Batman Begins

Rating: ****/*****, or 8/10

Christopher Nolan's darker, grittier and overall more realistic take on the much beloved Batman character results in a fantastic origin story that universally made audiences forget about any previous incarnations of the Caped Crusader. Portraying Bruce Wayne (played by Christian Bale) as a young man ruled by trauma and fear, the movie witnesses him learning to embrace that fear and wield it in his fight against the rampant crime of Gotham City, ruled over by mob boss Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson). However, Wayne's educator Ra's Al Ghul/Ducard (Liam Neeson) also doesn't prove to be very trustworthy and has his own shady agenda for Wayne's home town, after which Bruce dons the Batman persona to go at it his own way, together with this trusted butler Alfred (Michael Caine), his associate Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) providing all the awesome gadgets and hardware in his quest for justice and redemption. This is undoubtedly the prime example of how to reboot an extremely popular franchise correctly. First movie I saw in IMAX.

Starring: Christian Bale, Liam Neeson, Michael Caine

Directed by Christopher Nolan

USA: Warner Bros. Pictures, 2005