I’m a great fan of Tim Burton’s take on my favorite superhero and I was somewhat disheartened when Joel Schumacher single-handedly ran the series into the ground.  (Ignore George Clooney’s self-deprecating assertions that he was responsible.)  When I read that Batman was to be reimagined once again, I was cautiously optimistic that Christopher Nolan, the man who wrote and directed Momento and directed Insomnia, might be able to pull it off.  He did not disappoint.

Batman Begins is, as the title implies, about origins.  This is the most comprehensive look at how Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) was transformed into the dark knight by tragedy and an unquenchable thirst for redemption.  That the young Wayne was suffering from the guilt of having to watch powerlessly as a ruthless thug gunned down his parents has been expressed before.  But in this film, his psychological trauma is extended.  Fear drove him to ask his parents to leave an opera early, and his parents may not have been victimized if he had managed to sit through the entire performance.  In fact, fear is the underlying theme that’s woven through this entire film.

When the young Bruce previously fell through a rotting wooden cover over a shaft that leads to a dank and wet cavern, he’s overcome with terror as tens of thousands of bats swarm around him.  It’s an image that will haunt him, almost as intensely as the sight of his parents’ murders.  And it’s the images of those bats, provoked by scenes on the opera’s stage that compelled him to flee the concert hall with his parents on that fateful night.  Bruce is raised by the Waynes’ trusted retainer, Alfred (Michael Caine); he becomes a surrogate father figure in every sense of the word.

But not even Alfred’s care can keep the nightmares at bay.  As a young man, Bruce flees again.  From Gotham.  From the country.  He finds his way to Bhutan, associating with criminals, trying to learn how their minds work, instinctively moving closer to the goal of dedicating himself to ridding Gotham of crime and corruption.  He is recruited into a secret organization, the League of Shadows, led by Ra's Al Ghul (Ken Watanabe).  Bruce’s League mentor becomes Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson), a spiritual guide and relentless trainer.  It is only after Bruce completes his extensive training in the martial arts that he finally comes to understand the nature of the organization.  Centuries old, it’s dedicated to destroying evil and those who would harm the planet.  Governments and civilizations may have fallen victim to its purges.  But its callous disregard for collateral damage creates a riff, and in a rather dramatic fashion, Bruce departs to return to Gotham after an absence of seven years. 

Now equipped with the skills he needs to wage his private war on Gotham’s underworld, he reveals his intent to Alfred and finds an ally in Wayne Industries’ Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman).  With access to incredibly sophisticated hardware that had been deemed too expensive when it was developed for the military, Bruce begins to mold the advanced technology into the tools he’ll need to attack the criminal elements.  And as he readies his arsenal, he develops his persona, an image that haunts him and should strike fear in others, the bat.

Bruce soon finds himself embroiled in both overt and covert turmoil.  He is forced to deal with Wayne Industries’ amoral chairman of the board (Rutger Hauer) even as he battles the local kingpin of organized crime, Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson).  The stakes are high.  Psychiatrist and capable biochemist Dr. Jonathan Crane (Cillian Murphy) has developed a powerful hallucinogenic drug that, when inhaled, creates mindless fear.  And Crane also has created an alter ego to stimulate that fear: the Scarecrow.  A plot of biblical proportions is revealed; Gotham City may be doomed.

This is not a fully formed Batman.  It’s a superhero learning by doing.  Making mistakes.  Vulnerable as only a rookie superhero might be, we feel his lack of invincibility.  The mood is very dark; the film is cast in shadows and frequently obscured by weather or steam.  This is, perhaps, the most human Batman to find its way to the big screen.  He’s made all the more human by his tenuous relationship with Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes); a friend since childhood, she is now an assistant district attorney.  Her love is clear, but her story arc, her relationship with Bruce Wayne, is arguably the most mature approach yet taken for those women destined to have a relationship with this very driven crime fighter.  We also learn of the origins of Police Lieutenant James Gordon (Gary Oldman), one of Gotham City's rare honest cops and the man destined to become police commissioner. 

I very much enjoyed the credibility and realism that the filmmakers brought to the production.  I found the origins of Batman’s gadgets in high tech military prototypes to be clever and easy to accept.  Alas, I must confess that the ultimate weapon of the show, the weapon of mass destruction so to speak, pulled me out of the film.  Its effects on its surroundings should have had precisely the same effect on its human operators.  My suspension of disbelief was broken.  But this is a quibble.  Batman Begins is an auspicious start to a reborn series.  I admired the complexity of the plotlines and the effective interweaving of the various story threads.  Bale strikes just the right notes as the obsessed superhero.  And the wonderful supporting cast, Michael Caine in particular, is uniformly excellent.  If this level of quality can be maintained, we have a great new franchise to anticipate.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The film’s theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1 is presented in an impressive high definition transfer.  This is one of the best-looking HD DVDs I’ve seen from Warner Home Video.  The images are razor sharp and the print seems immaculate; this should not be surprising considering how recently this film was released to motion picture theaters.  There is a wonderful sense of finely grained detail.  The camera (or computer) follows mass transit rail through Gotham in daylight, buildings reflected in the windows of adjacent skyscrapers; it’s remarkably dense with detail and very convincing.  Based on skin tones, I’d judge the color accuracy to be excellent.  I was particularly struck by the blue of the glaciers seen early in the film; I was immediately reminded of an Alaskan trip I enjoyed several years ago.  Blacks are deep and rich.  I will mention that shadow detail is somewhat subdued.  This is a dark film, and it’s very possible that creating areas of black amorphous blobs on the screen was an artistic decision, one intended to create a mood.  Since I didn’t see the film in a motion picture theater, I can’t be sure if this is inherent to the film or a characteristic of the transfer.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 track is first-rate, but I must take steps to gain access to the better TrueHD tracks becoming more readily available.  Sound effects sport a terrific dynamic range and great attack times.  Very deep bass pounds away at the solar plexus.  The surrounds can be very active, with both discrete sound effects and pans that reach around the viewer. Please do enable EX decoding to enhance the experience.  Not one but two forces in film music wrote the orchestral score: Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard.  The score is a seamless collaboration, hard driving, and a fine complement to the onscreen performances and action.  The orchestra is presented across a broad soundstage, likely enhanced with leakage into the surrounds, and with a very pleasing fidelity.  Dialog remains crystal clear throughout, and has a consistently satisfying sense of presence.  Like on many HD DVDs, the spoken word is lower in amplitude than its DVD counterpart.  This provides the headroom to enhance the dynamic range.  And once again, I was impressed by the softer sounds: drops of water, rustling of paper and fabric, quiet footfalls.  Each seems more transparent that I recall the DVD’s Dolby Digital 5.1 track to be.  Very well done.

The alternate languages are in French and Spanish, each on a Dolby Digital 5.1.  Optional subtitles are in French, Spanish, and English SDH.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

You’ll find a port of the 2-disc DVD edition’s extras plus content exclusive to the HD DVD.  Warner has included another In-Movie Experience, the HD DVD enhanced realization of the commentary.  Enable the feature and small windows pop open in the lower left and right corners of the screen during the film with talking heads.  Unlike the slightly jerky movement I experienced in the IME for Terminator 3, the windowed video on this disc is smoother, sharper, and (I think) slightly larger.  Virtually all the principal players participate, but as you might expect, director Christopher Nolan dominates.  You’ll also hear from production designers and stunt personnel.  The material is, for the most part, informative and involving, but alas, expect considerable gaps in the proceedings.

I believe I was remiss in my previous Warner HD DVD reviews to mention that a zoom and pan capability has been built into these discs.  Although this is an intriguing feature, I find that, in practice, it is less than perfect.  I wanted a closer look at the plaque on the hood of the exotic high performance sports car Wayne drives to a dinner party at a hotel.  (By the way, since when can a billionaire buy a hotel by slipping the headwaiter a check?)  I paused the disc and enabled the zoom.  Every time I hit the appropriate key, the zoom level increases; the cursor keys are used to navigate onscreen.  But with each zoom keystroke, the disc advances one or more frames, making it impossible to magnify a specific frame.  This needs to be fixed.  The control should only affect the player’s internal scaler, not the disc or the buffered frames.

Moving on to the materials found on the DVD release, Tankman Begins (5:12) is a send-up of Batman Begins with Jimmy Fallon, Andy Dick and, heaven help me, Napoleon Dynamite.  This somewhat droll short was produced for the 2005 MTV Movie Awards. 

Among the many featurettes is Batman - The Journey Begins (14:16), an interesting bit of business that reveals the origins of the film, its writing, and its casting.  Among the anecdotes, we learn that Christian Bale, having just come off The Machinist, was entirely too frail looking for the role.  He bulked up, but substantially overshot the mark.  It’s a testament to his dedication that he was able to transform his body to an appropriate shape and condition before the first scene was shot.

Shaping Mind and Body (12:49) is the martial arts short.  It’s here that we learn about the special fighting technique brought to the show to create a unique style for our hero.  We also learn of the participation of the actors, both in hand-to-hand and fighting with swords.  Liam Neeson must have had a bit of an advantage, having previously mastered the light saber.

Gotham City Rises (12:48) is a production design featurette.  The short does address design, of course, and we learn about what was physical and what was virtual.  But I was particularly impressed with the construction of the full size sets within a vast hanger.  Much of the film’s visible Gotham was created in this immense space, and that provided remarkable freedom to simulate time of day and weather.

Cape and Cowl (8:18) considers costume design, and Batman’s costume specifically.  It goes beyond the usual artistic discussions of appearance.  This featurette reveals how the costume was designed and made.  Satisfying both form and function, this highlights some genuine creativity.

Next is the featurette entitled Batman - The Tumbler (13:39).  Regular readers know that I’m an engineer. And although my background in acoustics, electronic design, and image processing is as far from automotive design as one can get, I can still appreciate the design and mechanical engineering that went into new Batmobile.  The Tumbler was designed from the rubber on up and I was very impressed with its performance, ruggedness, and reported reliability.  Unlike Tim Burton’s esthetically pleasing Batmobiles that were real slugs, this is a performance vehicle.  The short reveals that all of the driving sequences were real and all were filmed in real-time at high speeds.  Impressive.

Path to Discovery (14:13) addresses the story concept of Bruce Wayne’s seven-year disappearance from Gotham and what it took to film that extensive sequence.  Iceland acted as surrogate for Bhutan, and Iceland’s weather forced serious changes in the shooting schedule.  The cast and crew were challenged by an initiation of fire and ice as these scenes became the goal of the first week’s shooting.

Saving Gotham City (13:01) focuses on the climax of the film and describes the stunt work and the special effects blend of practical, miniature, and CGI work.  Informative and entertaining, it’s a fine example of how new technology and extrapolations of time-proven techniques may be fused into a seamless whole. 

Genesis of the Bat (14:53) traces the history of the character on the printed page, from Bob Kane’s original concepts to the very dark graphic novels we find in bookstores today.  More importantly, it demonstrates how that history affected the screenplay and the vision of the filmmakers. 

In a section inexplicably called Additional Scenes, you’ll find three more short featurettes that were easter eggs on the DVD release.  Reflections on Writing is an anecdotal story (1:57) by co-screenwriter David S. Goyer about his initial working out the storylines with the director.  Digital Batman is a look at a proof-of-concept (1:06) that Batman could be reproduced as CGI for medium to long shots. And Batman Begins Stunts offers a narration-free short (2:29) of random bits and pieces related to the Tumbler and stunts.
 
Confidential Files is a text-based extra that was spread all over the supplement disc of the DVD.  Divided into Hardware, Enemies, and Allies and Mentors, these screens describe the corresponding subjects with illustrations and text.

The Stills Gallery is not a collection of continuity photos and behind-the-scenes pictures; it’s an illustrated guide to the advertising concepts in both the States and overseas.

Last is the film’s theatrical trailer (1:13), the only supplement in the set presented in high definition video.

The 140-minute film is organized into forty chapters.

Final Thoughts

The next chapter in this reimagined series has been announced for 2008.  Based on the none-too-subtle hint in this film, it seems clear that the Joker will figure prominently in the first sequel.  I’m looking forward to it.  For now, enjoy this wonderful expression of a timeless character.  A superb high definition transfer, an exceptional audio track, and very generous and informative supplements make this an easy title to recommend highly.
(Dan Ramer)

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