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Movies / On DVD / Batman Begins
Batman Begins

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Batman Begins (2005)

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Reviews Counted:42

Fresh:26

Rotten:16

Average Rating:6.6/10

Consensus: Brooding and dark, but also exciting and smart, Batman Begins is a film that understands the essence of one of the definitive superheroes.

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for intense action violence, disturbing images and some thematic elements.

Runtime: 2 hrs 21 mins

Genre: Action/Adventure

Theatrical Release:Jun 15, 2005 Wide

Box Office: $205,197,285

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... 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. [More]

Starring: Christian Bale, Katie Holmes, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman

Starring: Christian Bale, Katie Holmes, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman, Ken Watanabe, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Michael Caine, Lucy Russell, Sara Stewart

Director: Christopher Nolan

Director: Christopher Nolan
Screenwriter: David S. Goyer, Christopher Nolan
Producer: Emma Thomas, Charles Roven, Larry J. Franco
Composer: Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard
Studio: Warner Bros.

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Release:

May 12, 2009

[DVD Details]
 
 

DVD Features:

  • Region [unknown]
  • Keep Case
  • Anamorphic Widescreen
  • Full Frame

Audio:

  • Dolby Surround 5.1 - English, French
  • Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
 
 
 
 

Reviews for Batman Begins

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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Here's how any great franchise should start: with care, precision and delicately wrought atmosphere.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
02/03/07
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A nonstarter.

Full Review Source: New York Magazine | comment 6 Comments
05/12/06
Ken Tucker
Ken Tucker
New York Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

For all the hype about exploring Batman's damaged psyche, Nolan and Goyer haven't added much beyond a corny opening in which he falls down a well and is attacked by bats.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment 4 Comments
06/17/05
J. R. Jones
J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

If you love Batman, then Batman Begins will the best Batman movie ever made. On the other hand, if you love Batman movies, Batman Begins may leave you wondering where the Joker went.

Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment 1 Comment
06/17/05
Terry Lawson
Terry Lawson
Detroit Free Press
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Batman Begins is for morons.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment 20 Comments
06/16/05
Rex Reed
Rex Reed
New York Observer
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A confidently original, engrossing interpretation, with a seriously thought-through (but never self-serious) aesthetic point of view that announces, from the get-go, someone who knows what he's doing is running the show.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
06/15/05
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Apart from the lumbering pacing and embalmed tone, the movie is densely forested with oaken dialogue, wasteful in its casting...and incoherently over-edited in its action sequences.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment 4 Comments
06/15/05
Geoff Pevere
Geoff Pevere
Toronto Star
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Batman Begins leaks existential phoniness from the first frame.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment 4 Comments
06/15/05
Stephanie Zacharek
Stephanie Zacharek
Salon.com
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Director Nolan remains true to his own vision, which is largely that of the original Batman comics. As a result, Batman Begins has a unity not often found in these extravaganzas.

Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment Comment
06/15/05
Philip Wuntch
Philip Wuntch
Dallas Morning News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Is it too much to ask that the action sequences not be monotonously, narcotizingly dull?

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | comment 4 Comments
06/15/05
Carrie Rickey
Carrie Rickey
Philadelphia Inquirer
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If comic books must be a staple of our movie diet, please let them be as thought-provoking and thrilling as this.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
06/15/05
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

For all the effort and expense that went into this salvage job on an old, abandoned property, I would have preferred that Batman -- now past 66 years old -- be given his pension and sent on his way.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment 9 Comments
06/15/05
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris
New York Observer
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Batman Begins is a remarkable movie. In making it, Nolan swept aside not only the other Batman films but the whole over-burdened shelf of previous super-hero flicks.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
06/15/05
Eric Harrison
Eric Harrison
Houston Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Here's a legend sometimes proved true: Sharp writing and thoughtful directing make the oldest tales seem new.

Full Review Source: Denver Post | comment Comment
06/15/05
Michael Booth
Michael Booth
Denver Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Bale, in his first venture into superhero status, hits just the right balance between Bruce's uncertainty and the intensity of his alter ego. Besides, Caine and Freeman elevate any project in which they appear.

Full Review Source: CNN.com | comment Comment
06/15/05
Paul Clinton (CNN.com)
Paul Clinton (CNN.com)
CNN.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Finally, a Batman movie that's actually about Batman.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
06/15/05
Bill Muller
Bill Muller
Arizona Republic
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A ponderous, deeply unironic psychological portrait with such a pervasive sense of gravitas that it borders on self-importance.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment 7 Comments
06/15/05
Ann Hornaday
Ann Hornaday
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
06/15/05
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Say goodbye to 'pow' and 'zowie.' Say hello to a level of raw excitement that at times makes Batman look like a predator for justice.

Full Review Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News | comment Comment
06/15/05
Robert Denerstein
Robert Denerstein
Denver Rocky Mountain News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

What makes this Batman so enjoyable is how the director Christopher Nolan arranges familiar genre elements in new, unforeseen ways.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
06/14/05
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
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