What theme beyond the obvious one of "fear" is beaten over the audiences head? That is the obvious theme of the movie in terms of character motivations, but there are more themes to Batman Begins then that of fear. And really, there is nothing to be ashamed in those regards, seeing as the entire Batman mythos boils down to that one word.
You don't use subtle dialogue when you have so much exposition and story to tell, within such a short period of time.
B89 didn't have any character development or themes. What ones did you see?
Batman Begins asked questions about the nature of crime, the source of crime within society, who benefits from it, and the shades of grey between right and wrong. There was also statements made from post 9/11 war, using imagery and parrallels to a world forever altered by such a horrific event.
B89 is a glossy HOLLYWOOD shell. Batman Begins was an intelligent and meaningful movie, and virtually all critics continue to praise it as so today. What rock have you been living under?
Let's see in this film the main character goes from being a mysterious urban legend who even the law is weary about to a known presence that saves the entire city from being poisoned by a mad man and allies himself with the law enforcement of his city. He also goes from a regular vigilante to a vengeful loose canon that right there alone is development. He loses himself and gives into a darkness that he feels gives him some sort of personal closure in a sense but in the end just makes him more miserable. It is not till the third act of the sequel were he sees a reflection of himself in the woman he loves that he sees how lost he has become by letting his demons consume him.
That is why by the third film his demeanor is a bit different and he is more conventionally heroic as opposed to anti heroic. This theme was in the original screenplay of
Batman Forever as well which contained ideas about the duality that controls his psyche and how reflective and remorseful he has become since he feels guilt over not being able to redeem the love of his life. As well as feeling guilty for what he became the moment he realized who the Joker truly was, someone who the law no longer applies to & could do whatever it takes no matter the extremes to reach a point of justice (hence the line "wrong on both counts" in BR).
The Batchler's who wrote the original draft said these were things they briefly discussed with Tim Burton himself before he left the project. So obviously at one point post BR he did have some type of arc planned out that in the end would've resolved the characters evolution throughout all 3 films.
Back to the first film In the eyes of the public he went from possible threat to a savior who would do whatever it took to rid the city of the forces of evil. The man himself has a lot that he is dealing with. The death of his parents has left him a cold distant soul unable to fully express his emotions around others and be himself and not see anything beyond the mission he has entrusted himself with. The man deals with the conflict of alienation (oh is that a theme?) and is terribly confused as to how exactly reconcile with his dual identity. A part of him wishes he could just be normal and he craves that type of acceptance from society he would like the luxury of just being a regular joe as opposed to an obssesed man with a haunted soul.
He meets somebody that he feels may just be the person to help him realize this. He goes through the motions of trying to develop something with her but is still conflicted because at the end of the day he doesn't really know how to handle a conventional relationship. Opening up is tough for him because it's something he's never experienced before he's extremely used to being closed in but she triggers something in him but he's still confused about what that something may be.
So naturally he tries to push her away because it will be easier for him to do that then to try to figure out why he feels the way he is feeling deep inside, it causes confusion (another theme?). The father figure in his life knows him well enough to help him realize that she makes him feel comfortable enough to show a side to her that nobody has ever really seen before. A side that just wishes to be open about who he truly is and not keep any secrets. This is why he visits her apartment to have that conversation that is later on interrupted.
By the end though he realizes that while he craves normalcy and a conventional life it is something that he is not built for yet. While a part of him would like to have a real good taste of that as a whole he just would feel much more comfortable in his own skin dealing with the mission he has assigned to himself. Being the city's savior and a beacon of hope so that the upstanding citizens will realize that there is still some good left in Gotham City. Now how is that development? well he goes from a person still on the fence about what he truly wants from life anymore to a man who is secure with what he considers to now be his fate. He also goes from someone uncapable of knowing how to love and expressing himself to someone who tries to compromise and still try to make his relationship work out of love while still catering to his own personal plights which is why we see that Vicki is still around by the end.
Cyrus brought up the media theme. In case you didn't get it, Knox was a representation of the journalists who pursue with great persistance & love to sensationalize stories that they're personally obsessed with because they know that the bottom line is that it will be a career maker. It will be the story that immortalizes them in the eyes of their peers, "pulitzer price winning stuff". The type who has no problem blowing a story out of proportion if it means he will be allowed to continue to go after leads by keeping that story relevant.
Gordon as in BB but in a much more subtle manner with the portrayal itself being much more in line with golden age Jim Gordon than anything else represents what little honesty and nobility is left in the city. He realizes that the majority of his force is as corrupt as most of the other hoodlums parading around the city. The corruption has become so powerful and relevant in Gotham that the crime mob is in control of most of the city. That's why he is so adamant about taking down Carl Grissom by taking it to the courts "we get our hands on him we could touch Grissom" as opposed to being gung ho and trying to take his city back by excessive force. He feels he is one of the only one's left that could bring any type of change to the mess that Gotham City has become but he realizes it's a process and in order to disarm this force he has to take it apart piece by piece. This is why he keeps emphasizing on wanting Napier alive because he knows that apprehending him without bending the law to do so is key to taking the city back and maintaining what ever little integrity it still has left.
The citizens of Gotham City represent the greed and unashamed nature of most residents of crime ridden neighborhoods at the time. The type that would have no problem accepting gifts and thanksgiving day turkeys from the same men who commit murder and enslave and destroy their neighborhoods by pumping out deadly drugs and commiting high crime.
Mayor Borg is a representation of hypocritical & incompetent politicians that were so common throughout that era in American history. The type of politicians who kept the wrong type of people within their own administrations and were too blind to realize it. One of the more notable ones is Mayor Ed Koch during his second term as mayor. They even cast Lee Wallace due to his resemblance to Koch. Borg says that "across the nation the words Gotham City are synonamous with crime" yet in many ways his own administration was the one responsible for it in the first place so he has to bring in Harvey Dent to help him clean up the mess that his team has made. He's the type of person who can't seem to be able to clean house on his own and maintain his own promises to his citizens without any outside help. Someone who is no longer really capable of functioning within that type of political climate without having some hand holders around to guide him.
Listen despite the fact that I still prefer Burton's first movie to any Batman movie released so far I enjoyed
Batman Begins. It wasn't as engaging to me as much as I would've liked it to be but my expectations for a
Batman: Year One type film were about 13 years old at that time of it's release so it was impossible for the film to meet them in the first place. Thanks in particular to Goyer it had a lot of things I did take issue with including a lot of genre cliches. I recognize this and while it's far from my favorite work by Nolan I still do like it and I'm proud to own it. Even if at times I find it too Marvel-esque for me someone who has always been a bigger DC fan. As a long life Batman fan am thankful for it because my favorite character is relevant thanks to the new adaptation with most people now again and it touched enough people to make them fans of his rich history which is always good cause that means he will stay around for more years to come.
The slights you hold against Burton's first movie are pretty off and make it pretty obvious that a lot of the themes found within that film went completely over your head. I didn't even cover them all I missed out on a lot of them like infatuation, narcissism, anarchy and obsession for example but I've typed enough as it is and I'm sure others could elaborate more. Perhaps you not noticing this is due to Burton being more of a visual storyteller than anything else who always manages to wear his cinematic influences right on his sleeves. To call the movie an "glossy Hollywood shell" is a disservice to a lot of the things that it did manage to accomplish and is a fairly inaccurate statement
