Genre: Action/Superhero
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Writer: APJ
Based on DC Comics characters
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Viggo Mortensen, Taron Egerton, Bryan Cranston, Jonathan Pryce, Caleb Landry Jones, Tatiana Maslany, Chris Rock, Adele Exarchopoulos, Madelaine Petsch, Julia Garner, Orlando Jones, Rochelle Aytes
Plot: Eight years ago, a somewhat younger Bruce Wayne (Jake Gyllenhaal) hikes through the desert of the Arabian peninsula. He looks at a map before continuing on his way. Finally, he finds himself in a maze of canyons. He slowly navigates his way through until he finds lush green grass and a fountain of sparkling water at the end. Ra's al Ghul (Viggo Mortensen) welcomes him to 'Eth Alth'eban, a city he has built into the rock of the canyon to be the true home of his League of Assassins, and asks what brought him there since it's kind of out of the way. Bruce weakly says that he has come there to train before passing out from exhaustion. When Bruce wakes up, he finds Talia al Ghul (Adele Exarchopoulos), the daughter of Ra's, bringing him some food and water. She warns him that he is going to need his strength if he is going to train with her father as many have died trying to learn the ways of the League of Assassins.
Bruce begins training with Ra’s, who senses a great inner anger in Bruce that he believes can be channeled. As Bruce continues training and turning his body into a weapon, he and Talia begin a romantic relationship. Ra’s finally reveals that he knows exactly who Bruce Wayne is - billionaire heir to the Wayne fortune who watched as his parents were murdered in front of him. Bruce isn’t happy that Ra’s is bringing it up. Ra’s then asks Bruce why he just sat there watching - why didn’t he do anything? Bruce angrily says that he was only 8 years old. Ra’s tells Bruce that he killed a man for the first time when he was around the same age, so he doesn’t buy Bruce’s excuse - and he doesn’t believe Bruce buys it either, otherwise he would not have come all the way to 'Eth Alth'eban. He knows the guilt is behind his anger, and that’s okay.
Bruce completes his League of Assassins training. Ra’s tells Bruce that he would like him to take over as leader of the League and marry his daughter Talia. He asks Bruce to lead a mission to a village in Tibet that has been abused by the Chinese government. After that Ra’s plans to step down and the entire league will be Bruce’s. Ra’s would like Bruce and the assassins to kill the Chinese officials in the village in order to grant the Tibetans their freedom. Bruce says that he will fight off the Chinese officials, but he will not kill anyone no matter what their crime is. Ra’s grows angry and asks what Bruce was doing in 'Eth Alth'eban then. Bruce said that he wants to protect people so they don’t end up like him. Ra’s grabs Talia and holds a sword to her throat. He tells Bruce to kill him or he will kill Talia. Bruce calls Ra’s bluff and leaves 'Eth Alth'eban to go back to Gotham City.
In the present day, Bruce Wayne attends a victory party for Gotham City's newest District Attorney, Harvey Dent (Chris Rock). The newly named GCPD Commissioner James Gordon (Bryan Cranston) gives a speech saying that it's been a while since there has been a D.A. in Gotham with the balls to take on the colorful criminals the city has to offer, but he knows Dent won't back down from the challenge. Dent finally takes the stage and thanks the audience for their affirmative action hire. He then surprises the audience by telling them that he has no interest in trying to combat or prosecute Batman, stating that he truly believes that Batman is an ally to the city of Gotham before ending his speech by encouraging everyone to have another drink so they'll think his speech was actually good. Gordon is soon ushered out of the building due to an urgent police matter. Bruce is eavesdropping on Gordon's conversation when Dent comes over and thanks Bruce for his campaign donation. Bruce claims that his butler handles stuff like that, but that he looks forward to working with Dent. Bruce then walks away leaving Dent confused. Bruce quickly makes his way to the Batcave and suits up as Batman. Gordon heads to the Gotham City Police headquarters and turns on the Batsignal.
Batman arrives on top of the GCPD building where Gordon tells him that there is a hostage situation at the Gotham International Airport and the Joker is involved, supposedly having taken an entire plane full of passengers hostage. Batman, Dick Grayson/Robin (Taron Egerton) and Barbara Gordon/Batgirl (Madelaine Petsch) race toward the airport, Batman in the Batmobile and Robin and Batgirl on their respective motorcycles. When they arrive on the scene, Batman comments to Robin that the whole situation feels suspicious as this doesn’t feel like Joker’s M.O. - not chaotic enough. Batman, Robin and Batgirl easily storm the plane and disarm Joker (Caleb Landry Jones), who laughs as he is taken away after the situation by Gordon. Batman then notices that one of the hostages was his old flame, Talia al Ghul. On the way to the station, Gordon’s car is sideswiped by a bulldozer driven by Harleen Quinzel (Julia Garner), now Joker’s lover and partner in crime and calling herself Harley Quinn. The bulldozer causes the squad car to topple over. “Harley” gets out of the bulldozer and shoots Gordon in the chest. She then frees Joker and they escape together.
Back in the Batcave, Dick inquires into Bruce’s past relationship with Talia, questioning who she exactly is. Dick’s questions anger Bruce until he finally explains that he was once in love with Talia while being trained as an assassin by her father, Ra’s al Ghul, leader of the League of Assassins. Dick is angry that Bruce tried to hide this from him and Barbara. Bruce leaves the cave. Barbara tells Dick that he shouldn’t have prodded Bruce like that. Alfred Pennyworth (Jonathan Pryce) finds Bruce and informs him that the Batsignal is already shining again. Bruce sighs and suits back up. When Bruce arrives at the top of the GCPD headquarters, he finds that Harvey Dent is the one who turned on the Batsignal. He tells Batman that Gordon is in the hospital and Joker is on the loose. Dent then asks Batman if he knows why Joker would’ve caused a scene just to get caught and escape. Batman tells Dent that he believes Joker was put up to the task by someone else and suggests that Dent look into the identities of Joker’s hostages for any clues.
Finding out about Gordon’s injuries, Dick and Barbara head to the hospital to check on him. Gordon insists he was fine thanks to his bulletproof vest, they just want to keep him for observation. When they leave, Dick confesses to Barbara that he doesn’t think he will ever reach his full potential working under Bruce in Gotham. Barbara asks what he wants to do, and Dick reveals that he has considered going off on his own, maybe to Bludhaven where he was born. While she thinks they all have a good thing going, she tells him that she won't begrudge him for wanting to move away - even if she would miss him.
Bruce is down in the Batcave looking at pictures of Talia on the computer when Alfred walks in and asks if her father Ra’s is in town. Bruce says he doesn’t know yet. Dick comes down into the Batcave and demands to know what Bruce is planning to do about the Joker. Bruce tells Dick that Joker is not the priority right now and that he doesn’t believe Joker is the real reason for the hostage situation. Dick yells that Gordon is in the hospital because of the Joker. Dick says that he wants to find the Joker’s hideout and stop him before he does anything else. Bruce says that he is more concerned with what Ra’s al Ghul and his League of Assassins may be planning in Gotham. Dick asks why he thinks Ra’s al Ghul is in Gotham. Bruce tells Dick about Talia being one of the hostages on the plane, and he doesn’t think it's a coincidence. Dick doesn’t accept the answer and tells Bruce that if he won’t find the Joker, he will.
Ra’s, Talia and a team of his assassins break into the Wayne Biotech labs - one of Wayne Enterprises’ numerous subsidiaries. The guards all bow down to Ra’s, but he has his assassins kill them anyway. Ra’s then enters a lab deep in the complex where he finds samples of a new virus dubbed Ebola Gulf. Talia asks her father what it does. He smiles and says they should find out. He shoves one of the assassins into a containment room and throws in a vial of the virus after him. Exposed to the virus, the assassin’s skin begins to boil and his flesh falls off of his skeleton until he dies mere seconds later. Talia is horrified by the sight, while her father smiles. She asks what they will use it for. Ra’s says it is a bargaining chip to convince Bruce to rethink his ways. In the Batcave, Bruce is alerted to the break-in at Wayne Biotech labs. He quickly suits up and drives the Batmobile to the scene. When he arrives, the police have already arrived on the scene and found the dead guards. Batman wants to know what is missing. The head of Wayne Biotech, Lucius Fox (Orlando Jones), arrives and tells Batman that the lab has a government contract to develop cures for potential new strains of Ebola - the samples of the virus were taken. Fox then shows Batman the surveillance video of the virus killing the assassin. Fox begs Batman to get the virus back and destroy it. In the morning, Bruce calls Wayne Biotech and orders Fox to shut down any projects related to chemical or biological weapons. Fox is surprised that Bruce knows who he is as they’ve never met, but dutifully agrees to have any other projects terminated and destroyed.
Dick convinces Barbara to come along with him to try to find the Joker’s hideout to see what they have planned. Barbara asks if Bruce knows about this. Dick insists that it is none of Bruce’s business. After they suit up, Robin and Batgirl manage to track Joker down at the sight of an old riverboat casino. Once they find Joker, Robin becomes over-eager and attacks Joker, punching him over and over again. Joker laughs as blood begins coming from his nose and mouth. Batgirl pulls Robin off. They demand that Joker tell them his plan. Joker begins to laugh at the question as he wipes blood away from his mouth. Batgirl asks him what is so funny, and Joker replies that he doesn’t have any plan. Harley Quinn emerges and hits Robin in the back with a baseball bat. Joker throws a knife at Robin, nearly hitting his shoulder. Joker then leaps over the side of the boat, disappearing into the Gotham River. Harley follows, but Batgirl manages to catch her with her grappling gun, leaving Harley dangling over the side of the boat. Batgirl and Robin pull Harley back onto the boat and demand to know why Joker held the plane hostage on the runway. Harley begins giggling before finally telling them that it wasn’t Joker’s plan at all - he was simply an errand boy on that one. Robin is angry that it turns out Bruce was right. Batgirl calls the police to have them pick up Harley. On the drive to the station, the officers reveal that they work for Ra’s al Ghul. They pull the squad car over and let Harley loose.
Selina Kyle finds Batman waiting for her in her hideout in the rundown Park Row District of Gotham City. He tells her about the theft of a deadly virus from Wayne Biotech and asks her in her time as Catwoman if she has heard of anyone on the black market looking to acquire or sell something like that. Selina, while running her fingers along Batman’s chest armor, promises to keep her ears open. She asks him how he can let him know if she finds anything out. Batman says he’ll keep in touch. Batman stops himself and asks Selina for one more favor - he’s looking for a woman named Talia al Ghul who might be involved. Selina is clearly a little hurt that Batman is asking her to find another woman, but she agrees anyway.
Bruce finds Dick in the Batcave and begins angrily criticizing his decision to try such a reckless and poorly planned attack on the Joker’s hideout. Bruce points out the bruises caused by Harley Quinn’s baseball bat as evidence. Bruce tells Dick that if he wants to continue to have access to his technology and resources, he needs to run stuff like that by him in the future. Dick doesn’t like how Bruce is talking to him and says it’s a deal. Dick throws down his suit. On his way to the exit of the Batcave, Dick mentions that Bruce was right about the Joker not really being the one behind the airport hostage situation. Alfred comes down and asks Bruce what all the commotion was. Bruce says that he and Dick simply had a difference of opinion. Bruce then asks Alfred if he’s had any luck tracking down Talia’s location for him. Alfred shakes his head no.
Batman responds to a Batsignal only to find Catwoman is the one who turned on the light. He tells her to turn it off and tell him why she called him there. She tells him that she hasn’t heard anything useful about the virus, but she has managed to track down Talia. Batman doesn’t believe her, but Catwoman then tosses Batman a necklace that he immediately recognizes as belonging to Talia. Catwoman tells Batman what hotel Talia is staying in.
Bruce goes to the hotel to find Talia after heading back to the Batcave to take off his suit. When she answers her hotel room door, she greets him with a long, passionate kiss. Bruce finds himself unable to resist Talia and she takes him to her bed. Laying in bed, Bruce asks Talia what Ra’s is up to. Talia tries to claim she isn’t aware of his plans, but he tells her that he saw the security footage from Wayne Biotech, so he knows she was with her father. Talia says that her father's plans are none of her business, suggesting that Bruce has two options: stop her father or join him.
When Bruce returns to the Batcave, he finds Ra’s al Ghul and a group of assassins waiting for him. Ra’s compliments Bruce’s Batman toys and mentions that Talia’s necklace that Bruce’s lady-friend stole has a tracking device built into it. Bruce demands to know what Ra’s wants with him. Ra’s insists that he wants what he always wanted: for Bruce to marry Talia and take over his place as the leader of the League of Assassins. Bruce tells Ra’s that he still has no interest in killing anyone, no matter how bad they are. Ra’s says that he thinks Bruce just needs the right nudge, stating that he hopes killing millions of Gothamites with the virus will help convince Bruce to do the right thing.. Bruce grabs Ra’s by the throat and demands to know what he did with the virus. The assassins move toward Bruce, but Ra’s waves them off. Suddenly Ra’s jabs Bruce with a needle. Bruce demands to know what he just injected him with. Ra’s says it is a vaccine for the virus.
Harvey Dent is driving down the road while on the phone with his wife Gilda when he sees some suspicious vehicles outside of the Gotham Water Treatment Center. He tells Gilda that he needs to hang up to call the police as something fishy is going on. Dent calls the police, but they tell him they can’t make it there for a while. Dent then sees the Wayne Biotech label on a crate, making a possible connection between the crate and the stolen virus. Dent grabs his personal handgun out of a lock box he keeps under his seat. He nervously loads the gun and begins sneaking toward the vehicles. Gordon is finally back in the office when he hears that Dent called in. He orders all available officers to head to the water treatment center. He grabs his gun and decides to tag along as well. Meanwhile, Dent has sneaked closer and can see a group of men dumping vials of the virus into the city’s water supply. When the police arrive, Dent tells Gordon what he saw and urges him to order the city’s water be shut off. Gordon agrees and makes the call.
Batman wakes up Lucius Fox in his home. Fox is startled to see him. Batman asks Fox to make more of the vaccine against the virus. Fox insists that the thieves stole all of the samples, so there would be nothing to work from. Batman then cuts his arm and fills a glass with his blood. He tells Fox that he was given the cure to the virus, so Fox should be able to recreate the cure from his blood. Fox says he will get to his lab to work on it immediately.
Bruce apologizes to Dick and asks for his help to stop the League of Assassins from unleashing the Ebola Gulf virus on the people of Gotham City. They suit up in the Batcave and quickly head to the Gotham Water Treatment Center where Gordon, Dent and Batgirl are all waiting. They ask Batman what the plan is. He tells them that Lucius Fox is working on a cure. Once it is ready, it should be entered into the water supply where it should counteract the virus already in the water. Gordon points out the dozens of assassins waiting around the building and asks what should be done about them. Batman asks Gordon to have his officers form a perimeter around the area. He asks Robin and Batgirl to start dealing with the assassins while he goes after Ra’s al Ghul.
Batman, Robin and Batgirl enter the water treatment center and begin fighting the League of Assassins. Batman finds Ra’s al Ghul, who throws down a smoke bomb and escapes the building. Batman watches as Ra’s drives away from the building in an armored van. Batman gets into the Batmobile, quickly catching up with him on a bridge. Ra’s gets out of the van and tosses Batman a sword. He tells Batman that he is now making his final offer for Bruce to take over as the leader of the League of Assassins. Batman once again declines on the basis of not wanting to kill people. Ra’s laughs and tells Batman that one of them will not be leaving the bridge alive. Batman and Ra’s have a sword duel. Batman is clearly bigger and stronger, but Ra’s is much more agile. Batman removes the armor from his suit so that he can move better, but almost immediately after he does so Ra’s slashes him across the chest. Ra's claims that he will win the duel no matter the outcome: if Bruce kills him he will be viewed as the new leader of the League and Ra's wins the people of Gotham will get what they deserve. The duel reaches the edge of the bridge. Batman tells Ra’s that just because he wins, doesn’t mean he has to take a position. Batman then drives his sword into Ra’s stomach. Ra’s looks down at the sword sticking out of him in disbelief. Ra’s falls over the ledge of the bridge into the Gotham River.
As Batman is getting ready to walk away, Talia arrives and asks him why he’d rather kill her father than marry her. Bruce takes off his cowl and tries to explain, but Talia doesn’t want to hear any excuses from him. She just wants to bring her father’s body back to 'Eth Alth'eban. Bruce nods his head, unable to come up with anything to say to her. Talia then dives into the river after her father’s body.
After the League of Assassins has been defeated, Fox is able to get the cure for Ebola Gulf into the water supply before the virus is able to infect the population of Gotham City. Commissioner Gordon publicly thanks Batman and his colleagues for saving Gotham City once again.
Bruce offers Dick his own section of the Batcave, but Dick instead tells Bruce that he’s done being a sidekick and wants to find his own city to protect. He’s sick of being stuck in the shadow of Batman. Bruce tells Dick that he’s welcome to pack his things and leave if he plans on being so ungrateful for everything he’s done for Dick since his family died. The mention of Dick’s family leads to him storming out of the Batcave.
Bruce goes to his computer where he is watching surveillance footage of Selina Kyle. Alfred comes up behind and asks if he’s doing research for Batman’s crime-fighting or Bruce Wayne’s love life. Bruce says a little bit of both.
Selina Kyle once again returns home to find Batman waiting for her. She asks how he wants to exploit her skill set today. Batman steps toward Selina and kisses her. Batman then removes his cowl to reveal his identity as Bruce Wayne. Selina is stunned at first, but decides to kiss him back.
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