Batman Begins (DVD, 2005, Widescreen)

I've never been a big comic book fiend and I haven't been overly excited by recent comic-to-theater films like Spiderman, the Incredible Hukl, etc. But without a doubt - Batman Begins is the best of this recent phenomenon and is a fantastic movie if if you aren't a comic fan or even a batman fan - Batman Begins is done so well, that it really is an excellent movie. Christian Bale is outstanding (as always) as Bruce Wayne and Batman and the rest of the cast is, for the most part, stellar: Michael Caine as Alred is great, Liam Neeson and Morgan Freeman are always excellent. My only criticism of the acting - and really of the film - is Katie Holmes as love interest Rachel Dawes... she is awful - has no emotion, is a painfully poor actress, and of course this movie arrived during her Tom Cruise escapade... But enough about Katie and more about Batman:

Batman Begins is more like an epic and a novel than a regular action film - it follows certain themes very nicely throughout the entire plot and does so under a very dark setting. The action scenes are filmed beautifully and the movie is general is a pleasure for the eyes - the DVD is an excellent addition for any big screen TV!

Batman Begins Cast:
Christian Bale .... Bruce Wayne/Batman
Michael Caine .... Alfred
Liam Neeson .... Henri Ducard
Katie Holmes .... Rachel Dawes
Gary Oldman .... Jim Gordon
Cillian Murphy .... Dr. Jonathan Crane
Tom Wilkinson .... Carmine Falcone
Rutger Hauer .... Earle
Ken Watanabe .... Ra's Al Ghul
Mark Boone Junior .... Flass
Linus Roache .... Thomas Wayne
Morgan Freeman .... Lucius Fox

If you ever wondered how Batman came to be this movie tells the Story of how Bruce Wayne(played by Christian Bale) got the idea of Batman! I won't tell though, it might spoil the movie!

Michael Keaton is Batman. Tim Burton is the only person who can best direct a Batman movie. This is just the way it has been since 1992. Anyone who would be Batman; anyone who would dare direct a Batman movie would have a high standard to be judged by.
For over a decade Batman fans have been scorned by AOL/Time-Warner. Batman fans have had to endure Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, many start and stop Batman movies; rumors of new Batman movies; rumors of directors, actors, plots. The latest was Batman Vs Superman, Batman Year One & Batman Beyond.
Finally, after many years of waiting, a rumor spread that Memento director Chris Nolan had been given the nod, while Christian Bale of American Psycho fame would be Batman.
The trailers were awesome. Could this be the Batman movie fans had waited for? Then came pictures of the new Batmobile. AOL/Time-Warner was attempting to sabotage the Batman franchise forever. But, could Nolan/Bale overcome the obstacles? Would Nolan measure up to Burton? Would Bale do the Dark Knight justice? The answer would come sooner than we had hoped. 48 hours, to be exact.
Weds. May 15th, 2005, Batman Begins began. Fans would be treated to what I personally had hoped they would do: a very intensive look at the man who would be the Bat, leading up to how he became the dark legend.
A risky move, as The Hulk spent an eternity explaining the origin; certainly a recipe for disaster. But Nolan & the screenwriters handled the situation perfectly, mixing in training, prequel, and drama to bring us a perfect balance of Bruce Wayne's history & his qwest to become Batman.
Not everyone can don the cape and cowl. The mismatched Keaton worked. The perfect choice of Clooney fell flat. While Kilmer was not the perfect choice, many agree he was good. Enter Bale. With huge boots to fill high expectations from fans, hoping Bale would fly high, much was riding on the success of this barely known actor.
Bale's portrayal of the Batman would leave many to ask, "Keaton who?" His unrelenting performance gives Batman Begins a new hope for the citizens of Gotham City, and, Bat-fans everywhere.
The dark portrayal of the dark knight is well scripted, well directed, and comes with great performances from an all-star cast. All of whom give an awesome performance.
The great thing about Begins is one does not have to be a Batman fan to enjoy this movie. There's action, drama, and lots of edge of your seat suspense, to keep virtually anyone's attention.
Oh, and the new Batmobile? Yeah, it's cool. Takes getting used to, but the nicknamed "The Tumbler" is awesome. It can do virtually everything seen in the movie.
The DVD: Unfortunately, there are no deleted scenes. But, there is a good reason. Chris Nolan states that because they did what they set out to do, filmed exactly what they set out to film, they used every scene they filmed. There were no deleted scenes to delete, or, add to the DVD. Not to worry, the DVd is still packed with plenty of extras, to keep "Special Features" fanatics happy.
There are two big downsides to Batman Begins.
1. It is so well done, that it will be hard to make an equally great sequel.
2. It so surpasses the previous four movies, it makes Batman 89, Batman Returns (and for those who liked Forever) look like second rate movies.
Yes, this is indeed the movie Batman fans have been waiting for.
On a scale of 1-100, Batman Begins receives an outstanging 95.

The only reason I didn't give this an excellent is because it's not a movie I could see, over and over. However, that's doesn't take away from a film that answers many questions about and shows the guiness of this crime fighter, that was never shown on Tv or in the previous films. The powerful displays he uses his "bat" image to bring fear into these "fearless" crime bosses and thugs is just amazing. Any sequels to this should be beyond amazing, since much of this movie had to deal with his past upto his first wins and losses as Batman. A must see for anyone even remotely interested in Batman. Lots of action and drama.

This is probably my favorite Batman movie. Christian Bale (Newsies, Little Women) is one of my favorite actors and I think he did a wonderful job as Batman. I loved seeing more of the background into Bruce Waynes life and why he decided to become Batman. It was also great seeing how things like the bat cave and the weapons came to be. The special effects are great in this movie!

I can't wait for the next Batman movie (also starring Christian Bale and Michael Caine again). Two years is to long to wait! But I am so happy that Christian Bale will return! If you like Batman, you will love this movie! A+++ All around!

Make sure you get the two disc dvd though, this one doesn't have any speacial features :(.

I have seen all the other Batman movies. This did NOT overlap or repeat the other Batman movies. It has a very good storyline. It is the best of all the Batman movies out, it was also one of the BEST movies I had seen in a long long time! I was really suprised after watching this, that there hadnt been more advertisments for this in theaters & when the movie came out on dvd! Excellent! If you havent seen it yet, you MUST. Worth watching more than once.

Great Movie

Batman Begins is a great Movie. Not just a great "Batman" Movie but this movie has the ability to stand on its own. If someone walked into my living room while this movie was starting and had no idea who or what Batman was by the time this picture was over, not only would they know but I would think they were made life-long fans just by viewing it. Its a movie about Justice, Loss, Revenge, Longing, Pain, Joy, Anger, Insanity and what one does to deal with those emotions and be better for them. For those people who have not seen it either because you won't see a Batman movie without Michael Keaton or just because you simply haven't seen it go our and buy it. I don't recommend renting it because if your like me your going to want to buy it anyway just to have it.

In my opinion I believe this is the best batman movie yet! It was very well written, and not only had an outstanding cast, but also had every element you could want in a movie..suspense, drama, love, all in one great film. The special effects were incrediable! Each scene just got better and better. I have watched this movie a few times now and it is part of my batman collection. I would give this film 5 Stars!

Well, I didn't think it was going to be good , but I just have to say that I really thought this was a great movie. The best Batman Man film so far. Had action and a great story line. I have already seen it four times!!

Batman Begins is action packed. Loved it! If you haven't seen it you are missing out! Really, go out and get it!

'Batman Begins' is easily one of the best films ever made in my opinion. After you watch this you will never want different actors in any of the roles that were played in the movie. The acting is simply perfect and the effects amazing. The action feels so real and gritty. The direction of the Batman series has taken a turn towards legendary. I only hope the next one can match 'Batman Begins' but they have set a new bar for superhero movies in delivering adventure, great characters, and great action. Nice work on such a must own title Warner Bros. Perfect!!! 5/5

Besides the first Batman movies with Michael Keaton, this is one of the best Batman movies ever. It gives Batman a background between when his parents were killed and how he became Batman. It has great special effects, some startling some intriguing. The background on Alfred rocks. It's a must-see movie!

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.

I love this movie. It's just the sort of re-visioning that the franchise needed to survive. Batman and other Superheros need to be portrayed seriously on the screen. It's what the fans want. The comics take them seriously, even though they may be doing outrageous acts or fighting extreme characters. Too often Hollywood said, "No one with an IQ can believe this, so it ought to be funny to appeal to everyone." This throws out the fan base that made the character worth producing a movie about in the first place. After the last two disastrous Batman films the handwriting must have been on the wall for the producers of this movie. Batman begins is the best of the series- period.
Top-notch performances, fantastic special effects and intelligent writing make this film an excellent introduction to the world of superhero films. The story follows Bruce Wayne's tortured path to becoming the Batman, believably explaining how he acquires his gizmo's along the way. The only criticism I have is the film occasionally has so many fast edits it's hard to understand exactly what's happening to whom. (Please Hollywood, a few less cuts and a few more long shots please) Also of note it the excellent and moody music score.
A total winner.

Best Super Heroe movie yet...Everything was great about it...I could watch it over and over again!!!

Bale is the best Batman. Forget all the rest. Even Darker. I love this film because its tells how, when, and why Wayne became Batman. No the Joker did not kill Wayne's parnets.

I've seen all the Batman movies and like them all, for the most part, but this one (Batman Begins) is the best by far! It is a great beginning to a facinating character that I use to love to read when I was a kid.
I recommend buying this DVD and watching it with anyone who likes the Batman chracter. They and you won't be disappointed!

Christopher Nolan and his co-screenwriter, David Goyer have chosen to postpone the crossover of Bruce Wayne (a soulful Christian Bale) into Batman until half way through the new "Batman Begins."
And this is a crucial and important step that Nolan puts off until Bruce walks the earth in search of his own personal nirvana... in a sort of Christ-like journey to understand himself and his place in the world after his parents are brutally murdered. It is also from this quest that he acquires the knowledge and skills necessary for him to become a warrior, ready and able to combat the ills and rid his town Gotham of all evil-doers.
Nolan's "Batman Begins" is a more macho, masculine film than were the previous movies, which is not to take anything away from Tim Burton's elegiac, gothic and visionary takes on this story. But Burton's world is/was/ and will always be the world of the dreamer: his Batman is more sinned against than sinning. His Batman needs love and understanding while Nolan's wants and needs justice and revenge more than anything else: even the sultry Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes proves to be of little interest to Batman save a chaste kiss at the end of the movie. It's interesting to note that in the previous Batman films we had big beautiful bombshells like Kim Bassinger and Nicole Kidman as the so-called love interests while here, in Nolan's vision we have a more scrubbed clean, working class (Rachel is an assistant D.A.) heroine: a woman who is as interested in righting wrongs as is Batman and not merely someone meant as an adornment to the suave debonair Batman of Val Kilmer, George Clooney or Michael Keaton. It's an important and telling shift from woman as a plush toy to one who is, not only beautiful but also smart and dedicated to a cause other than self-promotion and self-satisfaction.
Christian Bale's Batman is real..i.e. a genuine, fleshed-out, beautifully written movie character: he is conflicted, he makes mistakes, he trusts the wrong people at times and he pays for his mistakes. It is a remarkable casting coup to have Bale in this role particularly since of late he has been playing a spate of radicals...i.e. in "The Machinist," in which he transforms himself into a skeleton...literally. As Bruce Wayne/Batman, Bale dons the mask, assumes the persona, not out of a lust for power but out of a fervent belief that good will always triumph over evil: several times in this film he is brought to task for his trust in the basic goodness of people and one of his mentors ( Liam Neeson as Ducard) even goes so far as to ridicule Bruce as sentimental and weak for it. Though Ducard is his mentor and sensei, this relationship proves to be fraught with ambiguity as the movie progresses to the climax.
What is a Batman film without its villains? But this film is devoid of the cartoon craziness of the Riddler or the Joker. Here we have Cillian Murphy (so good in "28 Days Later") as a scary-as-hell The Scarecrow, alias psychiatrist Dr. Jonathan Crane, who spews his psychedelic paranoia and psychosis on an unsuspecting Gotham. His "stuff" is more thrilling and frightening than anything that the aforementioned villains could ever muster.
"Batman Begins" is not only a physically gorgeous film, it is also an emotionally and ideologically complicated one. It wears its heart on its sleeve, yes...but it also has the brains and a profoundly strong back and pumped up physicality to back it up.

Liked this movie very much. Only buy about 1 DVD per year, found this one worthy. Finally a movie starring the "Dark Knight," a vaguely possible real person who plausibly becomes a vigilante. His abilities required no more suspension of disbelief than the Bourne movies, and the story wasn't obscured by ridiculous action and special effects (although I thought the fight scenes were coherent and exciting). Liked that Batman didn't kill people in droves, like he does in the previous (entirely forgettable) movies. He is tough, brutal, and uncompromising, but lives by a strict moral code with well-delineated boundries. This movie finally captured the Batman from the Detective comics & its progeny. The story, acting, direction and editing were strong. Clearly the best, most accurate Batman yet. Only good Batman movie. Hope they don't blow the sequal.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie because it departed from the standard "rock'em, sock'em" style that was used in all previous Batman movies. This was more realistic in terms of what was being said and portayed by far and had a story line that seemed more true to life. As an avid reader of Batman comic books as a young boy, I felt myself not only entertained, burt actually drawn into the story. I'm hoping the studio is working on a sequel right now!

P.S. - purchased this as a memento of days gone by...

This is one of many used DVD's that I bought from eBay. I paid $1.00 plus $3.00 shipping for it and I can't see where you could get the same DVD at this bargain. I have nevre had a problem with buying used DVD's on eBay and will continue to do so. Hope this helps. Take Care

excellent update of Batman concept from Michael Keaton and George Clooney. Less cartoony and more film noir. Welsh bloke plays an American quite credibly. Liam Nesson steals the show but that does not detract from rollicking good yarn. Martial arts sequences brief but adequately choreagraphed. Rutger Howard's performance is good and Morgan Freeman supports well. Michael Caine adds new dimension to Alfred the butler character. All in all, well worth the price of $10 delivered.

e never been a big comic book fiend and I haven't been overly excited by recent comic-to-theater films like Spiderman, the Incredible Hukl, etc. But without a doubt - Batman Begins is the best of this recent phenomenon and is a fantastic movie if if you aren't a comic fan or even a batman fan - Batman Begins is done so well, that it really is an excellent movie. Christian Bale is outstanding (as always) as Bruce Wayne and Batman and the rest of the cast is, for the most part, stellar: Michael Caine as Alred is great, Liam Neeson and Morgan Freeman are always excellent. My only criticism of the acting - and really of the film - is Katie Holmes as love interest Rachel Dawes... she is awful - has no emotion, is a painfully poor actress, and of course this movie arrived during her Tom Cruise escapade... But enough about Katie and more about Batman:

Batman Begins is more like an epic and a novel than a regular action film - it follows certain themes very nicely throughout the entire plot and does so under a very dark setting. The action scenes are filmed beautifully and the movie is general is a pleasure for the eyes - the DVD is an excellent addition for any big screen TV!

Batman Begins Cast:
Christian Bale .... Bruce Wayne/Batman
Michael Caine .... Alfred
Liam Neeson .... Henri Ducard
Katie Holmes .... Rachel Dawes
Gary Oldman .... Jim Gordon
Cillian Murphy .... Dr. Jonathan Crane
Tom Wilkinson .... Carmine Falcone
Rutger Hauer .... Earle
Ken Watanabe .... Ra's Al Ghul
Mark Boone Junior .... Flass
Linus Roache .... Thomas Wayne
Morgan Freeman .... Lucius Fox