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Editorial Reviews:

Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy.

In retrospect, Batman Begins is perhaps even more of a towering achievement than we first realised. Arriving eight years after the franchise-killing Batman & Robin, it managed to not only shine fresh light on the Batman franchise, but also emerge as a template for what a top notch comic book movie should be.

Much of the credit, of course, should go to the pairing of Christian Bale and director Christopher Nolan. Bale steps where the likes of Michael Keaton, Adam West and George Clooney have stepped before, and yet his Batman is darker and more complex than any of them.

Behind the camera is perhaps Batman Begins? secret weapon, as Nolan--previously responsible for Memento among others--rewards the gamble to give him the job in the first place. His film is packed full of memorable characters, and he draws together a staggering cast, yet none of them are shortchanged. From Rutger Hauer?s brief cameo as head of Wayne Enterprises through to Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson and Liam Neeson, it?s the finest cast in a film of this ilk since the first Superman.

The film?s belated Blu-ray debut has, fortunately, been worth the wait, with the reference-quality 1080p image simply sparkling on any screen that can handle the resolution. Backed up with a thumping surround sound mix, this is superb work, and it?s fitting that it should be used on a film of this quality. Now? We just need The Dark Knight to join it in high definition. That?s what you?d call a double bill...-Jon Foster

Custom Reviews:

The best Batman movie

This movie portrays Bruce Wayne's privileged but traumatic childhood, his path toward becoming an agent of justice, and his unusual training. It then moves back to Gotham, Bruce's hometown metropolis, that has become extremely crime-ridden, corrupt, and impoverished, with the gains made by Bruce's parents having been just about wiped out. To address this, Bruce Wayne, in his new persona of Batman, must face a powerful crime-lord, and an even-more-powerful, albeit shadowy, figure, plotting to ride the world of Gotham's evils by eliminating Gotham itself.

C. Bale gives us a Bruce Wayne who is glib on the surface, troubled beneath that, and an avenging crusader at his core. The imagery, both real and computer-generated, is awesome and dark, and the musical score enhances the story well, without ever dominating it.

The supporting cast is amazingly good. Michael Caine is perfect. Liam Neeson as Henri Ducard, Bruce Wayne's teacher in the martial arts (and more), was also perfectly cast. Tom Wilkinson was chillingly ruthless as the crime boss. Katie Holmes is Katie Holmes. I had not seen Rutger Hauer in anything in a long time, but he was very good as the cold, greedy, power-hungry businessman. Morgan Freeman did his usual excellent job as Lucius Fox. I also liked Gary Oldman as Inspector Gordon, and Cillian Murphy was coolly insane and cunning as Scarecrow.

Of course, Batman had to have some interesting toys. What makes him nearly invincible? Check out the suit. How does he fly? That cape is not just a fashion statement. The big toy, though, is the tank-like Batmobile.

Very disappointed

After all the hype and reading the reviews I was disappointed with the sound and picture quality. The story and content was great, but was it in Blu-ray? yes but it was not up to the normal Blu-ray standard, my DVD player upgrades my normal DVD,s to 1080p and the quality is far better than this Blu-ray film. To much of the film had dark scenes therefor the Blu-ray was unable to exploit the full contrast quality with bright outside scenes Batman Begins - 1 Disc Edition [2005]

Knight in not so shining armour!

In preparation for the Dark Knight, I had to re-watch this movie, and to be honest I forgot how good it was. These movies re-invent the Batman in a much more realistic and plausible way than the orginal 90's movies. The really changes the way you feel about the character and the setting, it changes from being a comic book adaptation in an over the top Gotham, unbelievable gadgets and unbelievable villians to something that with a little bit of imagination may actually be happening around us. This sets up the history of Batman, and how he turns into the Dark Knight, with believable explainations on his skills, gadgets, costumes, money and alike. This is a perfect start to what I hope turns out to be an excellent series of movies. Well directed, well acted with good (and not obviously CGI) effects.

Batman Begins

I watch this movie before I watched the original Batman (I know I'm a bit behind), and I actually enjoyed the move better. The story follows a similar path to the first Spiderman film in that it's takes you back to where it all began. It works well and Christian Bale is awesome.

As a Blu-ray, the experience only gets better...

Not as expected....

Movie: 5 Stars
Picture: 3 Stars
Audio: 2 Stars

This is the best Batman film without a doubt. I bought it on DVD when it first came out. I was expecting to be blown away with the Blu ray release but I was wrong - yes the Picture quality and the sound quality is slightly better than the dvd version but it's nowwhere near referce material nor upto blu ray standard. Should have had DTS HD Master Audio or the fantastic PCM 5.1 Audio as standard. Seen older films better than this on Blu Ray. Maybe one day when they release a proper remastered version with PCM 5.1 audio then I'll be happy.