Batman Begins Blu-ray

Batman Begins

 (2005)

Action | Adventure | Crime | Drama | Thriller



Batman Begins explores the origins of the Batman legend and the Dark Knight's emergence as a force for good in Gotham. In the wake of his parents' murder, disillusioned industrial heir Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) travels the world seeking the means to fight injustice and turn fear against those who prey on the fearful. He returns to Gotham and unveils his alter-ego: Batman, a masked crusader who uses his strength, intellect and an array of high tech deceptions to fight the sinister forces that threaten the city.

For more details about Batman Begins on Blu-ray, see the Batman Begins Blu-ray Review

Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman
Director: Christopher Nolan

Batman Begins Blu-ray, Video Quality

 


One of the flagship Warner releases on HD DVD, Batman Begins was delayed on BD to better capitalize on interactive features. Unfortunately, Warner appeared to make no effort to capitalize on Blu-ray's overarching feature: superior capacity. The bitrates of the BD are no better than that of the HD DVD. That means the picture and sound are also held back by the HD DVD, and appear to have been sourced from the same transfer. The video and audio are not bad at all, but Batman Begins is not up to reference quality by any accurate assessment. The most frustrating part of this observation is not just waiting more than a year for no significant bitrate improvement over the HD DVD, but in comparing Batman Begins to a six-minute prologue of The Dark Knight, which is included on the BD. Every frame of the prologue is truly reference quality, generating a stark contrast to the comparably veiled and constricted dynamics of the main feature.

Watch the scene on the frozen lake, where Bruce spars with Ducard. The color and detail is a touch muted, although the resolution is actually quite good. The tonal balance, from light to dark, appears lifelike, but definition is subdued as if a thin layer of plastic is placed over the screen. It is this "veiling" from the low bitrate transfer that hinders the picture and separates it from reference quality BDs like No Country for Old Men. Night scenes show good black level and adequate 1080p detail, far surpassing the DVD version. Since darkness and gradients of black are featured so prominently in the film and in Batman's accouterments, it becomes a necessity to resolve objects in night scenes. Here again, the BD does an adequate job, and many night scenes show good depth. Unfortunately, some life appears sucked out of the picture.

Batman Begins Blu-ray, Audio Quality

 


Like the video, the audio appears to be a straight port from the HD DVD, presented in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 at 16-bit, 48 kHz. While this isn't bad or offensive (there is no audible distortion) it is similar to CD resolution. Warner again does not capitalize on the capacity or capability of Blu-ray's advantages. Still, dialog orchestral sound and some effects and explosions are adequate and resolve well, if not the greatest in definition. LFE content is deep and significantly improves action sequences. In a word, the TrueHD track is polite. And that's a problem.

Watch the scene where Batman eludes the police in the Batmobile, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. At one point, as the tumbler cruises along a sloped roof, the wheels rip off ceramic tiles in rapid succession, like machine gun fire. When I saw the film in the theater, the wheels made a distinct sound as the Batmobile drove over each of these tiles, but the detail, impact and dynamic punch of this audio sequence was a bit lost on the Blu-ray. The sonics are not badly muddied, but they lack the punch, realism and extension of the best BD content. This is a prime example of how HD DVD held back the HD formats. Hopefully, Warner's days of using low bitrate content on BD are coming to an end.

Batman Begins Blu-ray, News and Updates

• Today on Blu-ray - July 8th, 2008 - July 8, 2008

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