HTF REVIEW: Batman Begins - Two Disc Deluxe Edition (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED). - Page 5

The doc on the evolution of Batman through the ages was good but they went on so much about Frank Miller and yet they didn't get him. Heck M. Night Shyamalan got him for the second disc "History of Comic Books" for the Unbreakable dvd. (which was a killer documentary if you haven't seen it, the early Vista Series dvd's had some great special features.)

I haven't had a chance to watch the DVD yet, but I saw the film twice in the theaters, the only other film I saw more than that in the last 5 years was National Treasure (which I loved) I'm still a little bummed about the lack of commentary, I would've loved to get Chris Nolan's comments during the film maybe with David Goyer and Christian Bale giving input too. Oh well maybe there'll be another release down the road (Blu-Ray or HD-DVD may have this stuff on it I guess)

I did get a chance to see the Warner Bros. Logo before I decided it was a little too late to watch the movie and it looked nice on my Powerbook.

IMHO this is the best comic book movie ever! This is coming from a person who loved the Spiderman movies. I just think the level of realism and drama blows everything else out of the water.

On the technical side the video was great and the soundtrack was awesome. Good use of the surrounds throughout and the music was perfection. Thank God they didn't use any contemporary songs. It makes it so much more of a classic.

I'm warming to this opinion. I definitely like it better than both Spidermans. Superman will be a tougher nut to crack for me, but it's possible.

I'm betting that, origin out of the way, Batman Begins 2 could in fact be the undisputably best comic book movie of all time.

The reviewer was Schumacher....He is embaressed about how bad his Bat films are. So he is trying anyway to discredit the new film.

I'll be spinning the disc tonight. Looking forward to it Best comic book movie ever? Tough one. Right now I still say Superman and SpiderMan 2 but that could change.

As Chris said back in the Movies section in the summer, the Batman movies have been set up better now than what was done for Xmen and Spidey. Alot of pressure on the filmmakers to equal this great film but I'm sure they'll pull it off.

It is a great one and one of the best of 2005. Glad to know the dvd is stellar too.

I've had Begins for over a week now and I've pretty much watched it everyday since then. Greatest comic book film ever made?

As much as I want to say it, I think, for me, it ties with Superman The Movie. Both films just do such a damn fine job of concentrating on the central character while creating the world and characters around the character. I may lean towards Batman simply because I was never truly a Superman fan as much as I am a serious Batman fan. But, you can't deny even now the greatness of Superman The Movie.

As it stands for me right now, it goes something like this:

Superman The Movie
Batman Begins
The Incredibles
Hulk
X2

Concerning the DVD, I don't have a sound system so I want some feedback on how great the Tumbler sequence sounds on a home theater system.

One of these days, I'll upgrade.

Cory S.:

If you'll pardon the expression, it sounds f**king great.

The roar of the engine, the high-speed "thrrrrrap" of the big knobbly tires, the whine of the jet turbine, the bass rumble as it charges forward.....mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. I was drooling and going "I want one! I want one!"

cheers,
Phil

Thanks, Phil.

I so need to upgrade in a hurry. I have terribly mistreated my Star Wars DVDs, Lord of the Rings Trilogy EE, Ultimate Matrix Collection, Indiana Jones, and now Begins by not having the proper sound system. Crime, I tell you.

Speaking of that damn car, had a chance to see it up close on release day at Grauman's Chinese. Stunning in every way. I hope they don't change a thing to the car for the sequel.

Off with his head.

Great review Herb. Second best film of the year for me too! The first being Serenity!

Started watching this with my wife last night. We saw it once in the theater so she watched the first half with me then crashed on the couch.

I was going to watch a little bit more then finish the second half tonight or tomorrow but at no point could I pick up the remote and turn it off.

Its fantastic in every way. The Iceland scenes are some of the most beautifully shot scenes I've seen on film in years.

Its hard to imagine any element of the story being improved upon in a sequel. I suppose a better written/cast love interest but that isn't incredibly important to a Batman story anyway.

I really think Batman Begins is to superheroes what Star Wars was to space opera and LOTR to fantasy. Its a whole new paradigm for what these movies can achieve.

I honestly think it should be considered for a Best Picture nomination.

Cory, I agree completely. The Tumbler was very cool in person. I was fortunate enough to get the first public look at the tumbler in June of 2004. I was at the Licensing Show in NYC. They had it displayed a full year before the release date.

It's a glorious car, Todd. We can all dream of driving it...but only the stuntman has had the pleasure of driving that beast. Lucky bastard!

Good Lord thats one hell of a transfer. Video is absolutely breathtaking and the sub was put through quite a workout last night.


Am I missing something, isn't this film in 2.35:1? It looked fine on my 62" DLP last night.


The best testament to this film are the following points:

• How ridiculous the other Batman films look in comparison to this one. I watched Batman Returns directly before watching this since I hadn't seen it in quite a while and consider Batman and Returns to be decent to good. But this film just makes them look ridiculously bad and hokey.
• The first 20 minutes of the film summarize it up beautifully. When you're sitting there adamantly thinking, "God damn these are some great performances", its a winner.
• Lastly, my girlfriend, who has absolutely no love for comic books and superheroes, says she can watch this movie over and over and not tire of it.

These days it seems like comic adaptations are a dime a dozen. The majority of them suck, for lack of a better word. It's nice to see one finally done right. I'm crossing my fingers that Nolan makes at least a trilogy out of this new Gotham he's created.

Taking nothing away from one my all time favorites "Superman", Batman Begins was just spectacular in every way. I guess when I was a kid Superman was a comic book fan's dream. It is a classic of my generation. Now this generation, with Batman Begins, has their own classic to look back on.

"The doc on the evolution of Batman through the ages was good but they went on so much about Frank Miller and yet they didn't get him."

That's doubly weird since he's on the doc on the 1989 special edition.

And I understand no commentary but no DTS? There's room for it and it's on each of the other four films.

I guess that's why I assume we may get another release of it sometime within a year, or maybe they're waiting for the high def dvd's or something.

Releasing the movie with the comics is a great idea, it wasn't executed as well as I would've thought (imho). The comic is small and yet a little thick so after a couple of times of opening it it's already got some creasing. For me at least I already have the full graphic novel compiled version of "The Long Halloween" (which I highly recommend to any comic book fan that hasn't read it, Tim Sale has some great noir-ish artwork in it and Jeph Loeb is at the top of his game).

Probably the top 5 Batman series to read:
1. The Long Halloween
2. Batman: Year One
3. The Dark Knight Returns
4. Hush
5. Knightfall (the one where Bruce gets his back broken, though I haven't read it, I assume it's a great read, I read the actual novelization of it years ago)
6. The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told (added just because it should be here, some clunkers and some great stories as well)

Those 5 will give you a quick run down of everything that's going on.

I don't see how any movie based on a DC comic can top a Marvel one, but I guess I'll find out tonight when I watch Batman Begins!

Yes you will, Ted. Yes you will...

Probably anyone who didn't notice that the Revenge of the Sith DVD thread is already a page longer than this one two weeks prior to its release.

But BB was indeed an awesome film.

Of course, this thread didn't get so far off-topic it almost had to moved to "Movies" instead.

Exactly.

Ron:

I wouldn't go so far as to call it perfect. The film loses a bit of focus in the latter half, probably because Nolan isn't as comfortable with the action scenes. And Katie Holmes was a bit miscast, I think.

But those are nits, though they do hold me back from calling it perfect.

On a completly different note. The one thing that makes Batman '89 harder to enjoy now since seeing Batman Begins is the scenery. In the '89 Batman they seem to use the same 3 street sets for the entire city of Gotham. Whereas in BB they used the real streets of Chicago. Thus making it seem more real to me. And with the exception of the monorail and the Wayne Building. It looked like a real city. Batman and the 3 sequels made Gotham look fake by all the bizarre buildings and multi level streets. And that is not just a knock on Burton, but Schumaker also.

And the biggest thing that drove me nuts.....Way to much Neon in the later films.

Herb Kane wrote:

Herb, can we please have a clarification or a correction on the movies OAR? When viewing the single disc "Batman Begins" Widescreen Edition, the movie looks like a much narrower Aspect Ratio of 2.40:1 to me (narrower than 2.35.1 Cinemascope) and when checking different sites, I found it posted as 2.40:1 at DVD Planet, DVD Empire and Deep Discount DVD.

Also, the black bars are much wider on my screen than on the images posted on the first post review.

Thanks,
Paul

I think it's pretty close to perfect. Even the action scenes are somewhat thematic (the extras explain the editing and style a bit better). It's as perfect as any summer big-budget film has any right to be, and then some

I think what Ron is pointing out is the sheer level of satisfaction BB received here. If you take a look at the HTF review page, it's as well-received as any film released in my 4 years here. Not even close. Granted, we are movie nerds, but movie nerds with taste. It's extremely loving reception is pretty telling. No thread will ever be as long as a SW thread

Take care,
Chuck

Can't wait to pick this one up this week. Sounds like a real gem of a disc.

I totally agree, Chuck.

I've had it for a week and it hasn't left my player yet and it probably won't until November 1st when Sith hits. And even then, I'll be splitting time between the two.

Put it this way: this film is so good that I can't, in good conscience, buy the special editions of the previous Batman films. It would be a great disservice to Nolan and Goyer's accomplishment.

Batman Begins is the definitive. Let the kids watch the Anthology.

With 4 exclamation points in his post...It's safe to say that Ron E. kind of liked Batman Begins. It is excellent. I had planned on spinning the dvd tonight too but really want to wait until next month until I get the new sub. Watched the extras and they are good.

I agree, thread lengths are no indicator of quality...just look at the "let's talk beer..." thread over in After Hours.