Product: Batman Begins (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (2005)
Rating: 4.0
What's with all the idiots slagging any review that doesn't worship this movie?
I've submitted this review twice - I deleted the first one - and each time, within hours, it gets a slew of "not helpful" votes. Why? I gave it 4 stars fer Pete's sake! And I pointed out a genuine problem with the formatting that I think might be of value to potential buyers. But NOOOO ... any review that doesn't say "Oooh, what a great movie!" gets voted "not helpful" by its fans. This certainly undermines my faith in Amazon's ratings, as apparently only THE MOST FAVORABLE reviews get high marks. Readers beware!Anyhow, "Batman Begins" certainly contains some spectacular moments (e.g. the "Tibet" sequence, actually filmed in Iceland) and the plot contains enough twists to keep you guessing -- but Christian Bale never really brings The Batman to life, and the Grand Finale is all too predictable. Except for the surprise identity of the Evil Mastermind, there's little to distinguish the last half-hour of the movie; it's the same old chase/fight mix we've come to expect in movies of this genre.Also, although the DVD I rented is described as "Widescreen," on my wide-aspect TV the image shows up with bars on the top and bottom, as well as on both sides. Instead of filling the whole screen, it floats in the center, a shrunken version of what it should be. I was able to enlarge it by going to "panorama" mode, but this creates distortion at the edges.So, overall, 4 stars -- above average, but hardly the masterpiece some have proclaimed it to be.