DVD Review: Batman Begins
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::Movie review
The trouble with Batman, I think, is the contradiction created by his ridiculousness. All superheroes have an element of the absurd. Take Superman, for instance: here is a character wearing blue tights, red underwear and a cape. It doesn't get much more outrageous than that. But on the other hand, he flies, is nearly impervious and comes from a different planet. Nothing about him makes sense, and so in a way, it all makes sense.
Batman is different. This is an ordinary guy who is out to deliver vengeance on those who killed his parents. In the meantime, he dresses up as a bat. As an audience, we're right there with him. Bruce Wayne may be rich beyond our wildest imaginations, but a bullet will kill him just the same as it would us. He bruises, he breaks and he doesn't have all of the answers.
But then there's that bat thing.
So the trick is to tread carefully. It would be very easy to degenerate into the absurdity of a man in a bat costume -- as evidenced by two very awful Batman films (Batman Forever and Batman and Robin) and one mildly bad film (Batman Returns). It seemed for awhile that the only filmed version to come close to getting it right was Tim Burton's Batman. That film subtly poked fun at the ridiculousness of the bat costume, but at the same time took the material relatively seriously. Even so, that treatment still didn't adequately deal with the reason why a man might feel the need to dress up in such an outlandish costume, and so there was a level of disconnect between the real emotion of a traumatized man seeking vengeance, and the notion of a costumed superhero.
Batman Begins attempts to bridge the gap between the realistic and the fantastic.
Christopher Nolan signed on to helm this new caped crusader film. Nolan is probably most widely known for Memento, which was a film about a man who had lost the ability to remember anything and was forced to tattoo important information all over his body. The story had the main character searching for the man who killed his wife and it was told with a distorted perspective of time that at first seems crazy, but begins to make a strange sort of sense as the film progresses. He followed this up with Insomnia, a piece about detectives on the search for a serial killer.
This may not seem like the proper resume for directing a movie about one of the most famous comic book heroes in history, but I think that Nolan turns out to be the best choice yet for Batman. His experience is with tortured characters who are forced into extremes. One character may put on a cowl and cape, while another tattoos his entire body. Both examples are ridiculous, but under Nolan's sure direction, they become believable manifestations of these damaged psyches.
Batman Begins tells the story of Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) before the Batsuit. Following the murder of his parents, Wayne is unable to cope with the trauma. Eventually, he flees his life and seeks answers around the globe, particularly within the walls of third-world prisons. It would seem that what he is really looking for is death, but he's unable to find it.
While in prison, Wayne is visited by Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson), who tells him that he may just have the answers he seeks, but that the journey will be difficult. Wayne successfully travels to a remote mountaintop, where he begins training in the ways of the ninja. The ninja, he is told, were able to overcome more powerful and more numerous foes by using the shadows as a weapon. Wayne is also taught to rely on theatrics to confuse and scare the enemy, which provides a logical basis for his eventual choice in costume.
Wayne discovers that Ducard, and his boss, Ra's Al Ghul (Ken Watanabe) plan to use the army of ninja warriors for evil and he refuses to join them. He flees the mountain compound and finally returns to his home in Gotham City . Wayne finds that while he was away, Gotham has degenerated into a city of crime and corruption, defying the work his deceased father did to elevate the city to greatness. Wayne decides that he must clean the street of Gotham , but he can't do that as a man. He must become a symbol in front of which criminals will cower, and behind which the good can rally. He must become Batman.
This version of Batman differs from others in that it does a much better job of portraying Bruce Wayne's damaged psyche. Putting on a bat costume and going out to fight crime might not make sense in a logical world, but that's exactly the point. Wayne isn't operating entirely on logic here. Yes, he's an amazingly intelligent man, but his actions are guided by his emotions. Becoming Batman makes sense to him, because it is an extension of his trauma.
The story also does a credible job of laying the foundation for the strange company of villains that exist within Batman's world. Soon-to-be police commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) wisely points out to Batman that the criminals always adapt. If the cops have guns, then the bad guys will get guns. Well, now there's Batman, in full costumed splendor and it will only be a matter of time before the criminals adopt theatrics, too.
Batman Begins works on nearly all levels. The only place it obviously falters is where every Batman story seems to collapse -- and that's with the love interest. In this case we get Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes), a childhood friend of Wayne 's. The problem with the love interest approach is that Bruce Wayne is obviously self-centered. Here is a man who has been driven to believe that he can single-handedly wipe out crime in Gotham City . This isn't the sort of guy who is going to have the emotional stability or maturity to deal with a committed relationship with another human being. He can barely reconcile his double life as Bruce Wayne and Batman. Thankfully, this film doesn't try to push too hard with the relationship, but even so, the chemistry doesn't quite work and is out of place.
Despite this flaw, Batman Begins mostly works and is a far better film representation of the character than anything we have seen before. Its critical acclaim and success virtually guarantee a sequel, so the only nagging question is whether or not the momentum can be sustained. .
::Video
Warner Bros. made the wise choice to separate this special edition into two discs. Furthermore, they put almost nothing extra on the first disc, sparing the maximum amount of room for the picture and audio. The result is a nearly flawless video presentation. Much of the film takes place at night, or in darkness, and the climax is filled with steam, leaving a lot of potential for artifacts and other compression problems, but you'll see none of that here.
The colors are sharp and accurate. contrasts are excellent and all of those dark scenes retain excellent shadow details. I noticed virtually nothing in the way of digital artifacting and very, very minimal edge halos.
::Audio
A nearly flawless video presentation only deserves nearly flawless audio, and Batman Begins delivers again. The 5.1 Dolby Digital mix is thunderous during the many action scenes, yet suitably subtle during the quieter moments. The sound field is immersive and puts all of the speakers to good use. Audiophiles may be disappointed in the lack of a DTS track, which may admittedly have provided a bit more fidelity and punch, but most won't notice the difference. This is a superb track.
::Special Features
This special edition is split into two discs. Disc one contains very little -- only a couple of trailers and the Batman spoof Tankman Begins, which was the intro to the MTV Movie Awards.
Moving on to disc two, well, all I can say is that sometimes things just look better on paper. The reality, on the other hand, just doesn't work at all. Such is the case with the special features for Batman Begins.
I'm sure that the idea of making all of the special content presented in the form of an interactive comic book just sounded really cool. I don't know, maybe it could have been really cool. That's not the case here, however, and what we get is a really difficult and tedious presentation that is just too clever for its own good. The primary flaw with this presentation is that you are forced to navigate through this comic. Links to special features are "hidden" within the comic frames. Once you get to the end of this comic, there is a link to menu of all of the special features, however, from what I can tell, there's no way to directly access this menu without first having to go through the entire comic.
The bulk of the content is in the form of a series of 8 featurettes that range in length from about 8 minutes up to around 15 minutes. In order, they are: Batman - The Journey Begins, Shaping Mind and Body, Gotham City Rises, Cape and Cowl, Batman - the Tumbler, Path to Discovery, Saving Gotham City, and Genesis of the Bat.
Thankfully, it appears that all of this materials was created with a DVD presentation in mind. There isn't a "promotional" feel about it and every featurette contains a wealth of interesting material about the making of the film. There are some particularly interesting bits, such as how Christian Bale nearly blew his chance at becoming Batman by bulking up too much, or how Nolan and the rest of the crew really strove to rely as much as possible on real special effects, rather than digital. And, of course, the featurette about the Tumbler is almost worth the price of admission all by itself.
Next up is the Confidential Files, which is a series of text-based dossiers about Batman's gadgets, his enemies and his allies. And finally is an Art Gallery, filled with domestic and international posters, as well as poster concepts.
There is also a non-DVD related bonus included with this set, and that is a comic book that features three Batman stories, including the original Bob Kane comic that started it all.
Overall, the content in this set is really good. It's just marred by poor presentation.
::Bottom Line
The Batman film franchise had taken a serious downward turn, having degenerated into the campiness that nearly rivaled the awful 60's television series. So it was refreshing to see the character reigned back in to his darker roots and handled with more respect. Batman Begins isn't a perfect film, but it is perhaps the best Batman film yet (maybe nearly tied with the 1989 Batman), and hopefully just the first in a series.
Warner has elected to release Batman Begins in two versions: a movie only, and this special edition. Aside from the clunky navigation, I recommend going with the two disc set. Unlike a lot of special edition DVD's, the extra content here is really worth it.
Buy Batman Begins at DVDEmpire.com
| Movie |  |
4 / 5 |
| Video | |
4.5 / 5 |
| Audio | |
4.5 / 5 |
| Extras | |
4 / 5 |
| Family Friendly | |
2 / 5 |
| For the most part, Batman Begins is fairly tame. However, there are some elements, particularly those featuring the character the Scarecrow, that will be outright terrifying to younger viewers. | ||
| Overall | |
4.5 / 5 |
- Robert Wurth, ©2005
::Technical Specs
Studio:
Warner Brothers Home Entertainment
Year of Theatrical Release:
2005
Disc Format:
2 single-sided, Dual Layer
Image Format:
Anamorphic Widescreen
Aspect Ratio:
2.35:1
Region Encoding:
1 (North America)
Sound Format:
Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0 (pro logic)
Running Time:
141 minutes
Director:
Christopher Nolan
Stars:
Christian Bale, Michael Cane, Morgan Freeman, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy
MPAA Rating:
PG-13
Disc Supplements:
- Tankman Begins parody
- Batman: The Journey Begins featurette
- Shaping Mind and Body featurette
- Gotham City Rises featurette
- Cape and Cowl featurette
- Batman: The Tumbler featurette
- Path to Discovery featurette
- Saving Gotham City featurette
- Genesis of the Bat featurette
- Confidential Files
- Art Gallery
