I understand all of that and not trying to take all of that away. I just think that Gotham’s doesn’t serve it’s purpose nearly as much in those two movies as they do with Begins.

The way Gotham City is presented in this movie looks exactly like the kind of corrupted and criminally run city that would in fact take Batman an absolute lifetime to fix. The kind of big mess that would take potentially decades for someone to clean up until the floors are squeaky clean. The kind of Gotham City that actually favors the antagonists of the story rather than the protagonist. The one that I would absolutely buy as a city that lost its soul and the only way to regain it is by making a deal with the devil.

Do me a favor and take a look at these three screenshots of Gotham from all three films in Nolan’s trilogy! Tell me which one of those looks like the most dangerous place to live at when viewing it from a distance.

I won’t tell you what the answer should be because this is all subjective but I do think it’s fair to say that Begins makes Gotham feels more in line with the Gotham we would expect to take place in a world with Batman whereas with Dark Knight and Rises, it feels more in line with what Gotham would be like in real life. Whether that’s good or fits the story, setting, and scope is entirely up to you, but no doubt that’s the direction that Christopher Nolan was going for. To make Gotham City feel as real and honest with itself along with having the villains show off it’s true colors. In the case of Batman Begins, he pulls that off to near perfection. If only he could’ve done the same with the action scenes.

A couple of other notes:

• This movie also has probably Christian Bale’s best Batman voice in it. Why didn’t he keep it like that with the other two movies?
• I always found the Ra’s Al Ghul plot twist to be too obvious. No way in hell anyone would waste Liam Neeson like that! (Poor Ken Watanabe though!)
• Seriously, Nolan could have done better with the action scenes in this movie and even the entire trilogy!
• I do wonder if Superman Returns was a big hit and WB decided to go with the superhero team up movie first, how exactly Christian Bale’s Batman would work with Brandon Routh’s Superman? I could see with this movie’s Batman but not so much with the other two.
• Hot take: Katie Holmes is fine as Rachel! She’s just fine.
• I agree with Gordon, I really gotta get me one of those Batmobiles!

Next up: The Dark Knight