Batman Begins, why are we falling?

WORK – The rebirth of myth by the dark side

While the memory of his murdered parents haunts him, Bruce Wayne wanders around the world seeking ways to fight injustice and his own fears. With the help of his devoted butler and trusted man Alfred, Inspector Jim Gordon and his ally Lucius Fox, Wayne returns to Gotham City and reveals his alter ego: Batman, a masked vigilante who uses his strength, intelligence and a high-tech battery of weapons to fight the sinister forces that threaten the city...

Forget about Burton's fantasy and intriguing universe, but also Schumacher's faceball, because Batman becomes the darkest superhero in the universe and that's so much better. Nolan and his screenwriter, David S. Goyer, thus left at the very beginning of the myth and decided to develop much deeper Bruce Wayne's psychology, trauma and ambiguity. It is a complete success because the entire film is dedicated to the foundation of a myth. Nothing is unclear or superfluous, on the contrary, Bruce's journey is logical and poignant.

This narrative structure would have been possible without credible actors, Christian Bale is thus an obvious one because he interprets a Wayne torn between the desire for condemnable revenge and the desire for heroic justice, Michael Caine is a butler more concerned than ever about his « Master », Gary Oldman and Liam Neeson play with restraint and vigour, which is perfectly suited to the characters of their characters, Morgan Freeman is equal to himself and only Katie Holmes seems a bit dreadful in this 4-star casting.

Christopher Nolan does not really impose visual style, nor innovative realization (although the deliberate choice to abandon the « heroic plans » to favor a frontal approach of the character is to be noted), but rather a certain narrative universe very new to the image of the complexity of the character and the universe it generates. His positions thus give a film mixing author's and blockbuster's work because the testosterone action scenes are well present (the pursuit in Tumbler is anthological).

The music composed by Hanz Zimmer and James Newton Howard perfectly marries the overwhelming mark made by the orchestra and Hanz's synthesizers for the action scenes, while his companion works in a more discreet, sensitive register where strings and piano attach to Bruce Wayne's demons. The set is twilight to wish to be in line with Christopher Nolan's vision.

In the end, Batman Begins is a superb adaptation of a comic book. A black diamond!