Batman Begins: 20 Years On

An anniversary love letter to Christopher Nolan’s best-ever Caped Crusader

Credit: Warner Brothers

Warning: Contains spoilers

Where to begin with Batman Begins (2005)? Perhaps with an admission that, at first, I didn’t quite buy into this film. That may seem absurd, but the memory of Tim Burton’s splendid one-two punch Batman (1989) and especially Batman Returns (1992) had all but cemented my idea of what ought to constitute a cinematic Caped Crusader: A dark, twisted fairytale, almost entirely shot in studios, with Burton’s flair for the gothic placing his unique directorial stamp on the finished product. Two dreadful Joel Schumacher-helmed sequels followed, over which we will draw a veil, except to say I rather like the U2 track on the end credits of Batman Forever (1995).

Then along came Christopher Nolan.