Product: Batman Begins (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (2005)
Rating: 5.0
Probably the best Batman since Burton's, arguably better too
One thing that's quite interesting when it comes down to the comic book heroes of old are that regardless of what's in the comic which should be the final be-all end-all of the events surrounding the characters, filmmakers and TV show creators will come in and completely add new twists or reinvent the character. Before we had 4 Batman films, 2 of which from Tim Burton, big on atmosphere and tone but not masterpieces by any means, just really well done Batman films. Then we got the Schumacher ones, with Forever being an interesting mess and Batman and Robin being film school for how NOT to do a movie, let alone a Batman one. So we have a re-imagining by Christopher Nolan, director of Memento and we're better for it.Previous films already established Bruce Wayne already being Batman with slight reasons why he became Batman, like in the Schumacher ones. Here, Bruce Wayne is a lost soul who's in a asian prison who's freed by a man named Ducard, who offers a path and help. Bruce begins his training to be a fighter for the innocent until the group he's training with are actually wanting to destroy civilization so Bruce takes off to Gotham to clean it up.And Gotham really needs to get cleaned up. Many of city officials are under the influence of mob boss Falcone, so Bruce has a lot to deal with. This includes a man who's taken over his parent's company; Dr Crane, a psychologist who induces a fear toxin into patients to make them nuts and corruption. So Bruce adopts his famous alter-ego, Batman, and together with a Q-like Wayne Enterprises employee and butler Alfred, Bruce is ready to fight for Gotham.Since it is a re-imagining, a lot of things are different. First, I don't recall Wayne Manor ever...um, well it's a spoiler but it's bad. Second, Bruce always built his Batman stuff rather than the Q-like Lucius Fox. And of course we have the re-designed Batmobile. Instead of being like a slick lambourghini, this Batmobile actually looks like a superhero's beastly car. Named the Tumbler, it looks like a cross between a lambourghini, a ferrari and a hummer; fast but still very strong looking. And of course the featurette on it on Disc 2 is really awesome.Of the previous Batman's, Christian Bale is probably the only one that actually nails both halves of the character, maybe less so on one. To me, Michael Keaton had the Batman part down, only not the Bruce Wayne part while both Val Kilmer and George Clooney had the opposite. Christian Bale does have that millionaire-playboy-but-tortured aspect but maybe not his loneliness. His "Batman" voice is ok but one scene where he questions a police officer seems really forced. As for the rest of the cast there's one weak link: the other half of TomKat, Katie Holmes. First, her character is a bit useless, existing only for a love interest figure. Second, not exactly the greatest range and she's got buggy eyes and that crooked smile thing bugs me.Only Superman, the first 2 Batman's and the Spiderman films, this one's probably one of the better comic book adaptations. Here's hoping it's inevitable sequels are just as good. BTW, if you're only into the film there's a movie only version out(there's a theatrical trailer, big whoop), then there's the Deluxe Edition featuring all the goodies. Here's hoping they don't double dip this. But for now, get the Deluxe one.