Batman Begins
Shake off those cobwebs1. There’s a new Batman in town, and he’s younger and fiercer than before. What do you want from a rookie2? The Caped Crusader3 that Christian Bale plays so potently in Batman Begins is still working out the kinks4. Director Christopher Nolan, who wrote the script with David Goyer, shows us a Batman caught in the act of inventing himself. Nolan is caught, too, in the act of deconstructing5 the Batman myth while still delivering the dazzle to justify a $150 million budget. Credit Nolan for trying to do the impossible: take us somewhere we haven’t been before.
This stripped-down prequel6 grounds the story in reality. Batman Begins resurrects7 Batman as Bruce Wayne and answers a long-standing question about Bruce the tycoon8 playboy, showing us what he was doing before he put on his Batsuit.
At age eight, Master Wayne (Gus Lewis) falls into a well filled with bats and freaks out9. The bats represent his deepest fear. Bruce later dumps Princeton and his virginal Rachel (Katie Holmes) and heads for the Himalayas to toughen up. He’s tossed into prison and is rescued by Ducard (Liam Neeson), who ninja-trains him. Ducard is a member of the League of Shadows, led by evil genius Ra’s Al Ghul (Ken Watanabe).
Seven years have passed, and Bruce is still Bruce. Back in Gotham, he learns from the family butler10, Alfred (Michael Caine), that he’s been declared dead and that the CEO (Rutger Hauer) has taken over Wayne Enterprises. To get it back, Bruce teams up with Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), a company scientist who specializes in military body armor and designs a car that looks like a tank.
The Bat earns his wings soon enough. He enlists11 an honest cop, soon-to-be commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) to help him rid Gotham of Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson), a crime lord with connections to the Waynes’ murders. Like any movie with a surfeit12 of villains13, none of them stick.
注释：
1. cobweb [5kCbweb] n. 蜘蛛网
2. rookie [5rJki] n. [口]新手，生手
3. crusader [krU:5seidE(r)] n. 社会改革（或消除公害等）运动的斗士
4. kink [kiNk] n. 困难，（机件、计划或进程等的）障碍
5. deconstruct [7di:kEn5strQkt] vt. 解构
6. prequel [5pri:kwEl] n. （据已问世文艺作品的情节凭想象上溯创作的）先行篇，前篇
7. resurrect [7rezE5rekt] vt. 使重新流行
8. tycoon [tai5ku:n] n. [口]（企业界、政界等的）巨头
9. freak out （使）产生梦魇般幻觉，（使）迷狂
10. butler [5bQtlE(r)] n. 男管家
11. enlist [in5list] vt. 征募
12. surfeit [5sE:fit] n. 过量，过度
13. villain [5vilEn] n. 恶棍，流氓
