I have reviewed the
Batman Begins: Deluxe Edition DVD, the
Batman Begins HD DVD and am now tackling the
Batman Begins Limited Edition Giftset Blu-ray disc and I am not sure if there are many more ways for me to watch this flick outside of the discontinued PSP edition. What this means, of course, is that this review is going to be short and sweet as there isn't a whole lot more to tell you outside of a couple of details.
To begin, the picture is obviously great, just as it was on the HD DVD edition. I had a lot of fun watching the movie again considering I actually hadn't watched it in about a year-and-a-half. I cranked up the audio and let the Dolby TrueHD track boom (I am sure my apartment neighbors were pleased). It was also nice to confirm my belief that replacing Katie Holmes in The Dark Knight with Maggie Gyllenhaal was a fantastic choice you are all sure to agree with. However, as far as the disc itself goes there are only a couple of differences.
The big additional bonus, of course, is the inclusion of the six-minute prologue for The Dark Knight that screened in front of I Am Legend IMAX audiences last year. It was a lot of fun to watch it again, but it proves the point that you just haven't seen this film in its truest form unless you see it in IMAX. It makes me wonder just how exactly they are going to present this film on DVD later on since I don't know the aspect ratio of the non-IMAX scenes, because even this version cuts off portions of the IMAX feature, which (unless I am wrong) is closer to a traditional television ratio of 4:3. Who knows? That is actually the only "new" feature on the disc and it is not available on the DVD version.
Those that did not get the HD DVD edition of Batman Begins, however, will get to check out the In-Movie Experience, which is now available on the Blu-ray format, but it is pretty much just a regurgitation of what is said on the 12 included documentaries, which were available on the Deluxe DVD if you purchased that. So, that leaves the goodies that don't pertain to the film.
First off there is a piece of lenticular/3-D style art, which doubles as the box cover (worthless), five Batman Begins postcards, a comic book version of The Dark Knight prologue (sorta cool) and a storyboard/script/making-of look at the prologue for The Dark Knight, which is probably the coolest goody of the bunch.
The main reason you are buying this is to get the movie in high-definition. If that is important to you then jump on it because it looks great, however, just know that you can buy it as just the Blu-ray and save yourself about $16. I don't know about you, but I like my money and that sounds like a good way to save some.
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