STUDIO: Warner Brothers
RELEASE DATE: July 8, 2008
STARRING: Christian Bale, Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman, Katie Holmes, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Rutger Hauer, Tom Wilkinson, Ken Watanabe, and Cillian Murphy
WRITTEN BY: Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer
DIRECTED BY: Christopher Nolan
FEATURES: The Dark Knight Prologue - The First 6 Minutes Of The Film
Movie Money To See The Dark Knight In Theatres - $7.50 Value
32 Page Booklet Featuring Script Pages, Storyboards And Film Stills From The Dark Knight Prologue
16 Page DC Comic Book Adaptation of The Dark Knight Prologue
Batman Begins Lenticular Art
5 Collectable Postcards
In Movie Experience: Christopher Nolan, David S. Goyer And Other Reveal The Movie's Backstories As You Watch

Batman Begins was one of the highest (on some lists, THE highest) selling DVD in the HD-DVD format. Now that the war is over, many of those titles that were so popular on the vanquished HD-DVD format are being released on Blu-Ray. But why buy a title you already have on one next-gen DVD format? (Other than it allows you to put away your dust-gathering HD-DVD player with less emotional pain.) Many, many studios will simply release the exact same editions in the Blu-Ray market that HD-DVD owners have had for a while now. Warner Brothers goes a significant step further with the excellent Limited Edition Gift Set of Batman Begins. But as anyone who saw the masterful HD-DVD release will tell you, the "In Movie Experience" of nearly limitless special features about Batman Begins that plays while you watch the flick couldn't be topped. In other words, there aren't deleted scenes or new featurettes that could be used to entice or enhance the Blu-Ray version. So, Warner Brothers looked to the future, giving Batman Begins fans what they really want - Dark Knight goodies. In doing so, they've created a fantastic product that is fully committed to the first Nolan Batman film but serves as a bridge to the superior sequel, which in buying this, you'll also get to see for free. Movie money for Dark Knight, one of the best Blu-Ray discs out there, and some incredibly cool collectibles - it all makes the Batman Begins: Limited Edition Gift Set much more than an upgrade or a double dip. It's a must-have for even casual fans of the franchise.

With Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan launched one of the most successful reboots of a superhero franchise ever. We should have known that one of the most fascinating comic book creations in history couldn't be taken down by Joel Schumacher and would someday rise again, but Batman Begins was more artistically successful than most fans imagined. It's still a slightly flawed film (the muddled action choreography, especially in the final act, drives me batty...pun intended) but what wasn't completely clear was that Nolan was setting up a franchise. Everything about Batman Begins feels more of a whole now that The Dark Knight is about to take the world by storm. Buy the BB: Gift Set, see Dark Knight, and then go back and watch Begins again. It's a richer film, just as Star Wars wouldn't be the same without The Empire Strikes Back.

The "In Movie Experience" on Batman Begins is one of the coolest special features in the medium. One of the draws of Blu-Ray is the ability to switch and mark scenes without leaving the film itself. That technology also translates to special features. For example, instead of a stand-alone special feature about the design of the opera sequence, which would feel too brief on its own, you can learn about in Picture-In-Picture style as you watch that part of the film. The ability of Blu-Ray to enhance a film instead of just adding to it with another menu of special features is my favorite thing about it. But the "In Movie Experience" will be familiar to the many who bought Batman Begins on HD-DVD. What's new for them is gorgeous Lenticular art that makes up the cover, 5 collectible postcards, a 16 page comic book adaptation of the prologue to The Dark Knight, a 32 page booklet about the same thing, and movie money to see The Dark Knight. Not enough? How about the entire first six minutes of DK in Blu-Ray quality? The opening of DK is fantastic and, yes, fans ardent enough to buy Batman Begins Gift Set probably have their tickets already, you can use this to convince some of the wary that this is THE summer movie to see. Six minutes will do it.

Some will say that this is the summer of Iron Man and Indiana Jones and a few freaks will point to The Incredible Hulk or Hellboy, but it's all about the bat for me. There have been a few tie-in DVDs for the release of The Dark Knight - Gotham Knight, The Batman: Season Five - but this is THE one for true fans. Even if you have it on standard or HD-DVD, your Blu-Ray player isn't really doing its job until you have Batman Begins.