DVD : Batman Begins (Two-Disc Special Edition)

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Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: DVD
Brand: HOLMES/BALE/OLDMAN
EAN: 9781419828171
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
ISBN: 1419828177
Label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Number Of Items: 2
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: October 18, 2005
Running Time: 140 minutes
Sales Rank: 1153
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: June 15, 2005

Editorial Review:

Product Description:
No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: HOLMES/BALE/OLDMAN
Title: BATMAN BEGINS
Street Release Date: 08/29/2006
Domestic
Genre: ACTION / ADVENTURE

Amazon.com:
Batman Begins discards the previous four films in the series and recasts the Caped Crusader as a fearsome avenging angel. That's good news, because the series, which had gotten off to a rousing start under Tim Burton, had gradually dissolved into self-parody by 1997's Batman & Robin. As the title implies, Batman Begins tells the story anew, when Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) flees Western civilization following the murder of his parents. He is taken in by a mysterious instructor named Ducard (Liam Neeson in another mentor role) and urged to become a ninja in the League of Shadows, but he instead returns to his native Gotham City resolved to end the mob rule that is strangling it. But are there forces even more sinister at hand?

Cowritten by the team of David S. Goyer (a veteran comic book writer) and director Christopher Nolan (Memento), Batman Begins is a welcome return to the grim and gritty version of the Dark Knight, owing a great debt to the graphic novels that preceded it. It doesn't have the razzle dazzle, or the mass appeal, of Spider-Man 2 (though the Batmobile is cool), and retelling the origin means it starts slowly, like most "first" superhero movies. But it's certainly the best Bat-film since Burton's original, and one of the best superhero movies of its time. Bale cuts a good figure as Batman, intense and dangerous but with some of the lightheartedness Michael Keaton brought to the character. Michael Caine provides much of the film's humor as the family butler, Alfred, and as the love interest, Katie Holmes (Dawson's Creek) is surprisingly believable in her first adult role. Also featuring Gary Oldman as the young police officer Jim Gordon, Morgan Freeman as a Q-like gadgets expert, and Cillian Murphy as the vile Jonathan Crane. --David Horiuchi

Batman at Amazon.com

All Batman DVDs	Batman Begins 101: A Comic Book Primer	Where Have I Seen Christian Bale?
All Batman Comics and Graphic Novels	Batman Toys	Batman Begins Soundtrack

Stills from Batman Begins (click for larger images)





DVD Features

The first disc is filled out by the theatrical trailer and a Jimmy Fallon-starring Batman Begins spoof from the MTV Movie Awards. The second disc consists of eight featurettes (about 105 minutes total) on a variety of topics. "The Journey Begins" covers the early stages of the movie, including the casting and how director/co-writer Christopher Nolan brought in co-writer David S. Goyer for his comic-book expertise. "Shaping Mind and Body" covers Christian Bale's fight training, and other featurettes discuss the sets (the Batcave is shown being constructed out of wood and sheets), the Batman costume, the Batmobile, the monorail sequence, and the hazards of filming in Iceland. All the behind-the-scenes featurettes are solid but somewhat routine, and while "The Journey Begins" is the widest overview, there's not really any centerpiece documentary (all are 8 to 15 minutes, and there's no Play All option). Interviewees tend to be the same throughout: Nolan, Goyer, Bale (the only cast member to get much face time), and other crew members (it's nice to hear from the stunt people).

Potentially more interesting to fans is "Genesis of the Bat," which covers the comic books that influenced the film, including The Long Halloween, Neal Adams's Ra's Al Ghul from the '70s, Dennis O'Neill and Dick Giordano's The Man Who Falls, and Frank Miller's Batman: Year One and The Dark Knight Returns. Interviewees include DC Comics editor Paul Levitz and artist Jim Lee, but the latter's involvement eventually degrades the featurette into a pitch for DC's All-Star Batman line. Filling out the disc are overviews of four gadgets and eight characters, DVD-ROM features, and a variety of poster-art concepts. To get to the features menu, you have to scroll through a multipage Goyer-scribed comic book, which is a good read, but you can't skip it the next time you want to watch the second disc. Note that the second disc offers a French menu and French (but not English) subtitles for the featurettes. --David Horiuchi

Average Rating:

Rating: - Incredible film, above average blu-ray
Batman Begins is an all time favorite of mine and one I wanted to have on blu-ray. The transfer is excellent. At 1080p at 73" (Mitsubishi 2008 DLP) the picuture is stunning. No macroblocking in fast scenes (like in the DVD release). Audio sounds amazing in 7.1.

However the extras are a bit slim.

Rating: - Batman Begins
Batman Begins is a really good movie. I enjoyed it because it wasn't like the comic book depictions I have seen in the past. It was more for an adult audience and showed how he got to be Batman and why. It didn't have all the silly, stupid things that the old movies had. It was more like a drama and my whole family really enjoyed it. Christian Bale was excellent as Batman and everyone in the movie did a terrific job.

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Rating: - Reviewing defective merchandise
No real review here, product was defective, so was replacement. Purchased elsewhere with more satistactory results.
Still waiting for my refund....

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Rating: - Do I really have to choose which one is the best?
This review focuses on Burton's Batman (Batman89, Batman Returns), Nolan's Batman (Batman Begins, the Dark Knight), and 1992 original Batman: The Animated Series. I'm excluding Schumacher's Batman (Batman Forever, Batman and Robin), the 1960's Batman series, and "The Batman", simply because I believe they are the weakest representations.

To be perfectly honest, I love Burton, Nolan, and BTAS equally. All three interpretations are so different, that they cannot be compared. And it is ... Read More

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Rating: - Great but not that great...
Batman begins is a great movie, there is no doubt about that as I'm sure you all know. That's just it though.. its the only thing great about this set. The postcard picture's are nice but whatever you know? And the comic is alright but it doesn't really have any of the character's you wanna see, it's just the bank job from The Dark Knight so it's no big deal. In the end I can only recommend this movie the the truly HARD CORE hard core fans of the new batman movie's. For me (a fan of batman but not ... Read More