Several reviews for the screenplay of "Batman Begins" have been floating around the past few days. Most all of them are
lengthy and include heavy spoilers so I'm not going to post them in their entirety, but I would like to touch on a few key
points:
• Batman Begins is a complete restart of the franchise. In this draft, there's no Jack Napier; Joe Chill is the killer of
Thomas and Martha Wayne.
• The story is an origin tale. The first 45 pages employ a non-linear structure that recounts what drove Bruce Wayne
(Christian Bale) to assume the mantle of Batman.
• During his bleak sojourn in the Far East, twenty-something Bruce Wayne's already impressive fighting skills are honed under
the tutelage of Ducard (Liam Neeson), the top henchman of enigmatic international criminal Ra's al Ghul (Ken Watanabe).
• Bruce realizes early on that killing is not the solution and it is that moral choice that makes him heroic (not just the
catching of criminals).
• After studying and training abroad, Bruce returns to Gotham where he discovers that the Wayne business has been
corrupted by the executive charged with maintaining it.
• An honest cop like Sgt. Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) are outgunned, overwhelmed, and simply too
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vulnerable to cross the powers-that-be alone.
• Gotham is essentially ruled by mob boss Carmine Falcone.
• Once Batman makes his presence known in Gotham, he makes the takedown of Carmine Falcone his primary objective.
• Batman forges an alliance with Jim Gordon and uncovers a vast conspiracy against the city involving Dr. Jonathan Crane
(Murphy).
• Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) unwittingly plays the role of Q.
• While the Scarecrow's fear toxin is utilized in the story, Crane himself is not exactly running around in a burlap sack
with straw sticking out of him.
• Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes) serves a function in the story, which made her better than the previous love interests
• Finally, Chris Nolan and Daivd Goyer have put the "Dark" and the "Knight" back into Batman.
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