Product Description
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Batman Begins explores the origins of the Batman legend and the
Dark Knight's emergence as a force for good in Gotham. In the
wake of his parents' murder, disillusioned industrial heir Bruce
Wayne (Christian Bale) travels the world seeking the means to
fight injustice and turn fear against those who prey on the
fearful. He returns to Gotham and unveils his alter-ego: Batman,
a ed crusader who uses his strength, intellect and an array
of high tech deceptions to fight the sinister forces that
threaten the city. Director Christopher Nolan (Memento) helms
this prequel to the Batman films based on the DC Comics series,
explaining how Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale, American Psycho) 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 mar! tial arts group in the ains 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, Dawson's Creek) 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,
Sunshine)taints the water system with a hallucinatory substance,
Batman realises he has met his first true nent.
Special Features
Tankman Begins (MTV spoof)
Theatrical Trailer
Batman The Journey Begins
Shaping Mind and Body
Gotham City Rises
Cape and Cowl
Batman The Tumbler
Path to Discovery
Saving Gotham City
Genesis of the Bat
Still Gallery
The Dark Knight IMAX prologue
Reflections on writing Batman Begins with David S. Goyer
Digital Batman: the effects you may have missed
Batman Begins Stunts- confidential files: Discover facts and
story points not in the film
From .co.uk
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In retrospect, Batman Begins is perhaps even more of a towering
achievement than we first realised. Arriving eight years after
the franchise-killing Batman & Robin, it managed to not only
shine fresh light on the Batman franchise, but also emerge as a
template for what a top notch comic book movie should be.
Much of the credit, of course, should go to the pairing of
Christian Bale and director Christopher Nolan. Bale steps where
the likes of Michael Keaton, Adam West and George Clooney have
stepped before, and yet his Batman is darker and more complex
than any of them.
Behind the camera is perhaps Batman Begins secret weapon, as
Nolan--previously responsible for Memento among others--rewards
the gamble to give him the job in the first place. His film is
packed full of memorable characters, and he draws together a
staggering cast, yet none of them are shortchanged. From Rutger
Hauers brief cameo as head of Wayne Enterprises through to
Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson and
Liam Neeson, its the finest cast in a film of this ilk since the
first Superman.
The films belated Blu-ray debut has, fortunately, been worth
the wait, with the reference-quality 1080p image simply sparkling
on any screen that can handle the resolution. Backed up with a
thumping surround sound mix, this is superb work, and its
fitting that it should be used on a film of this quality. Now? We
just need The Dark Knight to join it in high definition. Thats
what youd call a double bill...-Jon Foster