7. The Murder Of Bruce Wayne's Parents - Batman Begins
Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy is not without its fair share of sadness, and there's certainly a case to be made for the more unexpected deaths in The Dark Knight or the climax of The Dark Knight Rises packing the most emotion. To my mind, however, nothing matches the harshness of the scene in which the Batman is born, as young Bruce Wayne sees his parents shot dead. It's an iconic moment which has been replayed many times over the Batman movies, most recently in Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice. However, Nolan's take on the scene in his first Batman movie is surely the most effective enactment. Sticklers for loyalty to the source material may be a little annoyed that the incident occurs outside an opera, rather than the traditional cinema; but there can be little dispute that the scene really gets the point across. It isn't simply Nolan's grounded, naturalistic aesthetic (free of the flourishes and slo-mo used by Burton and Snyder) that make his version the best; it's also the zen-like calm of Linus Roache's Thomas Wayne, never panicking even when a gun is pointed in his face, moving instinctively to protect his wife, not even showing any sign of fear or distress as he lies dying of a gunshot. As Gus Lewis' terrified young Bruce sits weeping over his dying parents, alone in a dirty alley, his father's haunting final words, "don't be afraid," really hit home for the character and the audience alike.
