4/4  Batman Begins...the right way
The best superhero movie not named The Dark Knight. This is Batman done the right way, not the campy crap that was Batman and Robin. Christian Bale gives the best performance as Batman out of anyone else that has ever played the character.... (read full)

3.5/4  Fear Is Your Ally
"Batman Begins" was honorable to the story of Batman, as well as offering a fresh new look to it. Much better than that Joel Schumacher crap that was churned out after Tim Burton's glorious portrayal. However, Christopher Nolan has truly... (read full)

3.5/4  Very captivating
I was never really in to the batman movies, i liked the comics when i was little, but the prior films were a little cheesy and lacked strong plot themes. After watching this installment a was an instant fan. I liked The Dark Knight very mu... (read full)

3.5/4  Very captivating
I was never really in to the batman movies, i liked the comics when i was little, but the prior films were a little cheesy and lacked strong plot themes. After watching this installment a was an instant fan. I liked The Dark Knight very mu... (read full)

3.5/4  Nolan's direction is superb @ #58.
Batman Begins" joins the Superman films of the 1980s and both Spiderman movies as an example of a movie comic book adaptation at its best. This is no surprise with Chrisopher Nolan at the helm, the man who brought us "Memento." True to the... (read full)

3.5/4  So Cool
Gets off to a very slow start but gives the origin story a revamp and makes it a little more accessible. I really loved the score of this film and the epic feel that it had once the suit was donned I also thought that Christian Bale made a... (read full)

3.5/4  Batman Begins Quick Review
I had my reservations about this movie because I didn't particularly like the Batman movies just prior to this one. But, this is a great movie.

4/4  Batman Begins Quick Review
the best batman movie ever made...along with that it's a movie which hollywood can be proud of...excellent direction and action sequences combined with stellar performances and gadgetry makes this one a real treat to watch...

2.5/4  Batman Begins Quick Review
Better than all of the 90s batman movies combined although this new dark spin off doesn't offer anything special, just some light entertainment.

3/4  Batman Begins Quick Review
Aside from Katie Holmes' bringing her Dawson's Creek character to Gotham City, I liked this one enough.

0.5/4  Batman Begins Quick Review
Unfortunately, this was one of the biggest disappointments of all time. Even though I don't like Christian Bale, Christopher Nolan never had a bad movie in my book. Until this one. And I like Batman!! What went wrong??

3.5/4  Batman Begins Quick Review
Restoring the integrity of the Dark Knight. Bale is awesome, it take BOTH Morgan Freeman AND Michael Caine to overcome a pathetic Ms. Cruise.

5/5 A superb entry to the superhero genre and re-generation of the Batman franchise
  by BackToGood (PA)
Tim Burton fostered in a new era of superhero films with his impressively dark, original Batman films BATMAN and BATMAN RETURNS. Then Joel Schumacher trashed all that with his horrific, comical and empty flicks BATMAN FOREVER and BATMAN AND ROBIN.

Thankfully (and there's an hitch!), Christopher Nolan's 2005 rendering BATMAN BEGINS is a fine return to form for the popular dark superhero. Nolan based BB in "reality" and focuses on young Bruce Wayne (excellent work by Christian Bale), who witnessed the murder of his parents as a child, who travels the world trying to understand the criminal mind and ends up undertaking ninja training in the Far East under the tutelage of Henri Ducard (a slyly malevolent Liam Neeson) and Ras Al Ghul.

Upon his return to Gotham after years of exile, Wayne resumes his place as the head of Wayne Manor, which was taken care of in his absence by family major domo Alfred (fine performance by the esteemed Michael Caine) and Wayne Industries, run by Mr. Earle (wonderfully played by veteran screen bad guy Rutger Hauer). Wayne also meets Lucius Fox (reliably played by the great Morgan Freeman), the head of the Development section of Wayne Industries, and enlists his help in obtaining high-tech equipment so that he can begin leading his double life as both Wayne and Batman. Last, but not least, Bruce re-acquaints himself with his childhood friend and now assistant DA Rachel Dawes (played surprisingly well by Katie Holmes).

So the adventure begins! Batman prowls the streets of Gotham at night taking out scuzzy lowlifes at first (he saves Rachel from some goons on the subway) and making his initial mark. He also thwarts the city's top criminal Carmine Falcone (solidly played by Tom Wilkinson), who ironically is the man who ordered the kill of the man who killed Bruce's parents. Batman also meets Police Sgt. Jim Gordon (superb work by Gary Oldman), who initially skeptical, ends up being the conduit between Batman and the police force. Batman runs into a higher class of criminal in Dr. Crane/Scarecrow (creepily played by Cillian Murphy), who shoots a toxic concoction from his mask to literally psych out his victims. At the climax, Batman must save Gotham from his former mentor Ducard, who it turns out was the head ninja Al Ghul all along!

BATMAN BEGINS is perhaps the first Batman film to focus primarily on the hero himself and not the villains. A highly involving character study of one man's despair, disillusionment, acceptance, strength, and resolve, Nolan manages to elevate BB above the genre. I've not seen all his work, but I've got to believe this is perhaps one of the best (if not the best!) performance of Christian Bale's career. Additionally, Nolan does a good job of CGI-ing effects to make a real city an authentic stand-in for Gotham (unlike an umentioned sequel that didn't even try! Told you there was a hitch!). A superhero film where the protagonist is the star? Novel idea!

5/5 The Dark, Grim Batman Has Returned
  by D. Reed (Elkton, MD USA)
Live-action wise (the animated films having always retained a mature nature since 1992), this is the best take on Batman since Burton's two. Batman's origin's are explored and some of his training is delved into. Christian Bale makes for a good Batman, the voice that he uses for the character doesn't get on my nerves as most people would think but my main complaint are, like others, is the action sequences. There are too many fast cuts and the action is just barely indistinguishable. Michael Caine is the best Alfred, Michael Gough from the previous four hardly being in them until Batman & Robin, and that was only because he was dying. Caine's version is much more involved with Bruce and cares about him, a noted scene being when he's driving a poisoned Batman home. You can tell that he's deeply worried about him. Katie Holmes. How to describe her. Well she's more believable as a DA than Denise Richards was a physicist but she doesn't really convey any emotions (much like Lois Chiles and Barbara Bach from the Bond films). And her inexplicable interest in wanting to know Batman's name seems almost forced in my opinion. I know he saved her life, twice, but she's never really given any inclanation to really find out who he is. Liam Neeson and Cillian Murphy are perfect as Ra's al Ghul (Ra'Z al Ghul is not his name) and the Scarecrow respectively. My main problem with the villains, Scarecrow imparticular, is that they look nothing like their comic book counterparts. I know Nolan wants to keep a "realistic" look to the films but I wish he were a little more faithful to how they looked in the comics. The plot is very good, with plenty of twists and turns to keep a new viewer on their toes. Lastly, James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer's score is quite good but their heroic theme is quite forgettable when compared to Danny Elfman's, but definitely a step up from that atrocious Elliot Goldenthal.

3/5 Erroneous Amazon Info, Won't Play on Some SONY BD Players
  by Frank Sellers (Philadelphia, PA USA)
First, there is no Japanese language track and only Japanese or Chinese subtitles, not both. (I'm not sure which subtitled language is listed because I don't read either language, but I suspect it's Chinese because some of the characters are much more complex than most Japanese characters.)

Also, IF YOU OWN A SONY BLU-RAY PLAYER THIS DISC MAY NOT PLAY! I sold a perfectly fine Batman Begins BD to a guy with a Sony player who fantasized that the disc was filthy or heat damaged, neither of which were true. Only after he bought a 2nd BB BD and discovered that it, too, would not play in his Sony BD player did he realize the problem was his player, not because I was some sort of scheister, which I'm not.

[...]

After the guy returned the disc to me it played (and is playing now) perfectly fine in my PS3.

5/5 Batman begins blue Ray
  by Nicholas J. Colvard
The movie worked without flaw and looked great on my tv, no problems playing it. Thanks for the DVD.

5/5 Excellent Movie
  by R. Randle
This movie renewed my interest in Batman. Christian Bale is probably the best batman yet. I highly this movie.