ign logo IGN.com | AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | GameSpy | FilePlanet | TeamXbox | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | Direct2Drive

RottenTomatoes.com

RT Bug Squash
Home Movies DVD Celebrities News Critics Photos & Trailers The Vine Forums
Box Office | Best Of | Certified Fresh | Showtimes
Register for free site & special features! | Log In | What is RT?
                       
MOVIES / ON DVD / BATMAN BEGINS
Batman Begins

Rate This Movie

Write a Review
Share This Movie
Add to List
Buy Poster

Bookmark and Share

Batman Begins (2005)

84%
82%
95%
N/A
N/A
N/A
84 %
Reviews Counted: 246 Fresh: 207  Rotten:39 Average Rating: 7.7/10
 
Consensus: Brooding and dark, but also exciting and smart, Batman Begins is a film that understands the essence of one of the definitive superheroes. Brooding and dark, but also exciting and smart, Batman Begins is a film that understands the essence of one of the definitive superheroes. more
 
Rated: 12A
Runtime: 2 hrs 21 mins
Theatrical Release: 16-06-2005
Synopsis:
Genius of mystery and intrigue Christopher Nolan (MEMENTO, FOLLOWING, INSOMNIA) helms this prequel to the Batman films based on the DC Comics series, explaining how Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale)--the billionaire prince of Gotham whose parents were killed in an alleyway... [More]
Genius of mystery and intrigue Christopher Nolan (MEMENTO, FOLLOWING, INSOMNIA) helms this prequel to the Batman films based on the DC Comics series, explaining how Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale)--the billionaire prince of Gotham whose parents were killed in an alleyway mugging--transformed into the crime-fighting superhero. With flashbacks to his privileged childhood, young Master Wayne, as he is called by the butler Alfred (Michael Caine), develops a terrible fear of bats when he falls through the backyard garden into a hidden cave. As a young adult, Wayne lives among the League of Shadows, a martial arts group in the mountains of Asia. His leaders Ra's al Ghul (Ken Watanabe) and Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson) teach him strength, endurance, and--unfortunately--evil, against which he naturally rebels. Returning to Gotham and reinstating himself as a dapper socialite and the rightful heir to his parents' enterprise, Wayne quickly devises his secret identity, commanding help from the gadgetry expert Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman). With one eye on his childhood playmate Rachel (Katie Holmes)--now a beautiful woman and dedicated lawyer--and the other on his mission to save Gotham from criminal corruption, Batman makes his fledgling debut. But when the blue-blooded mastermind Dr. Crane (Cillian Murphy)--who steals every scene with chilling menace--taints the water system with a hallucinatory substance, Batman realizes he has met his first true opponent. An attitude of grave seriousness elevates BATMAN BEGINS above more cartoony Batman movies, as Nolan crafts a dark drama that thrives on sci-fi intrigue. Bale strides into the role with grace, adding refinement that is seldom seen in action-oriented films. And while the action scenes explode with high-tech glitz and fast-moving thrills, they are evenly placed among sequences of plot and character development, making for a complex and satisfying viewing experience. [Less]

Genre: Action/Adventure

Starring: Christian Bale, Katie Holmes, Cillian Murphy, Ken Watanabe, Gary Oldman

Director: Christopher Nolan
Screenwriter: David S. Goyer, Christopher Nolan
Producer: Emma Thomas, Charles Roven, Larry J. Franco
Composer: Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard

DVD Info

Release:

Aug 7, 2008

[DVD Details]

Reviews

 
T-Meter Critics
 
 
Top Critics
 
 
RT Community
 
 
My Critics
 
 
My Friends
 
 
DVD
 
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Arrange By: Name | Fresh | Rotten | Date | Source
 
 
Ratings Image

A welcome new beginning.

Full Review | Comment
07/05/05 06:51 PM
Edward Lawrenson
Sight and Sound
Ratings Image

Bale is excellent. He does looks a bit podgy and uncomfortable in the Batman mask, but this is the first film the Wayne persona doesn't seem as messed-up as the Dark Knight.

Full Review | Comment
07/05/05 06:51 PM
Simon Guerrier
FilmFocus
Ratings Image

If Warner Brothers hoped that Nolan would reanimate the corpse of what should have been their most lucrative franchise, it has got its wish

Full Review | Comment
07/05/05 06:28 AM
Wendy Ide
Times [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Delivers pretty much everything you could hope for from a Batman movie, unless you think that Batman begins and ends with Adam West in tights

Full Review | Comment
06/18/05 03:33 AM
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon
Ratings Image

Click to read the article

Full Review | Comment
06/17/05 09:05 AM
Independent
Ratings Image

The muscular grit of the action sequences is leavened with nicely judged sarky banter.

Full Review | Comment
06/16/05 09:49 AM
Ben Walters
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Brilliant.

Full Review | Comment
06/09/05 03:16 AM
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
Ratings Image

A bold and brilliant superhero movie, Batman Begins is the best outing ever for the Caped Crusader.

Full Review | Comment
06/07/05 03:15 AM
Nev Pierce
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Bale is perfect as the conflicted Batman...

Full Review | Comment
06/06/05 10:38 PM
John Millar
Sunday Mail [UK]
Ratings Image

It's a violent and truly scary film and definitely not one for the kids. For grown-ups, though, it could well be the ultimate superhero movie.

Full Review | Comment
06/06/05 10:24 PM
David Edwards
Daily Mirror [UK]
Ratings Image

In a year when the franchise watchword is ‘dark’, this delivers the full noir with a side order of dementia.

Full Review | Comment
06/06/05 09:06 AM
Kim Newman
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | Comment
11/01/07 03:15 AM
David Ansen
Newsweek
Ratings Image

The movie takes such time and care to set up Bruce/Batman that it's a bit of a bummer when it launches into summer-movie overdrive.

Full Review | Comment
07/23/07 07:43 AM
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com
Ratings Image

Click to read the article

Full Review | Comment
07/14/07 06:32 AM
Joe Lozito
Big Picture Big Sound
Ratings Image

Works splendidly because it dispenses with the idea that Batman's archenemies have to be quirky, colorful, superficial savants, ŕla the campy television series from the sixties.

Full Review | Comment
06/27/07 07:28 PM
Kam Williams
Princeton Town Topics
Ratings Image

A fragmented tale with a disconnect between sulking mood pieces and hi-tech urban warfare, whose logic always seems to be beside the point.

Full Review | Comment
03/26/07 07:07 PM
Prairie Miller
Long Island Press
Ratings Image

Both in and out of the suit, Bale owns the role in a way none of the previous three Batmen did.

Full Review | Comment
03/01/07 03:57 AM
Ethan Alter
Film Journal International
Ratings Image

Here's how any great franchise should start: with care, precision and delicately wrought atmosphere.

Full Review | Comment
02/03/07 05:43 AM
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
Ratings Image

Click to read the article

Full Review | Comment
10/30/06 03:20 AM
Garth Franklin
Dark Horizons
Ratings Image

fans of the Dark Knight, finally feel proud again

Full Review | Comment
09/10/06 03:58 PM
Joseph Proimakis
Movies for the Masses
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
See More Topics...

Related Forums

The Joker in Batman Begins
by: Lord Nador 5/11


Guy in a bat suit....a bit silly?
by: simonhla 5/10


LAME BATMAN. Frankly, I snored through most of it.
by: BurtonRules94 5/2


I really do love this movie but...
by: MovieLover8 4/16


Senor_Chupacabra
This film is supposed to be serious, real and believable, but...
by: Senor_Chupacabra 3/1
all

Pictures

all

Videos

New Batman Begins Set Video
all

News

Joshua Jackson Wouldn't Mind Starring in Spider-Man 4
posted by Jeff Giles March 13, 2008
The news might come a decade too late for the teenage girls who swooned over him when Dawson's Creek was on the air, but...


Aaron Eckhart Talks The Dark Knight
posted by Jeff Giles March 10, 2008
The film's early marketing focused on Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker, but The Dark Knight director...


The Dark Knight Gets a Poster!
posted by Jeff Giles December 05, 2007
What, you thought we were going to let a day go by without doing a Dark Knight story? Think again, Batfans....


First Five Minutes of The Dark Knight In Front of I Am Legend?
posted by Jen Yamato October 24, 2007
Lucky I Am Legend ticket buyers who opt for IMAX just might get the added treat of the first five minutes of The Dark...

Around the Network

• Batman Begins at Rotten Tomatoes
• Batman Begins at IGN
• Batman Begins at AskMen
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | ModCenter | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive

By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2008, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.