History Film / BatmanBegins

* TheLostLenore: During their trainig session on the ice, Ducard reveals to Bruce this is why he joind the League of Shadows. His beloved wife was taken from him years ago and her murder made Ducard realize that that there are monsters out in the world who must be fought without hesitation or pity. [[spoiler: While it's treated as exposition and a character development moment for Ducard in this film, the full story of what happened to his wife is finally explored in ''The Dark Knight Rises''.]]

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Bruce's decision to [[spoiler: leave Ra's to his death in the plunging train will come back to bite him in the ass 9 years [[Film/TheDarkKnightRises later]].]]
** An another example from this film is Bruce [[spoiler: taking out Crane and his goons at Arkham. Sure, it stops any more toxin from being dumped into the water supply. But it also forces Ra's to accelerate his timetable for destroying Gotham.]]

* RevengeIsNotJustice: Discussed, seven years after Bruce Wayne's parents were murdered, he returns to Gotham City to attend the public trial of Joe Chill, who agreed to cooperate with Gotham's DA in taking down the Falcone crime family in exchange for early release from prison. When Rachel Dawes, Bruce's childhood friend and the DA's assistant, tries to dissuade Bruce from going (as she was the one who was going to drive him to the trial), Bruce firmly insists on going, as unbeknownst to Rachel, Bruce had fully intended on killing Joe Chill himself. Shortly after the trial's conclusion, one of Falcone's hitmen gets to Joe and kills him before Bruce could. Frustrated that Falcone had escaped justice again, Rachel and Bruce later discuss how Falcone managed to pull it off, which Bruce noted that he should thank Falcone for it, only for Rachel to point out that what he wanted was revenge, not justice, and imported the importance of an impartial judicial system, which Bruce complains as being broken. Disgusted, Rachel drives Bruce up to a diner that Falcone frequents, making sure to drive him by the countless homeless encampments along the way to show Bruce just how bad Gotham's crime families have been making things for Gotham citizens and how much they're destroying everything Bruce's parents have fought for, and pointing out that Joe Chill himself was a victim of Falcone's criminal empire, despite his crime. She then promptly slaps Bruce after he reveals the revolver he planned to kill Joe Chill with, and tells him how ashamed his parents would be of him. Bruce ultimately takes the lecture to heart, and it's the starting point on his journey to becoming The Dark Knight.

-->'''Ra's Al Ghul''':..[Gotham] is beyond saving and must be a'''rr'''owed to die!

-->'''Prisoner:''' You are in Hell, little man, and I am the devil!
-->'''Bruce Wayne:''' You're not the devil... you're practice.

-->'''Batman''': You're a good cop. One of the few.

-->'''Jim Gordon :''' We need reinforcements! TAC teams, [=SWATs=], riot cops!

-->'''Loeb :''' Gordon! Gordon! All the city's riot police are on the island with you.

-->'''Jim Gordon :''' Well, they're completely incapacitated!

-->'''Loeb :''' [talking to Gordon on walkie-talkie] Gordon... there's nobody left to send in.

---> '''Alfred:''' I hope you're not a member of the fire brigade.

-->'''Jim Gordon :''' We need reinforcements! TAC teams, [=SWATs=], riot cops!

-->'''Loeb :''' Gordon! Gordon! All the city's riot police are on the island with you.

-->'''Jim Gordon :''' Well, they're completely incapacitated!

-->'''Loeb :''' [talking to Gordon on walkie-talkie] Gordon... there's nobody left to send in.

-->'''Lucius Fox''': So what's your interest in it, Mr. Wayne?
-->'''Bruce Wayne''': I want to borrow it. For, uh, spelunking.
-->'''Lucius Fox:''' Spelunking?
-->'''Bruce Wayne:''' You know, cave diving. ''[beat]''
-->'''Lucius Fox''': ... you expecting to run into much gunfire in these caves?

--->'''Alfred:''' What's the point of all those push-ups if you can't even lift a bloody log?"

--->'''Rachel Dawes''': Dr. Crane, do you really believe that a man who butchers people for the mob doesn't belong in prison?
--->'''Dr. Crane''': Well, I would hardly have testified to that otherwise.

--->'''Ra's al Ghul''': [''seeing Batman in full costume for the first time''] Well, well. You took my advice about theatricality a bit... literally.

--->'''Ra's al Ghul''': Now if you excuse me, I have a city to destroy.

--> '''Bruce''': You're not the Devil. You're practice.

-->'''Falcone:''' I'll buy her off.\\

-->'''Batman''': I won't kill you... ''[Batman throws one Batarang out the window and detaches a monorail car with another before preparing to jump out]'' [[RefuseToRescueTheDisliked but I don't have to save you.]]

-->'''Lucius Fox''': I analyzed your blood, isolating the receptor compounds and the protein-based catalyst.
-->'''Bruce Wayne''': Am I supposed to understand any of that?
-->'''Lucius Fox''': [[DeadpanSnarker No. I just wanted you to know how hard it was]]. Bottom line, I synthesized an antidote.
-->'''Bruce Wayne:''' Could you make more?
-->'''Lucius Fox:''' You planning on gassing yourself again, Mr. Wayne?
-->'''Bruce Wayne:''' Well, you know how it is, Mr. Fox. You're out at night, looking for kicks, someone's passing around the weaponized hallucinogens...
-->'''Lucius Fox:''' I'll bring what I have. The antidote should inoculate you for now.

-->'''Batman''': You'll never learn to mind your surroundings!\\

-->'''Henri Ducard''': I wasn't always here in the mountains. Once I had a wife... my great love... she was [[DeathByOriginStory taken from me]]. Like you, I was forced to learn there are those without decency, who must be fought without hesitation, without pity.

-->'''Bruce Wayne:''' What's that?
-->'''Lucius Fox:''' The Tumbler? Oh, you wouldn't be interested in that.
-->''[Cuts to Bruce driving the Tumbler around an open warehouse floor, with Fox riding shotgun and smiling nervously]''

** [[spoiler: When Rachel asks who Batman is, he replies with the same words she previously had berated him with while he was acting like a vapid playboy, saying that despite his assertions he's not that person underneath, his actions are what should define him]].
---> [[spoiler: '''Batman''': It's not who I am underneath, but what I ''do'' that defines me.]]
---> [[spoiler: '''Rachel''': ''Bruce?!'']]

--->'''Bruce:''' Still haven't given up on me?
--->'''Alfred:''' Never.

-->'''Batman''': I won't kill you... but I don't have to save you.

-->'''Bruce:''' Well, at least we'll have spares.

-->'''Rachel''': ''Your father would be ashamed of you.''

--> [[spoiler:'''Ra's al Ghul''']]: [[spoiler: Well, well. You took my advice about theatricality a bit... ''literally'']].

--> '''Cop 1''': Where's he going?\\
'''Cop 2''': He's on the roof.\\
'''Cop 1''': What street is he taking?\\
'''Cop 2''': ''He's not on a street''. He's flying on rooftops!

-->'''Maitre D:''' Sir, the pool is for decoration, and your friends do not have swimwear.
-->'''Bruce Wayne:''' Well, they're European.
-->'''Maitre D:''' I'm going to have to ask you to leave. ''[Bruce writes him a check]'' It is not a question of money.
-->'''Bruce Wayne:''' ''[gives him the check]'' Well, you see, I'm buying this hotel, and uh, setting some new rules about the pool area.

-->'''Bruce Wayne''': Bats frighten me. It's time my enemies shared my dread.

-->'''Thomas Wayne''': Do you want to know why they attacked you? It's because they were afraid of you. All creatures feel fear.
-->'''Bruce Wayne''': Even the scary ones?
-->'''Thomas Wayne''': [[EspeciallyZoidberg ESPECIALLY the scary ones]].

-->'''Bruce''': Well, you see, I'm buying this hotel and... setting some new rules about the pool area.

-->'''[[spoiler: Ra's al Ghul]]''': [[spoiler: Familiar. [[IsThatTheBestYouCanDo Don't you have anything new]]?!]]
-->'''[[spoiler: Bruce]]''': [[spoiler: How about ''this''?!]] ''([[spoiler: catches the blade of Ra's sword-cane between the spines on his vambrace and then pulls his arms apart, [[WreckedWeapon snapping it]])]]''

--> '''Cop''': It's a black... tank!

--> '''Ra's al Ghul''': You were my greatest student. It should be you standing by my side, saving the world.\\
'''Batman''': I'll be standing where I belong. Between you and the people of Gotham.

-->'''Mrs. Delane''': Bruce, there's somebody here you simply must meet.\\
'''Bruce Wayne''': Not now, Mrs. Delane.\\
'''Mrs. Delane''': Now, am I pronouncing this right -- [[spoiler:Mr. Ra's al Ghul]]?

--->'''Alfred Pennyworth''': When you told me your grand plan for saving Gotham, the only thing that stopped me from calling the men in the white coats was that you told me it wasn't about thrill-seeking.\\
'''Bruce Wayne''': It's not.\\
'''Alfred Pennyworth''': ''[pointing to news coverage of Batman leading the cops on a car chase and crushing a few cars]'' What do you call that?\\
'''Bruce Wayne''': [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Damn good television.]]\\
'''Alfred Pennyworth''': It's a miracle no one was killed.\\
'''Bruce Wayne''': I didn't have time to observe the rules of the road, Alfred.

-->[[spoiler:'''Ra's al Ghul''']]: You're just an ordinary man in a cape. That's why you couldn't fight injustice, and that's why you can't stop this train.
-->'''Batman''': Who said anything about stopping it? [...] ''[[IronicEcho You'll never learn to mind your surroundings!]]''

-->'''Flass:''' The bears, they go straight to the dealers?
-->'''Falcone:''' And the rabbits go to our man in the narrows.
-->'''Flass:''' What's the difference?
-->'''Falcone:''' Ignorance is bliss, my friend. Don't burden yourself with the secrets of scary people.
-->'''Flass:''' Scarier than you?
-->'''Falcone:''' ''Considerably'' scarier than me.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Bruce's pretend-drunken rant mentions [[Film/TheDarkKnight "two-faced friends" that "smile through their teeth"]].

-->'''Jim Gordon :''' We need reinforcements! TAC teams, SWATs, riot cops!

* BigDamnHeroes: When Gordon calls for reinforcements in the [[spoiler:fear gassed]] Narrows, Commissioner Loeb replies there is no else to help. At that ''exact'' moment, the Batmobile roars in to the rescue.

* BadCopIncompetentCop: Supposedly most of Gotham's police and judicial officials are portrayed as corrupt. Rachel, Gordon and Loeb are the only apparent exceptions to this (though you might assume Loeb is fairly incompetent).

** All of the features that Fox describes when Bruce is trying out the Tumbler (its use to jump over rivers, and the rampless jump boosters) come in handy during the car chase.

* MurderByInaction: [[spoiler:How Batman gets around the MoralDilemma of not killing Ra's Al Ghul; simply leaving him to die on the train while it crashes, though it's hinted that he was also giving Ra's every chance to escape by himself.]]

* RealityEnsues: As Bruce Wayne spent several years WalkingTheEarth without contacting anyone back in Gotham, he has been pronounced legally dead and Alfred controls the Wayne estate. Alfred being Alfred, he is immediately willing to return it all to Bruce when he is back in Gotham.

** Bruce is also more loose with his ThouShaltNotKill code. While he doesn't directly murder people, he seems to be okay with MurderByInaction.

* SmugSnake: [[TheDon Carmine Falcone]] is easily the most arrogant and contemptuous villain in the movie. At least [[MadScientist Crane]] is fairly [[AffablyEvil polite]], and at least [[EvilMentor Ducard]] acts somewhat respectful to Bruce Wayne. Falcone, on the other hand, acts so smug that he ends up being arguably easier to hate than Crane and Ducard despite doing much less damage.

* TheCameo: Tim Booth from ''James'' has a small non-speaking role as lesser known Batman villain, Victor Zsaz.

* MadnessMantra: Scarecrow... Scarecrow...

--> [[spoiler: '''Batman''': It's not who I am underneath, but what I ''do'' that defines me.]]
--> [[spoiler: '''Rachel''': ''Bruce?!'']]

** Also with Alfred, the same exchange occurs between him and Bruce in the anachronic opening, and [[spoiler:after Wayne manor burns, immediately after the above]]:

** Crane's method for widely distributing the fear toxin is through the pipes under Arkham Asylum, an approach the Scarecrow also used in the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode ''Dreams in Darkness''.
*** Crane also gets gassed in Batman's presence and hallucinates him as a demonic creature in another ''Animated Series'' episode, ''Nothing to Fear.''
** "[[Film/Batman1989 I'm Batman.]]", as delivered to a hapless criminal mook.

** When Bruce Wayne is [[spoiler:'introduced' to Ra's al Ghul at his party, he finds himself facing a bald Asian League of Shadows member who could be a younger version of their supposed leader. In the comics, Ra's al Ghul has immortality because he uses the Lazarus Pit to rejuvenate his youth.]]

-->'''Bruce:''' Well at least we'll have spares.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Carmine Falcone's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Bruce Wayne gives him the idea of becoming Batman.

** As Bruce approaches Joe Chill to kill him, a female assassin steps out with a gun:

* PetTheDog: Even with his dark, brooding image, Batman does stop to pay acts of kindness to several people:
** After paying a homeless man to trade coats with him as Bruce, he ends up witnessing him subduing Falcone as Batman, to which he looks at him and compliments his coat -- which he's quite happy to hear.
** When he's scaling the apartments, he comes across a young boy who says that no one at school will believe he's met him. He throws him a gadget as a keepsake.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Jonathan Crane is [[spoiler:poisoned with his own fear toxin after trying to hit Batman with it again]].

** When he's scaling the apartments, he's approached by a young fan who says that no one at school will believe he's met him. He throws him a gadget as a keepsake.

** Before starting work on his Batman persona, Bruce pays a homeless man for his coat; while he plans to burn his, the homeless man insists he keep it, saying that it's a "nice coat" and repeating it to himself after Bruce leaves. When he publicly debuts as Batman to intercept one of Falcone's drug shipments, he sees the same homeless man and simply tells him, "Nice coat."

* BondOneLiner: Crane setting Batman on fire. "You look like a man who takes himself too seriously. In my professional opinion, you need to ''lighten up''."

** "Nice coat."
** "Didn't you get the memo?"

* ButHeSoundsHandsome: Inverted - Bruce makes fun of his alter-ego while establishing his rich idiot persona.

* DarkerAndEdgier: A very successful example of this trope. ''Batman Begins'' was a definite shift away from the previous films; the world of Batman goes from being [[Film/BatmanAndRobin camp and over-the-top]] to dark and gritty. Even the humor is much more toned down.

* FlyAtTheCameraEnding: Batman gliding off a rooftop and into the camera.

* FunWithAcronyms: The music on the soundtrack is named after species of bat, containing six listed in order as;
-->'''B'''arbastella, '''A'''rtibeus, '''T'''adirida, '''M'''acrotus, '''A'''ntrozous, '''N'''ycteris.

** "You never did learn to mind your surroundings." [[spoiler:Said earlier by Henri Ducard to Bruce Wayne, while Ducard is burning down Wayne Manor. Batman later repeats it to Ducard ("You'll never learn to mind your surroundings!"), when the train they're in has its rails out ahead of them and Ducard fails to notice this until it's pointed out.]]
** "It's a bit technical, but the key thing is, our company's future is secure." [[spoiler:Said earlier by Earle to Bruce when they were discussing the purchases of stock in their company. Bruce later repeats it to Earle when trying to explain why he's taking a more active role in the company. Made better by the fact that Bruce says "''My'' company"]]
** "Didn't you get the memo?" [[spoiler:Said earlier by Earle to Lucius when firing Lucius. After Bruce Wayne gives Earle's job to Lucius, Bruce Wayne explains why he has the authority to do so, (providing the above IronicEcho) and once Bruce is finished talking, Lucius says: "Right you are, Mr. Wayne" and then looks at Earle, takes off his glasses, and says "Didn't you get the memo?" This provides two ironic echoes in a row.]]
** "Don't be afraid, Bruce." [[spoiler: Said earlier by a dying Thomas Wayne, trying to comfort Bruce. Later said by Ducard during the train fight when he pins Bruce/Batman and starts strangling him]].

* SecretIdentity: Deconstructed; although Bruce has a SecretIdentity, it’s practically impossible for him to hide it from everyone else, even when they are not {{Secret Chaser}}s actively looking to know who the Batman is. The ones who find out all decide to be {{Secret Keeper}}s, or even {{Secret Secret Keeper}}s:

* WhamLine:

* WhatTheHellHero: Alfred admonishes Bruce for reckless driving when saving Rachel from the fear toxin.
-->'''Alfred Pennyworth''': When you told me your grand plan for saving Gotham, the only thing that stopped me from calling the men in the white coats was that you told me it wasn't about thrill-seeking.\\

** Rachel gives Bruce a brief but angry TheReasonYouSuckSpeech and an ArmorPiercingSlap when he reveals that he planned to avenge his parents by gunning down Chill in cold blood.

* Chaotic Neutral: Ra's most certainly fits this trope since while he does intend to blow up Gotham, his intent is quite understandable because to be honest Gotham is a shite hole that can never see the light of day for even an hour so can't really blame someone wanting to cleanse a very dirty spot.

* {Chaotic Neutral}: Ra's most certainly fits this trope since while he does intend to blow up Gotham, his intent is quite understandable because to be honest Gotham is a shite hole that can never see the light of day for even an hour so can't really blame someone wanting to cleanse a very dirty spot.

* Chaotic Neutral: Ra's most certainly fits this trope since while he does intend to blow up Gotham, his intent is quite understandable because to be honest Gotham is a shite hole that can never see the light of day for even an hour so can't really blame someone wanting to cleanse a very dirty spot.