Product: Batman Begins (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (2005)
Rating: 5.0
Batman Begins Blu-Ray
Since his first appearence in Detective Comics #27 in May 1939, the Batman has appeared in countless comics, live action and animated T.V shows, feature films, toys, and video games. The Batman has become a fixture of modern pop culture to such a degree that even those individuals that have never read an issue of the comic book know the story of how as a child Bruce Wayne witnessed the death of his parents, an event the inspired him to use his family fortune to become a vigilante as an adult.After four feature films from Directors Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher from 1989 to 1997, that ran from the darkly gothic to the flamboyantly ridiculous, studio Warner Brothers decided to reboot the franchise with a film grounded in reality. Director Christoper Nolan's 2005 film Batman Begins explores how the childhood trama that Bruce Wayne suffers drives his obsession to fight fear and injustice. The film begins with Bruce Wayne (played by Christian Bale) locked away in a prison in South Asia. Through flashbacks we see the death of Wayne's parents and his resulting desire to learn about the criminal underworld so that he may learn to fight it. Lost on his quest, Wayne is recruited by Henri Ducard (played by Liam Neeson), a member of the League of Shadows - an organization who seeks to fight injustice. Ducard becomes a mentor to Wayne and provides the inspiration for Wayne to return to his home town of Gotham City (a fictional protrayal of New York) and become the Batman.Wayne uses the resources of his family company, Wayne Enterprises, to secure his suit, gadgets, and Batmobile that he is known for. The film strives to be as realistic as possible with the development of the Batman's tools. It's nearly an hour into the film before we even get to see Wayne as Batman, but the journey to that point is so interesting that it feels extremely rewarding when we get to it. There is a slew of characters, all protrayed excellently by a great cast. Other than Bale and Neeson, Wayne's Butler and childhood guardian Alfred is played perfectly by Michael Caine. Morgan Freeman plays Lucius Fox - an executive at Wayne Enterprises that assists Wayne with his gadgets. Gary Oldman is superb as Sgt. James Gordon, seemingly the only honest cop in a truely corrupt city. Cillian Murphy is Jonathan Crane, the Scarcrow, a psychopharmacologist who works at Arkham Asylum and is working with Crime Boss Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson) to bring fear-inducing toxins into Gotham. Actress Katie Holmes is Wayne's childhood friend/love interest and Gotham City assistant district attorney.The sound and video presentation on this Blu-Ray are excellent given that this release is several years old now. The menus look outdated, but there is a good quantity of special features on this disc. In addition to a picture in picture commentary track, there are several short featurettes ranging from 10 to 15 mins showing the various elements of the making of the film. Also, there is a short preview for the film's sequel, The Dark Knight.Overall, Batman Begins is a insightful look at the motivations of one of comic book's most interesting characters. At the time of the release of this film, I felt it was the best movie based on a comic book that I had seen. So far I believe only it's sequel, The Dark Knight, has surpassed it in terms of quality. It's relatively easy to find it for less than $10, so I recommend a buy price at $10 or less. At the time of the writing of this review the film is also available on Amazon Video on Demand for $4.99.