Batman Begins: Fear Rebooted

After several years of cheesy one liners, Batsuits with nipples, and the Bat Card (never leave the cave without it), we got the Batman reboot that we needed and deserved. Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale teamed up for one of the best comic book movies in recent memory. Nolan took a slightly different approach to the Batman legend, bringing it more down to earth. Some purists might object to that, wanting to see more larger than life aspect kept more larger than life. For example having Ra's Al Ghul Lazarus Pit as the true source of Liam Nesson's character's immortality and not having a stand in to keep the legend alive (which is something I wouldn't mind them revisiting with the fate of Batman in the final installment a mystery).


I feel like the Joel Schumacher Batman's had a lot to do with how this reboot was undertaken.  It was almost like the more unbelievable parts of the world of Gotham became taboo after years of utter rubbish. It was easy to overtake movies like Batman Forever and Batman and Robin. People still held onto the Tim Burton Batman films as the only ones to exist, discounting the following installments as just theater fodder to bring in some cash.

As I stated in my prior article, I felt like making Batman into more of a exaggerated crime drama was exactly what the franchise needed, and the audiences responded. It set the tone for any comic book movie to be made after that, which is why I think Kick-Ass was received as well it did. It brought the hero down to earth and had the audience truly fear for him or her. It made the acquisition of the Tumbler, the Batsuit, and the endless supply of gadgets tangible. It was the perfect origin story.

Each Nolan Batman had a central theme, this one was: fear. Fear was what kept Gothamites from standing up against corruption, a nugget of wisdom delivered by Carmine Falcone. Fear was what Henri Ducard/ Al Ghul tried to get Bruce Wayne to overcome during his League of Shadows training. And Fear is what Jonathan Crane aka The Scarecrow used to bring utter destruction to Gotham.

It's poetic that the first film in this trilogy was centered around fear and overcoming it with reckless abandon and will. Being that in Hollywood, Batman was something to be snickered at. There had to be some fear in taking on a project of this magnitude, but as the first film showed...fear was overcome.