A Few Words About A few words about... Batman Begins (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

My son saw this film before I did. And if I recall his comments, he perceivd it to be a "masterpiece" of modern filmmaking, and the finest comic book based film ever made.

I agree.

The DVD is also wonderfully transferred with superb image and audio.

I must remind readers that we are discussing the equivalent of a paperback book, when we're talking DVDs. I'm aware of no home audio system with the necessary power to drive the audio of this film to theatrical standards.

I was able to screen Batman Begins at the Academy in LA, and beyond being beautifully produced, it was, without a doubt, the loudest theatrical experience that I've ever encountered -- in a positive way.

Batman Begins is one of the finest films of 2005, released herein for home viewing in as perfect a vessel as possible. I can't wait for this one to arrive in high definition, but in the meantime, I may have to revamp my audio system.

Concurrent with its release, are new versions of the other four films in the series, now in two disc sets, also available in the Batman Anthology for a street price of around $55. The previous films were fun.

Batman Begins falls into a totally different category, relating more to the true art of filmmaking.

I cannot recommend a film of this type any higher.

RAH

 

[Kevin M]

You know, when this was released into theaters I wasn't really interested in it, it didn't ring any bells for me for some reason...however with all of the praise I have been reading about it and now even RAH says it was one of the finest films of 2005? Heck that and the fact that I wasn't even aware that it was directed by Christopher Nolan! Well I gotta give this a look.

 

[Mark Lucas]

Well, yeah. The movie should've been named Bruce Wayne though because it's the early scenes which really work emotionally. So much in fact that when the Batman enters the story it's kind of disappointing.

 

[DustinPizarro]

As a big Marvel fan, I'm a bit jealous on the great production the Warner/DC filmmakers did for Batman. DC sure hit a home run with this one and I can't wait for the sequels.

 

[Jonny_L]

I couldn't agree more.

I was expecting a good movie. I was blown away by a great film. My review here!

 

[Dharmesh C]

An interesting cognation: British studios and superhero films.

 

[Peter Raber]

October 18th can't come fast enough for me. My only complaint is that there is no commentary track for this release.

 

[Robert Harris]

There is a great deal of documentary material on disc two, which in many cases would have been redundant to a commentary.

There are also enough tracks on disc one, that additional might have cut into quality.

This is always a balancing act.

Batman Begins has plenty of extras.

RAH

 

[ZacharyTait]

As if I needed an affirmation that I need to pick this up!

Batman Begins is the only comic book movie I can call a masterpiece. Halfway through October, it is still the best film of the year.

I can't wait till Tuesday to watch this thanks to my roomate who works at Blockbuster.

 

[DanR]

I'm curious as to why you would think this to be the case? Take, for example, WideScreen Review's Reference System put together by Gary Reber. I would actually think the audio in that room would be significantly better than a theater.

In addition, there are other people running multi-thousand dollar home theaters with high-end processors from Theta, Meridian, etc feeding immensely powerful amps driving world class speakers from companies like Revel, Wilson, JM Lab, etc.

Regards,
Dan

 

[Kevin M]

Yes but not many folks...hell, NO folks have seven+ foot horns and subs at home that a good theater has behind it's screen.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I was blown away by Batman Begins as well.

It puts every single Batman film before it
to shame.

Funny as it may seem, this was one of the best
films of 2005.

 

[Sean Laughter]

I agree the number of people that have the equipment to completely recreate the movie soundtrack is probably very low, if any, but I'm somewhat of the opinion that the theatrical mix was somewhat over the top - I mean, it was literally so loud that I was in pain a few times.

 

[Bradley-E]

I very rarely see a movie twice in the theatres, but I did for this film. The DVD release could not come fast enough. One of the years best films.

 

[Robert Harris]

Home Theater Audio Pipsqueaks...

They lack the sheer volume of air necessary to reproduce these tracks.

RAH

 

[Douglas Bailey]

I'm with you. Maybe it was just a mistake on the part of the underpaid, untrained non-union projectionist who no doubt set up the film at my local multiplex, but I found the soundtrack painfully loud. It's not a good sign when I have to sit through the fight scenes with my fingers in my ears...

 

[Robert Harris]

AFAIK, that was the design of the mix.

 

[Michael Osadciw]

Lets pray that it never comes to that...

Mike

 

[Kevin M]

I love it when I hear people say that home audio can be just as powerful as a theater set-up.....so they are comparing a, let's say, 10 inch woofer to a 5 FOOT array woofer (and that's very conservative)...riiiight.





But hey, if you have the space to move the air & safely distance yourself from these ear damaging monsters...go for it!

Now having said that I do think that Home speakers can attain a level of subtilty & detail that might be lost in a large area...but not the shear power.

 

[DanR]

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. Many home theaters can reach movie theater SPLs while maintaining itelligibility and 15-20khz frequency reponse which you can feel and hear. And I'm not just talking about multi-thousand dollar home installations (but I ain't talking about your "Best Buy" specials either).

Either that, or the theaters by me just plain stink. My experience is that I have trouble understanding dialogue in movie theaters. Sometimes the soundtrack seems overblown and drowns out sound effects and dialogue. At home, I get perfect dialogue, extended frequency reponse, tight bass, musicality to the score...all at a "reference level SPL" if need be.

Regards,
Dan