Batman Begins explores the origins of the Batman legend and the Dark Knight's emergence as a force for good in Gotham. In the wake of his parents' murder, disillusioned industrial heir Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) travels the world seeking the means to fight injustice and turn fear against those who prey on the fearful. He returns to Gotham and unveils his alter-ego: Batman, a masked crusader who uses his strength, intellect and an array of high tech deceptions to fight the sinister forces that threaten the city.
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
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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
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Justice!:
I'm very late in doing a review here. As a big fan of movies I have decided only just recently to start posting reviews (look for my first on 'DETERRENCE'). Batman Begins is so cooooooool. It destroyed all those cheeeezy films made before about Batman, especially when each one is played by a different actor, (nothing worse than sequels that do that) and they were just s**t anyway.
Christian Bale is first class. Being English I shocked myself when I first realised he was English, (not American) he's an... more info
Batman Begins-an outstanding Batman flick!:
Batman Begins scored very well earning five full stars in my book. This film can almost be guaranteed not to disappoint. It portrayed for the first time on the big screen the origins of the bat providing a good story and script, fine performances, excellent costumes, great sets coordinated with corresponding miniatures and CGI. The well presented martial arts sequences between the Bat and our favorite Jedi Master were thrilling. The Blu Ray transfer from film to DVD was excellent and hours of... more info
Well Done:
When I first went into the theaters to see this film I was hesitant in the knowledge that this film could of been a really good film, upstaging previous films or it could of been a poor excuse of a Batman movie, in which, the studio was trying to sqeeze every penny out of people as humanly possible before leaving the once great Batman to rest. However, I found the theartical movie very well done. Which leads me to this DVD version of Batman Begins.
I found this DVD a well contrived movie in which... more info
PREPARE TO BE BATMAN-IZED:
2005'S 4 STAR **** HIT, ****BATMAN BEGINS****, MADE CHRISTIAN BALE AN INSTANT CLASSIC. GOOD ACTOR, INTELLEGENT, EXTRADINARY! ****
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