Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman Directed By: Christopher Nolan Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Binding: Blu-ray Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen Label: Warner Bros. Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: July 08, 2008 Running Time: 140 minutes Theatrical Release Date: June 15, 2005
Product Description: 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.Format: BLU-RAY DISC Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/HEROES UPC: 085391115212 Manufacturer No: 111521
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?
Co-written 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
Back To Its Roots After the colossal flop that was "Batman and Robin", the entire Batman franchise went into a bit of a lull. Rumors of a "young Bruce Wayne becoming Batman" movie circulated for years, but nothing substantial was finalized. That is, of course, until this masterpiece from Christopher Nolan.
Whereas the first two Batman films were very gothic, and the following two were little more than action-adventure fare, this film delved into the important issue of "why is a man driven to dress up as a bat?" The other films used the old, tired "murdered parents" excuse, but Nolan realized that the psyche of Batman goes much deeper than familial matters.
Thus, the plot of this movie centers on Bruce Wayne's transformation into the Dark Knight, an intriguing process that probes the very roots and civilized society and makes us question whether "right" really is "right". The genius of this film, as a result, is the portrayal of Batman as a vigilante, not entirely accepted by all citizens of Gotham City. Is he a psychotic criminal, or a winged avenger who does not the police force can and will not? Can the primarily villain, The Scarecrow of comic book fame, be stopped by traditional means, or his Batman (despite his violent tendencies) actually needed to keep the peace? Those questions are what will keep this movie in your mind long after viewing.
Lest I get too philosophical, though, this film contains its fair share of exciting chases and intense action, staples of summer superhero films. However, it is the almost seamless weaving of those elements into the overall storyline (not just pointless action like this film's predecessor) that combines into an overall thrilling experience.
Finally, the acting in this movie is terrific. Christian Bale is easily the best Batman to date, while an ensemble cast of Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Katie Homes, Gary Oldman, and Morgan Freeman are delightful to watch in each's respective role.
Overall, this film is nearly the perfect amalgamation of intense action, superb acting, and thought-provoking plot. If you were intrigued by the first two Batman films but fell away from the franchise after "Batman and Robin", you need to re-discover the true Dark Knight as represented by this film.
Batman Begins. Blu-Ray quality is amazing both in sound and visuals, would have loved more extras but excellent all in all.
Better than the DARK KNIGHT After watching the Dark KNight, twice, I couldn't help but thinking 'why everybody is so crazy about the neew movie, isn't the Begins way better?'
I'm not here to criticize the Dark KNight, because it really is a great movie that has everything. Smart and sly evil character doing whatever he can to destroy people's lives, and the Batman struggling to keep up with his selfcommitment to justice without people's fair recognition. What a Drama.
However after all, I should raise hand of the Batman Begins. This movie answers every questions of batman lovers will ever have. His origin, his philosophy, his characteristic, his agony, his struggle, his courage, his brilliance... in a very quasi-realistic way. and most importantly, this movie answers WHY the Bruce Wayne is going through all those, sacrificing his reputation, personal relationships, and risking his life at all.
For just weekend moviegoer, Dark Knight must be a Great Movie. but for True Batman Maniac like me, Begins is the mile stone that resurrected, personified, and liberated the Batman.
May be my Blu-Ray player, but... ...I did everything I could to get the latest software updates to my BDP-S1 Blu Ray player in preparation for this disk. By the time I did all the updates I had the very latest software right off of Sony's website. It looked great once I finally got it playing (which took 3 or 4 attempts for some reason - again may have been my player). However, I had to watch the entire movie before finally seeing the DVD menu with the extra features. I really wanted to watch the Dark Knight movie preview right away so that bummed me out. Also, once you finally do get to it, the menu looks very hastily put together. It just had a very rushed, "beta" edition feel to it. Normally I really don't care about the bells and whistles on DVDs, but I had an exceptionally difficult time dealing with this disk, which is a bummer because this is one of my all time favorite movies.
It's about time. Finally a version of Batman that seems made for adults instead of children. A decent plot and villains that are not completely over the top. My only complaint would be that most of the scenes in Gotham city are too dark. All in all, an enjoyable action movie to show how the Batman legend begins.
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