Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4595 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-01-23
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Formats: Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Arabic, English, German, Hebrew, Icelandic
• Dubbed in: German
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 134 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
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, Amazon.com

Synopsis
Genius of mystery and intrigue Christopher Nolan (MEMENTO, FOLLOWING, INSOMNIA) helms this prequel to the Batman films based on the DC Comics series, explaining how Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) the billionaire prince of Gotham whose parents were killed in an alleyway mugging transformed into the crime-fighting superhero. With flashbacks to his privileged childhood, young Master Wayne, as he is called by the butler Alfred (Michael Caine), develops a terrible fear of bats when he falls through the backyard garden into a hidden cave. As a young adult, Wayne lives among the League of Shadows, a martial arts group in the mountains of Asia. His leaders Ra's al Ghul (Ken Watanabe) and Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson) teach him strength, endurance, and unfortunately evil, against which he naturally rebels. Returning to Gotham and reinstating himself as a dapper socialite and the rightful heir to his parents' enterprise, Wayne quickly devises his secret identity, commanding help from the gadgetry expert Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman). With one eye on his childhood playmate Rachel (Katie Holmes) now a beautiful woman and dedicated lawyer and the other on his mission to save Gotham from criminal corruption, Batman makes his fledgling debut. But when the blue-blooded mastermind Dr. Crane (Cillian Murphy) who steals every scene with chilling menace taints the water system with a hallucinatory substance, Batman realises he has met his first true opponent. An attitude of grave seriousness elevates BATMAN BEGINS above more cartoony Batman movies, as Nolan crafts a dark drama that thrives on sci-fi intrigue. Bale strides into the role with grace, adding refinement that is seldom seen in action-oriented films. And while the action scenes explode with high-tech glitz and fast-moving thrills, they are evenly placed among sequences of plot and character development, making for a complex and satisfying viewing experience.

Customer Reviews

A super hero movie that actually merits a sequel
This is (in my own humble opinion) easily the best Batman movie ever made and although I have not seen any Superman movies I would rank it above every other movie of its kind I have ever seen, compared to this the Spider man trilogy (okay excluding part 2) do not merit a second glance. What sets this above the other ones, what makes it more than a guilty pleasure? Quite a few things actually, for starters an extraordinary cast including Michael Caine, Liam Nesson, Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman, Gay Oldman and with almost minor roles filled by the likes of Tom Wilkinson, Cillian Murphy, Rutger Hauer, you cant go wrong. But the key difference here is story, in the other four you start off with this billionaire and all these cool gadgets that came from nowhere, whereas in the reboot we actually see some, trial and error and how a man woke up one day and decided he was going to dress up like a giant bat, take the concept of this man fighting criminals and render it ALMOST believable and you have a very, very good superhero movie that actually merits a sequel. We actually see the origins of the hero and not told as a flashback or rushed through to get to nice explosions but a carefully worked process where the hero nearly breaks his neck, gets incinerated, gets beaten and bashed and has to figure out all those seemingly impossible tricks that were made second nature in either Burton or Schumacher's films. Speaking of which I never really warmed to Burtons two "critically acclaimed" adoptions he went for what I thought was a more Gothic brooding look while keeping some of the comics original elements, Schumacher, I thought went for a more cheesy out and out comic story with what he hoped were good one liners and cool tricks, and despite making a lot of money and getting high profile actors in I never really warmed to either their two. I am bringing this up purely for the point that seeing as I was never a big Batman fan this movie proved a surprisingly very enjoyable watch which seems to combine all the positive things the other ones were trying to get but in a way that was almost believable, I mean lets face that is in itself an achievement given the title character dresses like a bat fighting for justice. Christopher Nolan is a very good director, and he, or his cinematographer I should say creates a mean Blade Runner style Gotham that perfectly conveys the desperate state of the city and its people. The effects needless to say are terrific never has a flying tank seemed so appropriate and necessary to a high-speed getaway. The only negative things I can come up with relating to this picture is the occasionally, potentially tricky lines between Bale and his characters love interest Rachel Dawson (played by Katie Holmes who got a Razzie nomination for her performance but I thought she did just fine but see for yourself and make up your own minds,) but these lines are better than most regarding love and superheroes and only pale in comparison to what comes before and after it. The acting in this filming was superb I thought and I honestly cannot think of a single person who annoyed me or didn't at least get the job done and for once not every thing is laid out in black and white like the other movies, this one actually provides a surprise or two along the way, I thought. This is a highly satisfying film which breathes life back into a failing (seemingly dead franchise) and is overall a very good film and far from a guilty pleasure thanks to the best cast any of the Batman films have ever had and easily the most believable plot. At the risk of over doing it, what the Hell, Bale is easily the best Batman.

P.S Watch out for this summers sequel, looks the part with the late Heath Ledger playing "The Joker"

batman begins review
Batman has been reborn and it is Christopher Nolan who has given the batman franchise the spark it needed on the silver screen...Many would consider George Clooney as one the best batmans ever but he has been made to look like a batgirl compared to Christian Bale he has the muscle the look and the voice to play both a perfect batman and bruce Wayne...batman is given a new look he is darker and if you suggest even sinister in both his actions and looks.....and what about the tumbler the bats tank like riot vehicle its perfect....this film is a must have for fans of the dark knight ..and look out the sequel the dark knight is out next summer which includes the original cast christian bale morgan freeman michael cane and heath ledger as batmans greatest enemy the joker.....and new toys including a new batsuit and a new vehicle which is like a harley davidson on steroids it is called the batpod it makes ghost riders chopper look like a honda 50...hope you enjoyed my review its my first if you did email me your comments to roe0101@hotmail.com Thank You

The Bold and Brutal Bat is Back.
Originally viewed on the 16th June 2005, Re-written Review Posted

Plot:

Billionaire down-and-out Bruce Wayne (Bale), traumatised since the murder of his parents. He is recruited by The League Of Shadows; ninja assassins devoted to eradicating society's ills. Rejecting their methods, he returns to Gotham and embarks on a one-man war against crime.

My Review:

While looking at newest releases, I stumbled upon the title 'Batman Begins' in the production/filming category on IMDb. Stunned to see that, 'Warner Bros' had decided to do another Batman film. Slightly despondent since the last two previous caped-crusader films had been terrible. I had hopes for this to turn it around. Having only seen one trailer, I had some expectations that it would only supersede the previous instalments. The action and the idea of a prequel/beginning story were intriguing. As the last, few films had different views on the beginnings on my favourite superhero. They had only mentioned his compelling quest to becoming the Batman as theatrical footnote.

Set out to be drastically different from the series unveiled by Tim Burton's Batman 89'; and thoroughly trashed by Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin 97', as the title seems to suggest. Trying to forget the bitterness of the last two films, director Christopher Nolan gets more supplementary than the camp-ness of the 1960s TV show. It gives the impression to audience, how do Bat-foes like the Penguin could ever appear in this gritty and economically deficient Gotham City that Nolan has built from foundation up.

Whereas Burton sketched a creatively though-out art deco hell then pushing Michael Keaton on to the screen in a slightly exaggerated Bat-suit within the first minutes, Nolan puts off the moment when Christian Bale dons the mask for almost an hour. Before getting back to super heroics, Batman Begins does spend a significant amount of time in a world just recently removed from actuality.

The first act finds a dejected Wayne in a Chinese prison and a Himalayan monastery, altering profoundly from a scruffy-bearded brawler to black-clad ninja as he flashes back to a lifetime of trauma that, in this film, began even before his parents' deaths, as he falls down a well and is terrorised by the bats which later inspire his night persona. Burton had played the Wayne's parents killed by the hoodlum who would become The Joker, however Nolan relapses to earlier comics and makes the murderer a hesitant no-one named Joe Chill, distorting the set-up so, ostensibly unfair, young Bruce and even Wayne Sr. (Linus Roache) must take some blame for the killings.

The same familiar director who made Memento and Insomnia (and recently The Prestige) is at home with extreme psychological states - following memory loss and sleeplessness with phobia. Bale even makes the old playboy-idiot act work enough, suggesting - as Michael Caine's dry Alfred remarks - a man who needs to pretend to have fun because he might accidentally enjoy himself.

While Batman recruits an army for a war - forming alliances with Gordon (Oldman), the only honest cop in Gotham, he manages to maintain a secret identity. Also with Wayne Enterprises' R&D man Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), while treating childhood sweetheart/Assistant D. A. Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes) as much as an informant as love interest (taking the role played in comics by Harvey Dent, becoming the disfigured villain Two-Face) knowing full well she will not be playing the future part of that villain.

Less fantastical depicted city than of Burton's, Nolan hits the streets and slums of Gotham (nicknamed 'The Narrows'- referring to its structure) to show the horrific escalation of evil that demands Batman's presence, as Gordon suggests he might make it worse; old-fashioned Mob guys (Tom Wilkinson) are edged out by masked freaks (Cillian Murphy, scarily creepy even before he pulls on his Scarecrow hood). Nolan doesn't use action as a last resort, with aggressive and awkwardly - shot and brutal fights, rugged vehicle chases and, in one fantastic sequence, a gripping mass escape from Arkham Asylum of serial killers and maniacs doped up.

Verdict:

In terms of big-screen comic-adaptation triumphs, Marvel has recently been ahead (X-Men, Blade); nonetheless, Batman Begins undoubtedly gets rival comics house DC back in the game. It has been a long time since a fitting and amazing comic book adaptation has come out with a flare for captivating many audiences. Grittier, bolder and more aggressive, this new instalment provides all the noir, action, drama and with a side order of dementia regarding the previous films. Bat is back and better then ever. 9/10.