Just like that, it's been a decade and a half since Warner Bros. and director Christopher Nolan took a stab at the Batman film franchise - when prospects looked bleak moving forward for DC Comics' flagship character after 1997's "Batman and Robin" - and literally brought the character back to his roots and reinvigorated the franchise with 2005's "BATMAN BEGINS" a grounded realism and telling the definite origin story of the future Dark Knight - who he is and how he came to be.
Just with the release of the very first teaser trailer in 2004 - we already knew we were going to be in for a wild ride and a Batman story that would be a superhero movie yet have none of the camp and comedy that featured heavily in the past movies - putting the franchise into a bit of a hiatus before finally getting its second wind as a brand to take very seriously.
Nolan, then known for films "Memento" and "Insomnia", was a big Batman fan himself and looked to tell the definitive Bruce Wayne story - an aspect of the character that was briefly touched on but never explored in full detail in a Batman movie save for the death of his parents. The journey and training of Wayne as well as the influences and experiences he received were the focal points of "Batman Begins" that drove us, the viewers and fans, to see Bruce Wayne's rise from a traumatized individual into the vigilante hero who adopts the persona of his childhood fear - turning it into a symbol to strike fear into the hearts and minds of criminals that plague his hometown of Gotham City.
Featuring an ensemble cast lead by Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/ Batman, Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth, Liam Neeson as Henri Ducard, Gary Oldman as James Gordon, Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes, Cillian Murphy as Jonathan Crane/ Scarecrow, Ken Watanabe as Ra's Al Ghul, and Rutger Hauer as Hauer William Earle, Batman Begins was poised to be a blockbuster and triumphant return for the Caped Crusader and cinema - and sure enough it was. It spawned two sequel in 2008's "The Dark Knight" and 2012's "The Dark Knight Rises" - completing Bruce Wayne's story and crusade with a "beginning, middle, and end" structure that collectively went on to be known as "The Dark Knight Trilogy", and solidifying Christopher Nolan's place as one of Hollywood's film prodigies and innovators.
Happy 15 years, Batman Begins!
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