After the Warner Bros’ quest to kill Batman failed, Christopher Nolan decided to take the character and use it as a weapon of social criticism. Hence the name, Nolan starts from a clean slate. Here’s the story: a rich married couple gets mugged and killed with one of their kin left behind. This kid, left with the enormous heritage, grows up with the trauma and vengeance for injustice. He determines to fight crime as the Caped Crusader. More than a cop, more than a lawyer. He becomes an idea. He inspires all the cops and lawyers to stand up against the vile underground.
Bruce, portrayed by Christian Bale, sees beyond the criminals’ dirty deeds. He sees a rotten society. Nolan now shows what are the causes of great differences in income. The city of Gotham is corrupted for good, because no one who is capable of changing things doesn’t care.
Bruce Wayne travels to east. While he’s doing some jail time, a representative of fan favourite Ra’s al Ghul meets him. The representative, named Henri Ducard, trains Bruce to become a member of the League of Shadows, which has been fighting the corrupt since the 1500-century in the DC Comics universe. This quote from Ra’s al Ghul frames his perception of justice well: ”When a forest grows too wild, a purging fire is inevitable and natural.” Bruce refuses to execute a murderer as a ritual to committing to justice. Then he also learns that the League of Shadows is set out to destroy Gotham for all it’s corruption. Bruce doesn’t accept it. This can be seen as against to capital punishment, when Bruce decides to give Gotham another chance and protect it. He destroys the building leaving only Henri Ducard behind.
He gets the equipment for badassery from the Wayne enterprises conveniently at the same time when he discovers the bat cave to dump all that equipment to. The storyline starts to wrap up: Ra’s al Ghul, who was actually disguised as Henri Ducard has been dumping lethal hallucinogen into drinking water. But, the poison in liquid form isn’t functional. That’s why Falcone’s men steal a desert fighting weapon, that drains enemy’s water supply. It can vaporize Gotham’s sewers, and make the people breathe the poison in. Batman stops their plans while fighting Ra’s al Ghul. And just spitting out ever-memorable one-liners of course.
Hans Zimmer, as some might say, the master of horrifying movie music composed a score for this film. He uses the illustrious manners of building tension: repetition and volume. Zimmer’s way of adding structure and body to the simplest melody or idea will get your adrenaline pumping until your can not sit still.
”Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.” this quote by fictional character Thomas Wayne, Bruce Wayne’s dad, displays the uplifting side of this dark tale. It shows that even the most light hearted people can enjoy this movie and have something to relate to. With all these elements combined, this story works at every part in time. In the hands of a capable director of course.