Batman Begins (Single-Disc Widescreen Edition)

To that end, Bale's portrayal of Bruce Wayne/Batman has given a wonderful performance of a man with deep psychological turmoil. As an "origin story", like it has never been told on the big screen before, much credit to the direction, production and acting is deserved. An unthinkable horror for a young boy to witness, as both parents are shot down in cold blood before his eyes. The trauma set into motion a series of events for young Bruce that would mold him into the man he became.Never truly dealing with the PTSD he lived with, he grew to hate all evil in all people and places. At times, he saw it worse than the reality of its being. This is what forced him to go into self induced exile. If only to seek more evil and justify the fight under the pretense of justice. To have us, the viewer, understand Bruce's mental and emotional break from his renown fame and status, Nolan phased the storyline quickly. Maybe too rapidly.Could a young, wealthy man just disappear for 7 years with only his trusted confidant Alfred awareness? Sure. Is it possible for a man to cross ice sheets with crevasses of 20 feet apart with NO special gear? No. Of course he was able to be imprisoned for stealing from a Wayne Enterprises product. That was the goal. But after meeting Henri Ducard, (decent performance by Liam Neeson), and suggested to turn his idea into an ideal, to then climb to the Cantonese Monastery is a bit of comic book ability. Nolan must keep the film to time and advance the storyline. I guess the presumption was folks can figure out the small missing time spots. My 12 year old son did and he has not heard the origin story.Once the Mentor/trainee brutality of artful fighting has concluded, Bruce is faced with his first moral dilemma. Does he decapitate the criminal as Ra's Al Ghul demands? If so, his initiation into "The League of Shadows" would be complete. Only to learn that Ra's has greater plans to destroy Gotham as has been done to all great civilizations before it once gluttony and sinful waste has become all encompassing. Or, choose his own path of seemingly righteous, one man against evil and corruption that has overtaken Gotham? Taking the road of saving Gotham but carrying the weight of the horrific sights viewed as a boy, Bruce negates his Mentors wicked wisdom.The same could be said for anyone who has been scarred from wounds left open and salt poured on every now and then. Bruce was a well-groomed boy. He knows wrong from right. He thinks of his city, his home, first. Destroying Ra's Al Guhl might save it and prevent cataclysmic events to other peoples in the future. Yet his single-mindedness has betrayed him. The League of Shadows is not a man or of men. It is a symbolic society that restores harmony to any unbalanced civilization, as THEY see it!Bruce returns to Gotham with a new vigor. A man on a mission. Rid the city of the evils that took his parents as it were. Seeking to be more than a vigilante, he looks within his own darkest place. His mind. The darkest fears that haunt him will be the fear he will instill in his enemies. Are they his enemies?Well, this is where all the other Batman movies pick up. The George Clooney and Michael Keaton versions sort of missed the point. Don't get me wrong. They were fun in a funny, Hollywood way. Unfortunately neither actor grasped the true Darkness of who Batman is. Batman, as told by the Frank Miller stories, is seriously dark and a tad twisted. Batman isn't a real Superhero. More likely, he's a "rebel-anti-hero." This is why I feel Bale has brought the character directly from the Miller pages to the big screen so well. He is brooding, torn, lonely and on the edge of psychosis. Purely stemming from never confronting his childhood trauma. The Cowl not only hides his face but it brings out Bruce's angst. The anger and rage that underlies his every waking moment. As Batman, the ideals he adopted can be an advantage. Even if it takes him deeper into those dark places he has feared. Perfectly spoken to Flass, Batman questions him of the whereabouts and nature of the drugs. Flass says, "I don't know, I swear to god!" Batman responds with, "Swear to me!"We see the beginnings of Batman who sometimes changes back to Bruce Wayne. All he has left is Alfred/Michael Caine. Caine has truly revamped the importance Alfred plays out in Bruce's life. He is the moral compass that grounds Bruce to the Wayne name, and still keeps Batman on his feet! Caine is incredibly versatile in every role he's done!Lucious Fox/Morgan Freeman has provided Batman every item that is synonymous to the character. Bruce has the money, Fox has the tech knowhow. The relationship between the two shows a trust and professionalism of both actors who stay true to Miller's work. Caine is so talented that he can make the third to Bale and Freeman so believable.Now that Batman is outfitted with all his toys, the Tumbler makes its way into the pinnacle of Batman's success. Realizing that Dr. Crane/Cillian Murphy, AKA The Scarecrow, is but a pawn for Batman' s ultimate showdown with the League of Shadows, he pulls out all the stops. Befriending Lt. Gordon/Gary Oldman, they both work together to stop Gotham's end.As Batman says, he doesn't have the luxury of friends. Without enlisting the beginning of a quasi friendship with Gordon, Gotham would have been ripped apart by the inhabitants gone insane from the dispersant of the drugs. Every superhero needs help. The love interest? Katie Holmes did a fine job as Rachel Dawes. Nothing spectacular, compared to the A-list'ers here, she held her own.Defeating Ducard and the Microwave Emitter, Batman sure left a heck of a lot of destruction in his wake! The flattened cop cars via the Tumbler. Crazy rooftop jumps and wasted units on those roofs. How many people might have been lost in those collapsed cop cars? The crushed concrete lane dividers, the end of that entire Monorail system and it's last few carriages...and so much more! Seems like Batman leaves more destruction behind him then the bad guys!Yet this is a blow-up, action, Superhero. A hero who lives on the edge of sanity and teeters off the other end. This is what the Frank Miller stories had depicted Batman to be, a very dark figure who must walk a very fine line. Sometimes Batman needs to step across that line to do what others can't or won't. The darkness that stews within lags from the hell he saw in youth. The unchecked crime in his city and a corrupt police force that were on the take. This is not a pretty movie. Not the Tim Burton film or the 60's Batman & Robin. No. THIS is exactly the Batman that was so beautifully drawn less than 20 years ago. A character who is suffering immensely and with all his wealth and family power, sleeps alone. Nightmares about the bats that attacked him down in the well on his family property.No superhero can save you in your worst nightmares!

I am Shere Khan.This will be my brief review for the Batman Begins blu-ray disc I purchased through Amazon. In my personal opinion, this is a movie every Batman fan has to see and own. It's spectacular on every level. Since Ben Affleck took on the role of Batman and the entire DC universe currently happening like Marvel's doing, this one stands out as a classic. There will never be another like this.Christian Bale is and always will be Batman. I don't care what anybody else says. So many people complain about his raspy voice he uses for the character, I say it's genius. It is a special and unique way of representing Batman as not an ordinary guy, but a monster of the night that criminals fear. If he doesn't change his voice, then he just looks like some man wearing a cool suit but insignificant and I think we all remember George Clooney when we think of a guy dressed in a bat suit looking insignificant. His voice sounded great in this film I think whereas in the films' two sequels, he took the voice up a notch, something noticeable but still great. As Batman he looks and sounds cool and as Bruce Wayne Bale really delivers an emotional performance where we as viewers can relate and understand what he goes through since the death of his parents that eventually leads up to the tragic millionaire becoming the caped crusader. The film did a masterful job exploring Wayne's childhood from the death of his parents to his fear of bats to him coming of age and growing up in anger to him traveling the world looking for a way to leave his old life behind and seek purpose. Bottom line, Bale's Bruce Wayne/Batman stands out as the greatest in this tigers' opinion.The other actors do splendid as well. Everyone was casted perfectly for their roles and that being said, the film contains a rare epic cast of actors many know and love. Beginning with Michael Caine who is by far the perfect Alfred. The relationship he and Christian Bale possess is the exact kind of relationship Bruce Wayne and Alfred are meant to have with one another that is more than the master/servant connection they have, Alfred being the only family Bruce really ever had vice versa him being all Alfred had for a son. Katie Holmes is beautiful and perfect for the role of Rachel Dawes, Bruces' childhood friend. She and Bale made for a great love pair that it is unfortunate she was replaced with the other actress in the second film. Liam Neeson rocks as the movies' main villain Ras al'Ghul, leader of the League of Shadows. He comes across as a wise, fatherly figure to Wayne and Neeson does it so well that when his character goes to the dark side, it is clear what a great actor he is as his character switches gears and becomes diabolical. Gary Oldman is the perfect movie Gordon I have ever seen up to date. He and Batman share that relationship of honor and respect for one another as partners in justice, very similar to how the characters do in Batman: The Animated Series. The actor who played Scarecrow in the movie is just as disturbed as his comic book counterpart is supposed to be. The special effects for him lookedcreepy and amazing. Fianlly, Morgan Freeman brings charisma and warm smiles as Lucius Fox, definitely a worthy comforting presence to have in Batman.This is the best film in Christopher Nolans' Dark Knight Trilogy followed by the third sequel The Dark Knight Rises and then the second one (which contrary to what most believe to be the greatest, I see as the weakest). But for me, it's the only one worth owning from all the Batman films. The movie looks great on blu-ray and sounds just as roaring as the Batmobile. The delivery was perfect and the discs' condition looked fresh and new. To conclude, this is if not the best, one of the best superhero movies ever made. Yes it may not be the most action packed due to the slow pace of it, with the flashbacks and everything in the first act, it's story is epic nonetheless. I like a film with a slower pace than most, with less action than most, but with an excellent story. Kind of like the original Star Wars films.I approve this message. God bless my fellow Amazon shoppers.