Description
SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Featurette: “Genesis of the Bat” (SD, 15 minutes) — Culled from the same basic set of EPK and on-set interviews as all the featurettes, “Genesis of the Bat” serves as a good point of introduction. Director Christopher Nolan and screenwriter David S. Goyer handle the lions share of the explanation, and illustrate how the film was conceived, as well as the development of the reboot.
- Featurette: “Batman: The Journey Begins” (SD, 14 minutes) — Details the casting of the film, including the once-controversial choices of Christian Bale and Katie Holmes. There’s also a look at the film’s villains, notably the underrated Cillian Murphy.
- Featurette: “Path to Discovery” (SD, 14 minutes) — Chronicles the challenges of shooting the film’s opening scenes and backstory in the cold climate of Iceland.
- Featurette: “Saving Gotham City” (SD, 13 minutes) — Highlights the film’s excellent action scenes, which were staged with as little CGI as possible — one of the reasons ‘Batman Begins’ remains, for me, superior to most other blockbusters these days.
- Featurette: “Shaping Mind and Body” (SD, 13 minutes) — My fave of the featurettes, as Bale is put through the paces, training to play such an iconic character. Many feel Bale is the best Batman yet, and I can see why. He seems to have an innate understanding of the character, and he certainly has the right physicality for the part. The behind-the-scenes fight footage here is also cool.
- Featurette: “Gotham City Rises” (SD, 13 minutes) — This one pays a visit to the production design team, who had the massive task of reimagining the fabled city for a new generation of Batman fans, as well as having to work within real-world locations in some instances, such as Wayne Manor.
- Featurette: “Cape and Cowl” (SD, 8 minutes) — This one really fetishizes the Batsuit, with a tour of its conception, construction and application. And I will admit, all that hot black rubber is a turn-on…
- Featurette: “Batman: The Tumbler” (SD, 14 minutes) –Pays tribute to the kick-ass Batmobile, which the Nolan originally conceived as “a Lamborghini crossed with a Humvee.” Even Holmes gets into it, admitting that for the first time, she realizes “why guys love cars so much.” Think she bought one for Tom Cruise?
- Still Gallery (SD) — Focuses exclusively various advertising concepts for the film’s multi-million dollar marketing push. Separate sections for the U.S., International and pre-release campaigns are included.
- Confidential Files (SD) — A rather extensive assortment of animated text pages featuring more stills and concept art for the various “Hardware,” “Enemies” and “Allies and Mentors” of ‘Batman Begins.’ This is actually a very cool, well put-together and informative extra, so don’t skip it just because it might seem like a bunch of lame production notes.
- MTV Special: “Tankman Begins” (SD) — A fairly funny spoof that was created for the 2005 MTV Movie Awards. Entertaining at first, but like most of these type shorts, runs out of steam quickly.
