Batman (2015 Film)

Batman  is a 2015 superhero film based on the fictional DC Comics character Batman, co-written and directed by James Wan. It stars Tyler Hoechlin as Batman, Kat Graham as Catwoman, Jeremy Irons as Alfred, Bill Nighy as Philip Kane and Vondie Curtis-Hall as Jim Gordon, with Shea Wigham, Robert De Niro, and Johnny Galecki as main antagonists Jimmy Falcone, Carmine Falcone and Glayface, with Chole Moretz and Andrew Scott in supporting roles as Barbra Gordon and Edward Nashton. The film reboots the Batman film series for the second time in its history after the 2005 reboot by Christopher Nolan. This film takes place within the DC Cinematic Universe. It draws inspiration from classic comic book story-lines such as The Man Who Falls, Batman: Year One, and Batman: The Long Halloween.

After the end of the successful Dark Knight Trilogy by Christopher Nolan [2005 to 2012] plans were made to reboot the film series once more. These were done in response to the introduction of a new slate of DC Films which would share an inter-connected universe, similar to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This Universe, known as the DC Cinematic Universe, was started with the rebooted Superman film, Man of Steel, directed by Zack Snyder in 2013. It was followed by the Batman film in 2015. The upcoming film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice [also directed by Snyder] will be released in 2016, and will act as a sequel and crossover to both Man of Steel and Batman, and will also buildup to a Justice League film to be released in 2017. Wonder Woman will be introduced in B v S in a supporting role, and will also star in her own solo film, Wonder Woman, in late 2017 and will act as a prequel to Justice League and a standalone sequel to B v S.

The film opened on June 17, 2015, in the United States and Canada in 7,858 theaters, and worldwide on June 18. It grossed $450 million in its opening weekend in North America, eventually grossing over $1.3 billion worldwide, becoming the third highest crossing film in 2015, behind Jurassic World and Fast and Furious 7, and ahead of The Avengers 2: Age of Ultron. The film received extremely positive reviews and has been considered by many critics as one of the best superhero films ever made, at a level comparable to the Dark Knight Trilogy. Critics especially noted the performances of the main cast, in particular Vondie Curtis-Hall and Jeremy Irons. Hall won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor, while Irons won the BAFTA award for Best Supporting Actor. Both were nominated for the 2015 Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, which Hall won. The film was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography [which it won], Best Special Effects, and three more BAFTA awards for Best Actress [Kat Graham] Best Cinematography, and Best Actor [Tyler Hoechlin].

The film will be followed by a crossover sequel with Man of Steel known as Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016, while a standalone sequel to Batman, known as the Batman: Worlds Greatest Detective will be released in in late 2016 [all three films, Batman, Batman v Superman, and Batman: Worlds Greatest Detective were all filmed in an unprecedented three film, 12 month back-to-back production]. The Batman character will also be a main character in the upcoming Justice League film in 2017, and have a supporting role in the 2016 film DCCU Villain ensemble Suicide Squad, were the Joker [the main antagonist from Worlds Greatest Detective] will star as a main protagonist.

Plot[edit]
As a child, Bruce Wayne falls into a well, where he is attacked by a swarm of bats; he subsequently develops a fear of bats. After watching a movie at the theater with his parents Thomas and Martha Wayne, the family is targeted by a mugger while walking through an area known as “Crime Alley”, who murders Bruce's parents, leaving him to be raised by the family butler and Thomas’s best friend, Alfred Pennyworth, and his maternal uncle, the cold and distant Philip Kane.

Six years later, at the age of 18 and a fresh graduate from Alexander Wayne High School, Bruce intends to leave Gotham City and travel the world, to learn the skills and abilities necessary to become a symbol of hope for his city and to fight injustice. Despite both of his guardians trying to persuade him to attend Oxford to earn a degree in Business, with Philip accusing Bruce of shaming the Wayne-Kane family name by refusing to take control of the Family company, Wayne-Kane Enterprises,  Bruce leaves Gotham, traveling the world for almost ten years, learning Martial Arts, computer science, medicine and several other skills. After completing his training he returns to Gotham. He develops a base in the bat-infested caves beneath Wayne manor [with the reluctant help of Alfred], and he arrives at Wayne-Kane Enterprises, now run by Philip, who gives Bruce a cold welcome and tries to persuade him to take control of the company, which Bruce steadfastly refuses to do, as he feels it would interfere with his goal of purging the city of crime. Philip coldly dismisses Bruce, telling him “Your mother and father would be ashamed of the man their son has become.” He also meet a young company employee in the WK Enterprises Advanced Sciences division, Lucius Fox, who introduces Bruce to various prototype technologies including the Tumbler (a heavily armored car) and a protective bodysuit, which Bruce uses to take up the vigilante identity of "Batman". As Batman, he starts his war on crime by targeting the operations of Carmine “The Roman” Falcone, Gotham’s most powerful crime lord, and Bruce’s main suspect in his parents death: Thomas had long been a critic of Falcone, calling him out as a drug Kingpin, while Martha, through her charity work, got in contact with a young girl abused by Falcone’s nephew, Jimmy “Bone Crusher” Vitti, who was willing to testify against the Falcone crime family, then disappeared after the Wayne family killings. During one operation targeting a group of Falcone saboteurs trying to destroy a rival crime lords chemical plant, a down on his luck, low level henchman of Falcone’s, Basil “Baz” Karlo, a failed actor trying to provide for his young daughter, tries to escape but is knocked by accident by another Falcone thug into a vat of experimental chemicals, knocking him into a coma. Also, a science supervisor for the plant, Victor Fries is accidentally knocked into a vat containing an experimental chemical known as “Deep Freeze”. When Bruce returns to the cave, disheartened at the injuries sustained by Karlo and Fries, Alfred assures him that he is doing for the city is noble, and that his parents would be proud of him. Meanwhile, a widowed,  veteran Police detective, James Gordon, originally a CPD Homicide Detective [though later dialogue mentions he is a Gotham native] has moved back to Gotham, along with his daughter Barbra, to take a job as a detective in the GCPD Homicide Division. Gordon hopes to clean up the department, notorious for its corruption, despite the opposition of both the Police Commissioner, Gillian Loeb [an old enemy of Gordon’s from his time as a GCPD Patrolman] and his own partner, a young and brash detective called Flass, both of whom are on Falcone’s payroll. After Batman interrupts a dinner party attended by many of Gotham’s corrupt politicians and crime bosses, including Falcone, Loeb orders Gordon to bring him in by any means necessary. As Gordon tries in vain to catch him, Batman attacks Falcone, stripping him naked and tying him up in his bed after dumping his car in the river. Assistant district attorney Harvey Dent, who has been trying to prosecute Falcone and other mob bosses,  becomes Batman’s first ally, giving him information on some of the cops on Falcone’s payroll, who Batman targets. Detective Sarah Essen, one of Gordon’s fellow detectives, and also one of the few who isn’t corrupt or intimidated by the Falcone’s, suggests Wayne as a Batman suspect, reminding Gordon of the death of Wayne’s parents, after which she and Gordon witness Batman save an old woman from a runaway truck. Essen holds Batman at gunpoint, but Batman disarms her and flees to an abandoned building. Loeb fraudulently orders a bomb dropped on it, forcing Batman into the fortified basement. A trigger-happy SWAT team led by Branden, another corrupt cop is sent in, despite Gordon and Essen’s protests. Batman attempts to trap the SWAT Team in the basement, succeeding and picking Branden’s men off one by one. Branden manages to climb out of the trap through a collapsed chimney, and joins in the gun battle. Enraged as the team’s careless gunfire injures several people outside, Batman beats the remaining team members into submission. Using a device to attract the bats of his cave, Batman escapes amid the chaos. However, Batman is wounded by a shot from a police sniper, but he is saved by a local community volunteer [and unknown to him initially, a skilled thief] Selina Kyle, who nurses him back to health along with her friend and accomplice, Holly. They enter into a relationship, but Wayne breaks it off after realiseing she’s a thief, targeting Falcone, who had raped her mother in the past [although not said outright, it is heavily implied Kyle is Falcone’s daughter]. Gordon has a brief relationship with Essen, but later breaks it off as he still has not gotten over his dead wife Barbra senior, while Batman intimidates Jefferson Skeevers, one of Falcone’s main drug dealers, for information. Skeevers reveals that Philip has been under Falcone’s thumb for years: Unable to manage WK Enterprises properly in his early years as its CEO, the company reached near bankruptcy. He was bailed out by Falcone, in exchange for Philip using his connections in city hall to help Falcone’s crime empire. Batman sends the dealer to Gordon to testify against Falcone, who is brought up on charges, while he confronts Philip [as Bruce Wayne] during his birthday banquet, where he also briefly talks to Gordon, another guest,  who implies that he suspects that Wayne is Batman. He tells Philip to leave Gotham, or else he’ll give Skeevers information to the GCPD. Falcone meanwhile,  gets Jimmy and his men, including Karlo, who has been bailed out of jail [who is exhibiting unusual abilities, such as morphing into other people] to set a trap for Gordon and the Batman: He plans on kidnapping Barbra, and using her to force both Gordon and Batman to arrive at a Falcone warehouse, along with Skeevers, to be killed. Unknown to Karlo, Jimmy plans on making him a scapegoat, killing him and placing the blame of Gordon’s and Skeevers death on him. Although Gordon, Bruce and Alfred know it’s a trap, they decide to go. Batman breaks Skeevers out of Jail [with Gordon’s help] wounding several cops, including Flass and Branden in the process. They arrive at the Falcone warehouse, where Jimmy ties them all up, and proceeds to beat them. He then tries to remove Batman’s cowl, but is unable to. Enraged, he decided to cut Batman’s side, which shows a breath mark that Philip [who has decided to reluctantly come and watch Batman’s execution at Falcone’s instance] recognizes as Bruce’s. Philip takes Falcone hostage, forcing him to let Bruce and the others go. However as they are trying to escape, Jimmy shots Philip in the chest. As Alfred arrives in the Tumbler [which Barbra calls the “Bat mobile”] to get them out, Philip confesses to Bruce that he never wanted to run the company, but did so as it was Martha’s last wish and that he only took Falcone’s offer as he did not want both Martha’s and Thomas’s last legacy to Bruce, the company, to be lost; He also says he always loved Bruce like a son, and only ever wanted the best for him, but never knew how to express it to him. Bruce tearfully forgives him as he dies. Meanwhile, Karlo, having overheard Jimmy’s plan, becomes enraged and kidnaps Jimmy and Carmine, and starts a rampage across the city with his new powers. As the city cops, now led by Gordon, after both Loeb and Flass ran off in fear, try and stop Karlo, Bruce [at Alfred’s insistence] arrives at Selina’s apartment. After he confesses his feelings for her, he asks her to help with getting civilians in the east end away from Karlo’s rampage. She agrees. While Alfred and Barbra use the Bat mobile to distract Karlo along with Gordon and the GCPD as Selina saves several civilians, Bruce uses a special serum made by Fox to neutralize Karlo’s powers. After realizing that Karlo only wanted to do what was right by his daughter, reminding Bruce of what Philip did for him, Bruce allows him to escape. While his back is turned, Jimmy comes out with a pistol he took from an unconscious cop and holds him at gunpoint. Deducing that Batman is Bruce Wayne, Jimmy gleefully reveals that it was him who killed Bruce’s parents. Before he can kill Bruce however, Gordon arrives and shots Jimmy, killing him. Bruce thanks him for saving his life, before jumping into the Bat mobile as Gordon thanks him for saving Barbra. Roughly a month after the battle with Karlo, Bruce and Selina are still together: She now works at WK Enterprises as a PA for Fox, now head of the science division, along with Barbra, working as an intern, while Bruce, in the wake of his uncles death, has taken over as CEO of the Company. Gordon, using Skeevers testimony, forces Carmine to testify against several cops and politicians on his payroll, including Loeb, whom he replaces as Police Commissioner, and the corrupt DA Angelo, who is replaced by Dent, who gives Gordon a list of honest cops to replace the ones who are going to jail. Gordon also agrees to not release the information of Philip’s role in Falcone’s crimes as a favor to Bruce [who suspects that Gordon knows that he is Batman, but is maintaining plausible deniability by not confirming it outright]. The film ends with Gordon on a rooftop, with a city light with the bat symbol emblazoned on it, waiting to meet with Batman to discuss a new criminal in Gotham, Edward Nashton, who has left a card with a question mark on it at the scene of a triple homicide, saying “Riddle me this, Riddle me that. Who’s afraid of the Big, Black Bat?”

Post Credits Scene:

A dingy apartment. A man is sitting on a couch, the tv is on. The audience can’t see him, only his hands, as he is facing the tv. A woman is lying on the ground. Her throat is slit. The man is crying, blood on his hands, the knife on the floor. The News goes on.

News lady: “And in other news, the mysterious vigilante that Gothamites have taken to calling “The Batman” continues to terrorize Crime figures in the city in the wake of the conviction of Mob Kingpin Carmine “The Roman” Falcone, along with several Police Officers and Political Figures on his payroll, including Police Commissioner Gillian Loeb. Today, Batman brought convicted serial killer Victor Zsas, who escaped the Arkham Asylum for the Criminally insane less than a year ago, to justice, delivering him to newly appointed Police Commissioner James Gordon. It seems no criminal can hope to stand against this new guardian of Gotham.”

The man turns off the TV, stops his crying. Silent for a moment. Then he starts to laugh. A maniacal laugh. Close up of his bloody hands show that his skin is white. Cut to black.