Chapter 524: Ways to Fight Crime

Duke could discuss a role with his actors and tell them exactly what he wanted, but when it came to the mechanics of their adjustments, he was out of his element. As the shoot progressed, however, Christian Bale's performance noticeably improved. He maintained a rigorous physical standard for the action sequences, and his delivery in the dramatic scenes rapidly sharpened. A genuine father-mentor dynamic even sparked between his character and Liam Neeson's Henri Ducard.

This was exactly the effect Duke wanted. As Bruce Wayne's guide, the Ninja Master undoubtedly played a crucial role in the birth of Batman, even if their ideals were polar opposites.

After a brief adjustment period and continuous communication with Duke, Liam Neeson was also hitting his stride. His physical presence and aura, in particular, offered a tremendous boost in shaping the character.

Outwardly, Henri Ducard exuded an air of absolute righteousness. Psychologically, the Ninja Master truly believed his cause was perfectly just.

In some ways, Henri Ducard's hatred for crime mirrored Bruce Wayne's—both had lost loved ones to brutal murders, and both were fueled by surging anger.

Yet the two walked fundamentally different paths. The Ninja Master needed to control his anger, so he exacted revenge on those connected to his wife's death. This forged his core principle: anyone or any group he deemed evil would be sanctioned and eradicated.

Thus, the Shadow Warrior Alliance under his command operated on a single doctrine: "Sin must be destroyed and then rebuilt."

Destruction and reconstruction wasn't inherently wrong; history itself was a constant cycle of renewal.

The flaw in the Ninja Master's stance, however, lay in who held the standard for judgment. The Shadow Warrior Alliance alone decided what deserved eradication. In other words, they claimed the power of life and death over the entire world.

That was why Bruce Wayne called them "executioners" and "vigilantes."

The sole driving force keeping the Shadow Warrior Alliance going was destruction and rebirth, governed entirely by their own arbitrary standards.

"Anything they judge to be hopelessly corrupt by their standards, or where the sin has seeped so deeply into the bone it cannot be redeemed, must be sanctioned and eradicated. Only then can they rebuild upon a suitable foundation."

Huddled behind a glacier out of the wind, Liam Neeson held a steaming cup of coffee in both hands as he shared his understanding of the Shadow Warrior Alliance with Duke. "This principle is the essential driving force of the Alliance's existence. Strictly speaking, they aren't evildoers themselves, but by destroying everything, they erase any concept of fairness and justice."

"In fact..." Duke took a sip of his coffee and shrugged. "Fairness and justice have always been relative."

"The difference between Batman and the Shadow Warrior Alliance is still quite obvious."

Christian Bale picked up the thread. "The distinction is that Batman doesn't kill. He merely hands criminals over to the established order for judgment, whereas the Shadow Warrior Alliance destroys all evil—or rather, whatever they themselves define as evil."

He looked at Duke and added, "This touches on another theme in the film and the script. How to confront crime, or what methods to use to fight it."

They were currently on a long break between takes. Duke had total control over the shooting schedule, and the Batman Trilogy was by no means a traditional popcorn superhero franchise. If he wanted to elevate the series, these kinds of discussions with his lead actors were extremely beneficial.

This was especially true of Christian Bale, whose portrayal of Bruce Wayne was crucial. In the two days since their last talk, the actor had clearly found his rhythm. Though he remained a rather quiet person off-camera, he always brought a wealth of his own insights when discussing the film and his character.

Duke had never been particularly strict about acting performances in his major commercial productions, but Batman demanded the highest level of acting of all his typical blockbusters. After a little over a week of shooting, he had to admit that collaborating on this franchise with someone like Bale—an actor with solid chops, a strong grasp of the material, and a naturally dark edge—saved him a great deal of trouble as a director.

Bale's analytical approach and constant, deliberate adjustments left Duke with zero regrets about his casting choice. If Ben Affleck had been the one standing in front of him, that stiff face and wildly arrogant acting style would have been enough to give him a massive headache.

No one in Hollywood was truly indispensable, but an actor with the right style could spare a director and their crew a great deal of trouble.

Christian Bale was undoubtedly that kind of actor.

Intrigued by Bale's words, Duke asked directly, "Feel free to share your thoughts."

The old adage about a hundred people seeing a hundred different Hamlets wasn't just talk. Even within the same crew, people often held wildly different interpretations of a script and its characters. Discussions and exchanges between actors and directors were always a boon to a film.

Duke had never been the kind of director to shut out other people's opinions.

Bale thought for a few seconds. Under the interested gazes of Duke and Liam Neeson, he said, "My personal interpretation is that, unlike Frank Miller's comics, there are four ways to fight crime in Duke's script."

Nodding in agreement, Duke gestured for him to continue.

Christian Bale went on, "The first is like Bruce Wayne's father. He doesn't touch the root of the crime, but adopts a relatively mild approach of cleaning up the mess—addressing the immediate needs of the poor. This method is undoubtedly the least effective."

He sighed. "In the script, not only does he fail to solve the problem in the long run, but he is killed by the very people he is trying to help."

"The second is like Rachel Dawes—fighting crime through legitimate channels like the law. This can achieve a long-term impact against crime, because it is the most rational and socially sound approach."

This was indeed the most rational and lawful way to fight crime in the real world, but it obviously didn't work for a movie—otherwise, what was the point of Batman?

Bale continued, "In a place like Gotham City, where the enforcers of the law have already been assimilated by corruption, it is incredibly difficult to fight crime relying solely on the law. That is why, before Batman appears, the legal system can do absolutely nothing against men like Falcone."

"The third is like the Ninja Master: fighting crime through destruction and rebirth. This method yields the greatest results, but it has flaws. First, it carries massive uncertainty; the standard for what deserves destruction relies entirely on the interests of the executioner and lacks any universal consensus. Second, determining how to rebuild and the actual process of reconstruction demands an enormous price. It might be a worse trade-off compared to simply reforming the system before destroying it."

As Bale reached this point, Liam Neeson suddenly interjected. "Based on my reading of the script, although the Ninja Master and his Shadow Warrior Alliance truly believe they are righteous, they operate purely out of a need to sustain their own existence. They haven't actually considered the feasibility of genuinely striking down criminals."

"The final method is Bruce Wayne's Batman."

Bale waited for Liam Neeson to finish before adding, "Fighting criminals through a freer, more powerful vigilante justice that operates above the law."

"That's a very sound analysis."

In truth, Bale's analysis meshed perfectly with the core theme of Batman Begins. It was more appropriate to call it a crime film than a superhero movie.

Duke glanced at his watch and added, "I will just add one thing. All four of these methods involve personal motives to some degree. None of them represent a true maintenance of order that transcends society."

A method of maintaining order that truly transcended society simply didn't exist.

Humans had thoughts and feelings; they were not mere unthinking machines built for execution. This inevitably meant that people harbored selfish motives. Any so-called system of order that ignored human selfishness was doomed to exist only in a utopia.

Batman was no exception.

"Alright, that concludes our discussion," Duke said to his two leads. "Let's resume filming."

The break had lasted a full half hour. Liam Neeson and Christian Bale went to get their makeup touched up, while Duke called over Anna Printz to check the progress of the various departments on set.

Next up was the scene of Bruce Wayne undergoing ninjutsu training. Duke had moved this sequence out of the monastery and onto the vast, magnificent glacier. Under Henri Ducard's guidance, Bruce Wayne would practice using the darkness, gadgets, and the surrounding environment to conceal his presence.

Ninjutsu was a crucial skill that enabled Batman to become the Dark Knight, and it was particularly vital for this grounded, realistic iteration of the character. There would be no scenes of Batman single-handedly brawling a hundred men in this trilogy. Capitalizing on favorable environments to launch nocturnal ambushes was undoubtedly Bruce Wayne's primary method of fighting crime.

However, winter had already descended upon Iceland, bringing far too many unpredictable variables for night shoots. Duke opted to set up green screens and film the sequence during the day.

Furthermore, to avoid certain political sensitivities, the setting where Bruce Wayne and Henri Ducard trained would be firmly established as the Himalayas in Bhutan.

In short, the source of all this evil would have absolutely no connection to the country across the border.

Duke had never been inflexible, nor was he an anti-China ideologue adhering to political correctness like Christopher Nolan.

Amidst the biting winter winds, Christian Bale and Liam Neeson dodged and weaved through two squads of ninjas. The shoot was broken down into countless fragmented takes. Duke yelled "Cut!" frequently, calling over action choreographer Jimmy Carter and the two leads to swap ideas on the fight choreography before resuming the shoot.

Filming in Iceland took half a month. Before the harshest depths of winter arrived, Duke packed up and led the crew back to North America.