| | | |Academy Award Nominee - Best Cinematography.
Features: DVD, Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 2.40:1, Dolby Digital (5.1), Dolby Surround Sound, Mobile Game, English, French, Spanish Subtitled
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.
"One of the year's best films. It's the Batman movie I've been waiting for." Roger Ebert, Ebert & Roeper
"**** Phenomenal. Not only the must-see movie of the summer, it's the film of the year!" Shawn Edwards, FOX-TV
"Without question the best Batman ever." Joel Siegel, Good Morning America
"A rugged, rousing adventure." Newsweek
"A bold and brilliant superhero movie, Batman Begins is the best outing ever for the Caped Crusader." Nev Pierce, BBC
"They finally got it right." Sean Burns, Philadelphia Weekly
"...Bale gives us the best Bruce Wayne that has ever graced the screen." Ty Burr, Boston Globe
"...rousing, reverent, often brilliant...Batman is at home in the 21st century as he was in the 20th." Keith Phipps, The Onion A.V. Club
"A great movie, period. It's great because it's so real." Kyle Smith, New York Post
"A confidently original, engrossing interpretation." Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
"Fantastic. Emotional. Genuinely gripping." Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
"A bold and brilliant superhero movie, Batman Begins is the best outing ever for the Caped Crusader." Nev Pierce, BBC Online
Editor's Note
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 realizes 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.
| Features | Batman Begins Mobile Game Demo & Weblinks | | Widescreen Presentation | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish | | Audio: English, French Dolby Digital (5.1), Dolby Surround Sound | | DVD-ROM Features : Batman Begins Mobile Game Demo & Weblinks | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Audio: English, French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Warner |
| Release Date: 1/26/2010 |
| Running Time: 140 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2005 | | Catalog ID: 59415 | | UPC: 00012569594159 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English [CC], English | | Available Subtitles: English, French, Spanish | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 2.40:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Nominee (2006) | | | British Academy Awards, Janek Sirrs, et. al., Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects | | | British Academy Awards, Nathan Crowley, Best Production Design | | | British Academy Awards, David Evans, et. al., Best Sound | |
Winner (2006) | | | MTV Award, Christian Bale, Best Hero | |
Nominee (2006) | | | MTV Award, Batman Begins, Best Movie | | | MTV Award, Cillian Murphy, Best Villain | | | Oscar, Wally Pfister, Best Achievement in Cinematography | | | People's Choice, Batman Begins, Favorite Movie | | | People's Choice, Batman Begins, Favorite Movie Drama |
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| | Professional Reviews | Entertainment Weekly
"[A] triumph -- a confidently original, engrossing interpretation, with a seriously thought-through aesthetic point of view..." 06/24/2005 p.137-138New York Times
"[T]his tense, effective iteration of Bob Kane's original comic book owes its power and pleasures to a director who takes his material seriously and to a star who shoulders that seriousness with ease." 06/15/2005 p.E1 USA Today
"Christian Bale makes the best Bruce Wayne/Batman since Warner Bros. revived the franchise in 1989." 06/17/2005 p.9E Sight and Sound
"[I]t's the flair of the set pieces that really impresses....The film delivers a pleasingly robust sense of spectacle....It is a welcome new beginning." 08/01/2005 p.40-41 Uncut
"This intimate, brooding resurrection brings the Caped Crusader back to life by sending him back to his roots." 08/01/2005 p.126 Rolling Stone
3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Lined with wry humor, the film addresses questions of corporate greed..." 11/03/2005 p.108 Film Comment
"[B]rooding, carefully crafted, and comparatively low-tech....Mr. Bale brings true gravity and pathos to the task at hand." 11/01/2005 p.78 Uncut
Ranked #7 in Uncut's Best Films Of 2005 -- "Nolan's vision of Gotham is a hellhole straight out of Hieronymus Bosch." 01/01/2006 p.82-83 Rolling Stone
Ranked #4 in Rolling Stone's "Top 25 DVDs Of 2005' -- "Gotham looks lived in, not art-directed, and Bale creates a hero of haunted fire." 12/01/2005 p.92 Ultimate DVD
4 stars out of 5 -- "Nolan's Year One reinvention of the franchise is largely about ambiance and mood....A more sober study in psychology..." 08/01/2007 p.90 James Berardinelli's ReelViews 9 of 10
With Batman Begins, director Christopher Nolan has gone back to basics, jettisoning both the silliness of the TV incarnation and the gothic and fetishist elements of the '90s version. This is a hard-core, down-and-gritty origin story - the tale of, as one might reasonably expect, how Batman begins. It isn't intended as a "prequel" to the 1989 film - not only is Gotham City a completely different place, but key events of the Batman chronology are re-spun. Batman Begins is designed as the start of a new life, a reboot for the franchise. In the process, Nolan has not only crafted the best Batman movie, but arguably the second-best motion picture superhero narrative (topped only by the linked duo of Superman and Superman II). For those who thought Spider-Man and X-Men had a lot to offer, wait till you see where this film goes. - James Berardinelli
Chicago Sun-Times 10 of 10
"Batman Begins" at last penetrates to the dark and troubled depths of the Batman legend, creating a superhero who, if not plausible, is at least persuasive as a man driven to dress like a bat and become a vigilante. The movie doesn't simply supply Batman's beginnings in the tradition of a comic book origin story, but explores the tortured path that led Bruce Wayne from a parentless childhood to a friendless adult existence. The movie is not realistic, because how could it be, but it acts as if it is...This is at last the Batman movie I've been waiting for. The character resonates more deeply with me than the other comic superheroes, perhaps because when I discovered him as a child, he seemed darker and more grown-up than the cheerful Superman. He has secrets...Bale is just right for this emerging version of Batman. It's strange to see him muscular and toned, after his cadaverous appearance in "The Machinist," but he suggests an inward quality that suits the character...I said this is the Batman movie I've been waiting for; more correctly, this is the movie I did not realize I was waiting for, because I didn't realize that more emphasis on story and character and less emphasis on high-tech action was just what was needed. The movie works dramatically in addition to being an entertainment. There's something to it. - Roger Ebert
ReelViews 9 of 10
With Batman Begins, director Christopher Nolan has gone back to basics, jettisoning both the silliness of the TV incarnation and the gothic and fetishist elements of the '90s version. This is a hard-core, down-and-gritty origin story - the tale of, as one might reasonably expect, how Batman begins. It isn't intended as a "prequel" to the 1989 film - not only is Gotham City a completely different place, but key events of the Batman chronology are re-spun. Batman Begins is designed as the start of a new life, a reboot for the franchise. In the process, Nolan has not only crafted the best Batman movie, but arguably the second-best motion picture superhero narrative (topped only by the linked duo of Superman and Superman II)...Of the five well-known actors to don the cape and cowl (Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale), there's little doubt that Bale is the most talented and the most effective. We believe him as both Bruce Wayne and Batman and, while in the latter role, he seems more than just a face behind the mask...Batman Begins is a strong re-start to a franchise that deserves better than it has often been accorded. The ending provides a direct lead-in to another Batman movie, and Nolan is on the record as saying he envisions making a trilogy. - James Berardinelli
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