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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 526
Released: October 18, 2005 |
| Our Price: $3.97 |
| Used Price: $1.99 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
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.
Description of Batman Begins (Widescreen Edition):
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 | 
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Batman Begins Soundtrack |
Stills from Batman Begins (click for larger images)
Batman Begins (Widescreen Edition) Reviews:
A superb entry to the superhero genre and re-generation of the Batman franchise 
2009-11-18 - Tim Burton fostered in a new era of superhero films with his impressively dark, original Batman films BATMAN and BATMAN RETURNS. Then Joel Schumacher trashed all that with his horrific, comical and empty flicks BATMAN FOREVER and BATMAN AND ROBIN.
Thankfully (and there's an hitch!), Christopher Nolan's 2005 rendering BATMAN BEGINS is a fine return to form for the popular dark superhero. Nolan based BB in "reality" and focuses on young Bruce Wayne (excellent work by Christian Bale), who witnessed the murder of his parents as a child, who travels the world trying to understand the criminal mind and ends up undertaking ninja training in the Far East under the tutelage of Henri Ducard (a slyly malevolent Liam Neeson) and Ras Al Ghul.
Upon his return to Gotham after years of exile, Wayne resumes his place as the head of Wayne Manor, which was taken care of in his absence by family major domo Alfred (fine performance by the esteemed Michael Caine) and Wayne Industries, run by Mr. Earle (wonderfully played by veteran screen bad guy Rutger Hauer). Wayne also meets Lucius Fox (reliably played by the great Morgan Freeman), the head of the Development section of Wayne Industries, and enlists his help in obtaining high-tech equipment so that he can begin leading his double life as both Wayne and Batman. Last, but not least, Bruce re-acquaints himself with his childhood friend and now assistant DA Rachel Dawes (played surprisingly well by Katie Holmes).
So the adventure begins! Batman prowls the streets of Gotham at night taking out scuzzy lowlifes at first (he saves Rachel from some goons on the subway) and making his initial mark. He also thwarts the city's top criminal Carmine Falcone (solidly played by Tom Wilkinson), who ironically is the man who ordered the kill of the man who killed Bruce's parents. Batman also meets Police Sgt. Jim Gordon (superb work by Gary Oldman), who initially skeptical, ends up being the conduit between Batman and the police force. Batman runs into a higher class of criminal in Dr. Crane/Scarecrow (creepily played by Cillian Murphy), who shoots a toxic concoction from his mask to literally psych out his victims. At the climax, Batman must save Gotham from his former mentor Ducard, who it turns out was the head ninja Al Ghul all along!
BATMAN BEGINS is perhaps the first Batman film to focus primarily on the hero himself and not the villains. A highly involving character study of one man's despair, disillusionment, acceptance, strength, and resolve, Nolan manages to elevate BB above the genre. I've not seen all his work, but I've got to believe this is perhaps one of the best (if not the best!) performance of Christian Bale's career. Additionally, Nolan does a good job of CGI-ing effects to make a real city an authentic stand-in for Gotham (unlike an unmentioned sequel that didn't even try! Told you there was a hitch!). A superhero film where the protagonist is the star? Novel idea!
The Dark, Grim Batman Has Returned 
2009-11-07 - Live-action wise (the animated films having always retained a mature nature since 1992), this is the best take on Batman since Burton's two. Batman's origin's are explored and some of his training is delved into. Christian Bale makes for a good Batman, the voice that he uses for the character doesn't get on my nerves as most people would think but my main complaint are, like others, is the action sequences. There are too many fast cuts and the action is just barely indistinguishable. Michael Caine is the best Alfred, Michael Gough from the previous four hardly being in them until Batman & Robin, and that was only because he was dying. Caine's version is much more involved with Bruce and cares about him, a noted scene being when he's driving a poisoned Batman home. You can tell that he's deeply worried about him. Katie Holmes. How to describe her. Well she's more believable as a DA than Denise Richards was a physicist but she doesn't really convey any emotions (much like Lois Chiles and Barbara Bach from the Bond films). And her inexplicable interest in wanting to know Batman's name seems almost forced in my opinion. I know he saved her life, twice, but she's never really given any inclanation to really find out who he is. Liam Neeson and Cillian Murphy are perfect as Ra's al Ghul (Ra'Z al Ghul is not his name) and the Scarecrow respectively. My main problem with the villains, Scarecrow imparticular, is that they look nothing like their comic book counterparts. I know Nolan wants to keep a "realistic" look to the films but I wish he were a little more faithful to how they looked in the comics. The plot is very good, with plenty of twists and turns to keep a new viewer on their toes. Lastly, James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer's score is quite good but their heroic theme is quite forgettable when compared to Danny Elfman's, but definitely a step up from that atrocious Elliot Goldenthal.
Erroneous Amazon Info, Won't Play on Some SONY BD Players 
2009-11-07 - First, there is no Japanese language track and only Japanese or Chinese subtitles, not both. (I'm not sure which subtitled language is listed because I don't read either language, but I suspect it's Chinese because some of the characters are much more complex than most Japanese characters.)
Also, IF YOU OWN A SONY BLU-RAY PLAYER THIS DISC MAY NOT PLAY! I sold a perfectly fine Batman Begins BD to a guy with a Sony player who fantasized that the disc was filthy or heat damaged, neither of which were true. Only after he bought a 2nd BB BD and discovered that it, too, would not play in his Sony BD player did he realize the problem was his player, not because I was some sort of scheister, which I'm not.
[...]
After the guy returned the disc to me it played (and is playing now) perfectly fine in my PS3.
Batman begins blue Ray
2009-10-29 - The movie worked without flaw and looked great on my tv, no problems playing it. Thanks for the DVD.
Excellent Movie
2009-10-17 - This movie renewed my interest in Batman. Christian Bale is probably the best batman yet. I highly this movie.
