"What's the main theme in Batman Begins?" Me: (Starts humming Batman theme) "Fear" Me: oh

"the movie is 15 years old" oh that hurt

3 Main Themes Batman Begins - Fear Dark Knight - Chaos Rises - Pain

Interesting how BB did certain aspects better than the Dark Knight and is better than Rises as a whole, yet it is the least talked about out of the trilogy.

His brother Jonathan doesn't get enough credit. Memento was a novel he wrote before Chris' film, the man's behind every one of his movies, and Jonathan worked on the Westworld series.

The Dark Knight Trilogy is a work of Genius

I always liked the lesson dialogue between young vengeful Bruce and Falcone as it showcases Bruce´s misplaced sense of entitlement wanting to stand up against injustice and a crime boss, but really he is a spoiled young man with no sense of the world outside of his sheltered rich bubble and personal loss.

Dark knight would have made 3B if it came out today

There's just something beautiful about Batman Begins. The building from loss and the rebirth of Bruce's resolve. I actually still prefer it over the Dark Knight personally even though Dark Knight is probably the "technically" better film.

I'll not argue against the fact that The Dark Knight is better, but I am so glad that someone is acknowledging just how fantastic this movie is. As a story, I like it more.

The thing that I got from Batman Begins, which I never quite got from many other superhero origin stories in movies, is that it feels like a true, compelling, fulfilling story that didn't need less or more stuff put into it. It feels like... a complete movie, you know. A true, visceral, well-made, well-told movie. For a story that manages to cover up so many plot points, ideas, character arcs, while having tons of action, this film indeed shows that Nolan is one hell of a director. Like Mark Kermode said, Batman Begins feels more like a multi-million dollar art-house movie rather than a blockbuster. Even the third act does serve a purpose and keeps the theme of the movie going and doesn't turn into an action spectacle for the sake of it. Which is what movies like Iron Man or Doctor Strange suffer from. Their buildup of heroes feels more like an obligation to justify action scenes at the end. And I love the fact that this movie doesn't take its audience for granted. It doesn't try to fill the gaps in the story by assuming that you'll fill the gaps yourself. That's what Tim Burton did with his first Batman movie, and it's the reason why people are split on that movie. For someone the lack of context worked. For others, it didn't. I'm in the middle. I had no problems with lack of context for Batman's beginning but the problem with lack of character development for Batman. And the same thing happed with Batman v Superman. I didn't mind the movie. I like Zack Snyder, but... Unlike Tim Burton's Batman, DCEU's Batman just doesn't work as a character with limited context, because that vague context of the character that we got is essential to explaining why this version of Batman is the way he is. All we can do to justify why the character the way he is is by assuming that he's either angry because Robin died, or because he just got old and tired, or because some other convoluted reason for his vague motives. Batman Begins shows us that showing what the character is going through is more fulfilling than hinting what character is going through.

I'm so old I was reading Batman comics in the 50's. Batman Begins was a VERY important film for me. Not only was it about BATMAN but it was done in a near-perfect fashion. Perfect music. Near perfect acting. It had a big enough budget to make everything look utterly believable. In short, it was the movie I had waited for my whole, long life.

Finally! Someone else likes Batman Begins.......people online ever talk about the Dark Knight, but this one is my favorite

You never mentioned the fourth and most notorious villain in the film - Shaky Cam.

"Whats the main theme of Batman Begins?" "JUSTICE!" "Fear." "Oh yeah, that too I guess..."

When you showed that 2x2 graphic about the four motivations I was like "damn this movie is absolutely genius". This is the reason I watch this kind of videos, good job.

Solid Screenplay > Profound sounding Ideas

Because of the structure of Batman: Begins, no one is going to touch a Batman origin story as a movie until after the film has been out for over 20 years. It's so perfectly put together that it's not easily forgotten. That puts a huge damper on living up to the standard it set. It's not something you want to compete with as a writer or director. Btw; great analysis!

My Favorite scene is still Bruce and Alfred in the hallway talking about He burnt that letter. Intense moment in The Dark Knight series.

"I never got the chance to thank you." 🦇- And you'll never have to 🦇

Another (possibly better?) counterpoint to the structure of Batman Begins might be Spiderman 3. The biggest problem with that movie (by most people's standards) was that it had far too many villains. And yet, Batman Begins managed to juggle the same number of bad guys without anyone batting an eye. Nobody complains that Batman Begins has too many villains, even though it has 3! This is what's always puzzled me about Nolan's Batman, but I think your essay explains this phenomenon beautifully. S3 felt like it had too many villains because each bad guy explored a different theme at overlapping times. In BB, each villain explores the same theme at separate times, in a clear linear fashion. There's a progression, or at least a feeling of progression, to the theme of fear in BB due to its 4 act structure. S3 lacks that feeling of progression and thus lacks any clear payoff. Great essay, as always. Leaves me wanting to go write. 😃

Both Christopher Nolan and his brother are fantastic screenwriters, and I've been blown away by his films since I saw Batman Begins.

Batman Begins is conceptually and stylistically a classic in the neo-noir genre. Excluding the obvious omission of a femme fatale, it has almost all of the thematic and stylistic conventions of a noir, which is not something that can be said of TDK and TDKR. This alone is remarkable, because it is easily the most overlooked of the three. The very slight Dutch tilt when Bruce picks the blue flower with the non-diegetic sound in the background, the shot of pre-depression era Gotham’s skyline that is a mixture of modern and German expressionist architecture (very Metropolis 1927), the flashback of the anonymous mourners underneath the black umbrellas at the funeral, the chiaroscuro lighting that is used in the shot of Bruce’s face when being mentored by Ra’s al Ghul during the latter’s explanation of vengeance, the mise-en-scène in the interior of Falcone’s bar during his speech to a vulnerable Bruce of “the ugly side of life” (very Force of Evil 1948); just a few of the moments that mean so much more than what’s on the surface, and all of them in the first half an hour of the movie. I love its substance and integrity. With it, Nolan gives us something honest; a history lesson on noir cinema, not to mention its emotional resonance. I could go on, but great analysis of this underrated masterpiece.

Batman Begins is hands down the best superhero film of the last 25 years. The production, directing, acting, writing, pace, tone, soundtrack all just masterful. I never get tired of watching it.

i discovered you yesterday, and I can't stop watching ! thank you for your quality videos, good sir.

Isn't it actually 12 years old? It came out in 2005.

Another amazing aspect with the writing, especially in this day and age, is how tight the screenplays are in Nolan's Batman trilogy. They can be dark, they can have heavy themes, yet not one, not even the smallest, curse word is said by any character. There might be one in Rises, but I don't recall one. Yet the dialogue all feels natural.

It's such a damn good film. Good job on articulating at least partly why it just "feels" so good. It just flows so well and is very satisfying. It's my favourite superhero movie for sure

The majority of Nolan's films are structured with four acts, probably influenced by Kurosawa

This not only inspired me to add an important plot point to my screenplay but it also motivated to revise and continue writing my screenplay. I seriously can't thank you enough.

"It's not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me."

0:55 _YES_ These are my thoughts exactly (about Batman v. Superman). They were trying so hard to explore some brilliant and awesome questions and ideas, but didn't understand how to do it properly.

please keep creating content man. out of all of the "movie analyzed" videos, yours are the best. your explanation is clear and simple yet it reveals so much. Please keep creating.

I have the soundtrack on my phone and listen to it almost every day. Masterpiece.

"The movie is fifteen years old" /flashbacks to watching it in gym before my eighth grade Halloween dance lmao reality time check 😱😂 Edit: /realizes this video is almost three years old 😱😵

"Intimidation games" was the working title for "Batman Begins", I always felt like it could have been a good title for that movies in some ways. And with "fear" being the theme, and intimidation being a way to put fear in people, which is what all the four corner characters do in that movies in their own ways.

That 4 corners thing is really interesting! I'm look out for it more

Movie was released 12 years ago, but was planned, written, produced, etc. all for 3 years prior. In fact, Warner Brothers rejected Joss Whedon's pitch in December 2002 and hired Chris Nolan in January 2003. So, yeah, it's not totally wrong to say the film is around 15 years old, just that it was released 12 years ago. Still, I must admit all this doesn't come to mind immediately when one says the film is 15 years old. Cheers.

As it turned out in the end, the trilogy was structured in a perfect 3 way structure. 🤯 What a legend. Nolan!! 🙌🏻

It was pretty obvious that Christopher Nolan was doing the right thing when he rebooted the caped crusader with Batman Begins.

Best Batman story. That’s what always keeps it rewatch able. And the flow of it. Nothing can beat it.

Batman Begins is a great alternative to Batman v. Superman, but I hope DC keeps fixing there mistakes like they did with Wonder Woman. Great video :D

10 years later and im still learning new things about this movie

Loved this video, man! Your channel is growing fast and you really deserve it.

Wow, this is a genuinely really well made video. Can't wait to see more!

This was so well-spent 8 minutes!! A really insightful video.

This is honestly exactly the type of content I want to see when I open up KZfaq. To people who aren’t in to movies this seems a little much but really it’s amazing bc there is a discussion about one of my favorite movies that I actually learn from. Thanks so much for this type of content! (Also I love the way this video was structured too. It wasn’t boring for a single second!)

Found this video in my suggested feed and I'm so glad that I clicked on it. Your videos so far have helped me gain a greater depth of knowledge for my own writing purposes and have taught me act structure, character development, and a few other things. Definitely subbed! Keep up the great work!

Nolan could have made an oscar worthy BVS but instead...

How did I just find you? My life basically revolves around Batman. Thank you for this. Your videos are addicting ❤️

Very informative and i would love to visit again and again.

Great, great content and delivery. Thank you!

a batman film which is perfect in every aspect is Batman :Mask of the phantasm

He’s literally one of my favorite directors and screenplay writers!

I revisit this video every so often, great analysis. Makes me want to pick up The Anatomy of Storytelling.

The quadrants you made @4:40 is brilliant!

This is an absolutely outstanding KZfaq video.

Wow. This was very impressive. I'd certainly like to see more of these videos. Would you ever consider looking into The Count of Monte Cristo? Obviously the classic 'Revenge vs Justice' story; and there are also a lot of different versions which have their own spin. I'd be very interested to hear your analysis and opinions. Thanks for the video. Have a great day :)

your channel is incredible. your content is always so rich and well thought out it's really refreshing to see something so lovely.

Amazing video! I loved it. Super great breakdown of a specific story structure!

Talk about Interstellar !

*I really like your new branding & videos focus on writing techniques*

This just randomly showed up in my recommended videos but I'm glad it did! Great video!

Great videos keep them coming man!!!!!

nolan: subtance over style snyder: style over subtance

Huh. Now that I think about it I can name a few movies and books that are interested in mentioning some intriguing themes/concepts, but they never actually address or develop them. They're just... Mentioned. I've heard Show Don't Tell all the time, but the story structure is one of the best ways to explain it. And while I was very very forgiving of Batman V Superman, but not knowing how to properly develop themes is sadly a staple of Zack Snyder, I feel. I'm super forgiving of him as a director too but his flaws as a filmmaker are a bit hard to overlook. Great video!

great video! I love how you connected this video to the 4 corner principle, had never heard of that.

Dude! That was a great video! Thank you for making it!

Great video - Profound, intelligent, intriguing! I just subscribed.

This is brilliant. Thank you very much.

This was incredibly insightful and engaging thank you 😊 🙏

Just the way you explained the different Acts helped me understand what it even was considering my teacher hadnt explained it very thoroughly

I don't necessarily believe that argument for BvS. The theme is about power and consequence. Finch believes that having power means you can indeed be good, Lex believes that having power means you cannot be good, Bruce believes that being a hero is not possible without being aggressive, and finally Superman believes that being a hero is possible without being aggressive. What they and we all come to find out is that there are always consequences regardless of how you fall in on the morality spectrum. Whether you are a superhuman or are a regular human, it's what you use those abilities to do that defines you and you better believe that you need to learn to live with those consequences.

Best of the Trilogy by a country mile

Amazing video essay. Very inspirational!

Thanks for pointing out the strengths of this film, it helped me step back up during the hardest time of my life and I've never been able to pinpoint for people exactly what about it is so inspiring

Anyone else get a Dunkirk advertisement before this video?

"...and you know what to do" in the end, finally a youtuber who doesn't feel the need to tutorial people on how to subscribe!

This video is packed with value. Learned a great deal. Thanks.

I love this kind of video essay bro! Keep doing it please

So fear should be used wisely what a gd message just realised that’s the hole message of the film 🎥.

Could you do the same with The Dark Knight?? Especially the motivations/targets thing! Thank you! :)

I've just discovered you recently while trying to find writing tips. I was not disappointed. Been binge watching your videos while I write. It's great for cooking up ideas. Thanks. :D

Love these videos. Always makes me think of my own writing and how to tell stories. Thanks!

Batman Begins > The Dark Knight There, I said it. In my opinion, each movie of Nolan's trilogy has a villain to match it's theme: Batman Begins = Fear; villain = Scarecrow The Dark Knight = Chaos; villain = Joker The Dark Knight Rises = Pain; villain = Bane

Batman Begins > The Dark Knight I've always thought this Batman begins is just so much tighter

Fantastic video! I love ‘BATMAN BEGINS,’ and this really gave me an even greater appreciation for its narrative, story structure, characterizations, and themes.

Great way of breaking down the writing and details of this film. I've always appreciated that about Christopher Nolan's films.

“Act One” was more of a prologue.

"An act is a unit of story when a character makes an irrevocable decision"

I'm impressed with the work and quality that went into this. Subscribed. Cheers.

Thanks for this. I'm in the middle of revising my script and this has helped lots. Thanks again.

I like the way you lay out your videos. clear, concise...awesome stuff. But i think you should cover the flip side of this as well...cause there is far more that a writer can learn from Batman Begins, the act structure is very nice, especially when compared to the time bending plots of Nolan's other films...but...as much as there are things done very right in this film like the effort to make it "real" and to build a world around batman more than just a love interest and a villain and so forth...there are also a couple things that were done wrong, briefly hit on one mentioned in the video...the theme of fear, then you cut to the actors saying the word...which is because Nolan bashed the audience over the head with that theme again and again...its a good theme, and was good to include since it is what grounds the whole film, but the actions of the characters should tell that tale, not over exposition with actors rambling on about it over and over. He did the same thing in Dark Knight even worse with the "hero Gotham needs/wants/deserves/has". Nolan is good, and Begins wasn't bad...but most his films are hyped up far beyond where they should be, i end up sounding a bit overly negative than i intend trying to show this...and i am sorry, just trying to ground the conversations.

BVS: Dawn of Justice Ultimate Edition has excellent structure -- Love Batman Begins too. Great stuff beginning to end. ☕🐢

I just stumbled upon this channel. Instant shared to an actor friend. This has truly helped me with a short script i am working on. Thanks for this channel and such quality breakdowns!

Great vid man

Do a What Writers Should Learn from Paul Thomas Anderson!!!

This is an amazing video, since I love BvS for all of the same reasons that I love Batman Begins. This is way too big a thesis for me to try to tackle here, but there was one error that I saw that I think I need to highlight as a way of injecting some alternate analysis into this question. Your reason for excluding BvS from your 4 quarters opposition model has a flaw in it. In fact, what you say about the morally justified use of violence does apply to all four characters. Senator Finch is a representative of the United States government, and all modern states are accepted monopolies on violence. The only time it comes out (if the system runs right) is when one runs afoul of the law, but its threat is always underneath the surface. This is not a small or ideologically driven point, as the tension this creates with superheroes is one of the quiet unresolved problems in any universe that has superheroes in it. By the letter of the law, Batman, Superman and the rest of them are all equally criminals. So why aren't they arrested? Furthermore, if they cannot be controlled, then aren't they beyond the purview of these governments, setting up a crisis of multiple masters fighting for the sole moral use of violence? This is another point which has been made repeatedly in superhero stories of various media, and which is made with no ambiguity as the moral driving force of all three of the four corners opposed to Superman in BvS. I appreciate that you put this together and that you approach this subject intelligently. But having studied this topic pretty much from the moment the movie was released, I see these two movies having far more in common than in opposition.

Another awesome video! Keep up the great work! :)

I didn't thought this would be nearly as helpful as it was. Thanks.