Vfx artists used footage of real Egyptian fruit bats to create the winged creatures of the night for Batman Begins. Courtesy of The Moving Picture Co.

“Second, Chris and production vfx supervisors Janek Sirrs and Dan Glass shot a plethora of reference footage of real Egyptian fruit bats. For this they went on a bluescreen stage and also a dark, side-lit set, not unlike the well and cave the digital bats would later on end up in. This would provide us with a basic library of wing movement and flight patterns, as well as specific actions during take-off and landing that was later used as reference for the basis of the bat animation.”

So in script and design, the movie is about how we face and use our fears. Or don’t. And the metaphor is propelled forward by the use of countless visual effects. But Nolan’s prime directive was always that the effects not call attention to themselves, and that you should always sense that, like Batman with his abilities, the filmmakers simply pushed reality-recording film technology to the limit.

Rising Sun Pictures was the effects house responsible for maintaining the illusion of reality in the scenes involving the interior of Batman’s ride, the Batmobile. When you look out the vehicle’s windows, it is RSP’s use of “Fast Fourier Transformations” that makes you believe the car is racing through Gotham, as opposed to standing in front of a greenscreen, which it was.

As one of RSP’s visual effects supervisors, Tim Crosbie (who worked closely with another vfx supervisor, Tim Baier, and with vfx producer Sara Henschke), offers: “As Batman BEGINS, it makes sense not be as full of vfx as previous films. However, by achieving subtle and seamless ‘real world’ images via vfx techniques, you get the vfx without it feeling like a huge vfx film. I think we’ve all seen a lot of films where the effects seem to come before the story.”

Whether real or simulated, Batman Begins is certainly impressive to look at. From the Monastery in the Himalayas, to the vertiginous canyons of Gotham City, to Arkham Asylum and its home in Gotham’s Narrows, the look and feel of the film hammers home the theme of fear. Not that Batman Begins is a horror movie, but there’s an edge of menace you feel lurking around every corner, even in the quieter scenes. It’s a world where, if you lived in it, you’d hope and pray that someone like Batman would come along to save you.

For Batman Begins, the Batmobile design is far more utilitarian than in other film or television adaptations. Courtesy of Double Negative.

And then there’s that Batmobile. The thing is essentially a tank. I’ll go out on a limb and predict there will be quite a few toys in its image sold this holiday season. Production designer Nathan Crowley worked closely with Nolan and Goyer in Nolan’s garage. As Nolan and Goyer worked on the script in the director’s house, they would share ideas with Crowley about how they were envisioning the vehicle. Their ideas informed Crowley’s designs, and Crowley’s designs contributed to important aspects of the script.

Beyond the story and visual effects, there are, of course, the characters it contains.

First and foremost is Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman. If you thought Michael Keaton’s Bruce Wayne was too open and emotionally vulnerable in the manner of Peter Parker, then Bale will be more your cup of tea. What Keanu Reaves is to the Matrix’s Neo, Bale is to Bruce. I thought there was a certain distance to his demeanor that might have been appropriate to the character, but made it hard for me to feel his emotional plight. Bale was most engaging in the scenes where he is haggard and battered, searching the world for a way to channel his anger and pain, less so when he returns to Gotham and begins to implement strategies for battling evil. But the character, as created decades ago in the comics by Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Jerry Robinson and others (and continued over the decades by Dennis O’Neil, Neal Adams, and Frank Miller, to name just a few), is so strong that Bale is able to draw much out if it.

The eponymous hero of Batman Begins has a diverse array of friends and foes that help tell his story. The shining gem of them all is Michael Caine (supporting Oscar nomination — you read it here) as the Wayne family butler, Alfred Pennyworth. His relationship with Bale’s Bruce Wayne is the one where the young heir comes most alive. Caine is both straight-man and comedian, giving as well as he gets. He’s the good father that Bruce comes to depend on. Bruce’s real father died before they could establish an adult relationship, and Liam Neeson’s Ducard is stern and demanding, didactic and challenging, but not a father figure with any sympathy. If Bruce Wayne is anyone’s son, it is Alfred’s.