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Batman Begins 2-Disc Special Edition
01/02/2006 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
DVD: Warner Brothers Z1 729259. 134 minute film plus loads of extras. Price: £9.97 (UK) but shop around for the best price). stars: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman and others... Buy Batman Begins in the USA - or Buy Batman Begins in the UK  check out website: www.warnerbros.co.uk and www.batmanbegins.co.uk
'Batman Begins' is the start of Warner Brothers resurgence of their super-hero movie franchises. Hopefully, this time, the run will avoid going into parody, camp or forgetting this is supposed to be an unusual world in the first place. With the focus more on what happened to Bruce Wayne after his parents were shot dead and his emergence as the Batman than villains. The initial hour of this film is more a putting together of all the little bits that make up both his character and the tools of his trade. As the extras disc also reveals, a lot of information was digested from the comicbooks into building up this origin and using, at least to the general public, lesser known villains in the form of Ra's A-Gul and the Scarecrow. Considering that the Wayne parents' murder is now attributed to Joe Chill as opposed to the man who would be Joker, one can almost consider the previous Batman films as belonging to a parallel universe. As this is also the DC Universe where such things used to happen with regularity, this shouldn't be seen as nothing too unusual.
I felt a little odd watching this film. Part of me was watching with wondering what John and Jill Public made of it against me the comic fan who had no difficulty working anything out. In many respects, this is two films in one. We have a civilian Bruce Wayne out to make himself into the man he wanted to be but without the support of his wealth, even if its never explained how he could afford his passage to Tibet and other parts of the world. It also somewhat side-steps any laboratory and detective skills but no doubt that might come out later. We then have the super-hero side which should be familiar to all and where the action really heats up. In some respects, it's a little unfair to compare both sides but I have to say, I felt the first half tended to drag a lot more than the second half. Whether it would have been any better by tighter editing is debatable. All initial super-hero films tend to mix origin and action and none have really been that perfect with blending them together. It will be a test of the second Batman film as to whether things can continue in this path. Certainly, if its creators keep up with what is shown in the comicbooks, both from an imagery and info point of view, it is possible to keep its audience satisfied.
All the cast do a credible performance. From an internal reality POV, I'm a bit concerned how someone like James Gordon can be left with a futuristic Batmobile and figure out in short order how to use it. Then again, I'm always concerned how masked movie super-heroes are so determined to let other people in on their concealed identities. I mean, isn't this the reason why they are masked in the first place?
As a collectable item, if you want to see what was entailed in bringing this film to life, then the extras DVD is a must see. The only disappointment is that you can't get directly to the main menu and have to whizz through a comic adaptation of the film first each time. If you over-look the lack of menu option, then I can see a lot of people getting a tad frustrated if they have to rotate through them again. Saying that, there's a lot of good stuff here and its nice to see it's a British unit led by Steve Begg doing the model effects. For sheer destruction, it's still the most viable alternative to CGI.
The film does grow on you with repeat viewings, even if mine were with the audio commentary. 'Batman Begins' and should rightly lead into a sequel.
GF Willmetts
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