Batman Begins
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By Todd Karella
June 17, 2005
Original Story Synopsis:
This film focuses on the younger years of Batman, his origin and his fight with The Scarecrow.
Movie-Pix Best Guess:
After the terrible reception the last Batman film received, this one should be much better as they try to rejuvinate the franchise.
Rated PG-13
  Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) wasn't always the alias of the infamous Batman character.  Once upon a time he was a young boy who witnessed his parents murder. This one event will haunt him for the rest of his life, turning a frightened young boy into an angry young man and eventually into the Dark Knight.
  While the most recent Batman films focused more on his crime fighting days, and in particular his flamboyant adversaries, this time we get to see more of who Bruce Wayne really is and his metamorphous into the protector of Gotham city.
  The acting is good and the storyline is something that we haven't seen before in previous films.
~He's back in black and kicking some ass!!~
Best Guess Results:
The Batman films are finally back on track.  They're not too cartoony, and they're not as dark as the Tim Burton films.

It's interesting to see how Bruce Wayne changed from an angry vengeful youth into the man we've come to know as "The Batman".

A good story with good acting and some impressive special effects.
Movie-Pix Hit or Miss
  The only small complaint being that the character of the Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy) was underdeveloped.  With his powers being fear based, there was a lot of missed opportunities in what could have been.
  When the film starts, Bruce is in the far east in a prison camp.  He has infiltrated the facility in order to take out his anger on convicted criminals and learn about the true nature of evil.
  While he is there, he catches the attention of Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson).  He is a representative of the League of Shadows who has decided to make the young man an offer.  The offer is to come and learn from him so he can learn the ways of the ninja and temper his anger into a weapon for honor and justice.
  But while he learns the art of striking fear into his opponents and training his body into a fine-tuned fighting machine, Ducard isn't telling Bruce the entire truth.
  He does believe in fighting evil, but his idea of fighting corruption is the exact opposite of his apprentice.  Bruce wants to remove the criminal element, while Ducard wants to completely destroy Gotham and start over.
  Once Bruce discovers the true objective of the league he finds himself in a life and death struggle against them.  Even after the betrayal he is compelled to save Ducard.
  Upon his return home, Bruce discovers that he's been declared dead and his family company has been taken over.  Thankfully, his butler and surrogate father faigure Alfred (Michael Caine) has never given up on him and is happy to see him return.
  Besides Alfred, he finds a former employee of his father's, Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), who has been demoted from the company and sent to the research laboratories as an unexpected ally.  Lucius had a great respect for his father and a deep loyalty to the Wayne family.
  With his help, Bruce begins using the experimental military equipment to create a new personae, one that will bring fear to his enemies.  The Batman is born.
  Dressed in black and using specialty weapons, the Batman begins putting people in jail.  While the criminals are terrified of their experience, something strange is going on as they start going mad and are sent to Arkam Asylum.
  Dr. Jonathan Crane, who is secretly the Scarecrow, is admitting them for some nefarious reason.
  It's up to Batman and his childhood sweetheart now Assistant D.A. Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes) to uncover what really is going on at the asylum.
  By the time the two discover the truth, it's nearly too late for Gotham as a dangerous gas is being released to the masses. 
  Is this the end of Gotham city? Will batman be able to foil the plan?
  He's Batman!  What do you think?