Synopsis

After witnessing his parents' murder, Bruce Wayne leaves Gotham to study crime, fear, and combat around the world. Returning home, he transforms himself into Batman, using advanced technology and a carefully cultivated legend to challenge Gotham's corrupt underworld. His mission brings him into conflict with the League of Shadows and the fear-toxin experiments of the Scarecrow.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film rebooted the Batman movie series after the poor reception of Batman & Robin (1997), taking a more realistic and psychologically grounded approach.

• The screenplay by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer drew on the comic-book stories Batman: Year One, The Man Who Falls, and The Long Halloween.

• The filmmakers chose Ra's al Ghul and the Scarecrow as the principal villains partly because neither had appeared in an earlier live-action Batman feature.

• Most of the production took place in the United Kingdom, with additional filming in Iceland and Chicago. Chicago locations helped give Gotham a recognizable modern-city identity.

• Christopher Nolan avoided using a second unit, overseeing the film's shots himself. The production also emphasized practical stunts, full-size sets, miniatures, and restrained use of computer-generated imagery.

• The Batcave was built as a large practical set at Shepperton Studios. A separate one-third-scale exterior miniature was used for some entrances and exits.

• The sequence in which the Batmobile escapes the Batcave used a five-foot miniature vehicle launched by a catapult through water effects.

• Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard composed the score collaboratively, developing separate musical ideas connected with Bruce Wayne and Batman.

• Batman Begins received an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography.

• Its commercial and critical performance helped establish the modern Hollywood use of "reboot" and influenced later superhero films that favored serious, realistic world-building.