"Batman Begins" is an origin story describing how Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) became Gotham City's Caped Crusader. As a young boy, Bruce Wayne watched in horror as his millionaire parents were slain in front of him - a trauma that leads him to become obsessed with revenge. But the opportunity to avenge his parent's deaths is cruelly taken away from him by fate. Fleeing to the East, where he seeks counsel with the dangerous but honorable ninja cult leader known as Ra's Al-Ghul, Bruce returns to his now decaying Gotham City, which is overrun by organized crime and other dangerous individuals manipulating the system. Meanwhile, Bruce is slowly being swindled out of Wayne Industries, the company he inherited. The discovery of a cave under his mansion, along with a prototype armored suit, leads him to assume a new persona, one which will strike fear into the hearts of men who do wrong; he becomes Batman!!! In the new guise, and with the help of rising cop Jim Gordon, Batman sets out to take down the various nefarious schemes in motion by individuals such as mafia don Falcone, the twisted doctor/drug dealer Jonathan 'The Scarecrow' Crane, and a mysterious third party that is quite familiar with Wayne and waiting to strike when the time is right.

Director: Christopher Nolan

Writers: Screenplay by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer; story by David S. Goyer; based upon characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics; Batman created by Bob Kane

Producers: Emma Thomas, Charles Roven, Larry Franco

Executive Producers: Benjamin Melniker, Michael E. Uslan

Cast

Bruce Wayne - Christian Bale
Lucius Fox - Morgan Freeman
Ra's al Ghul - Ken Watanabe
Henri Ducard - Liam Neeson
James Gordon - Gary Oldman
Rachel - Katie Holmes
Alfred - Michael Caine
Mr. Earle - Rutger Hauer

Soundtrack: Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard

Release Dates

US: June 17, 2005

Ger: June 16, 2005

UK: June 22, 2005

Poland: July 29, 2005

DVD Release Dates

US: October 18, 2005

Germany: October 14, 2005

Official Websites / Trailer

Belgium | Brazil | Denmark

Finland | France | Germany

Italy | Israel | Japan | Korea

Latin America | Poland | Russia

Spain | Sweden | Switzerland

Thailand | The Netherlands

United Kingdom | United States

Screencaps