Cheap Batman (Two-Disc Special Edition) (DVD) (Tim Burton) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of Batman (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Good movie, great DVD
Before the frachise hit rock-bottom with the ill-fated "Batman Forever" and "Batman & Robin" and before it was gloriously revived with the spectacular "Batman Begins" (which in my humble opinion is even better than this film), there was Tim Burton's "Batman." Utilizing a huge market campaign and boasting top-name stars such as Jack Nicholson and Kim Basinger, the film became one of 1989's biggest hits, earning over $251 million domestically. A lot of people loved this film (and quite a few of them still do today), but when I first saw it when I was a kid I really didn't care for it. But as I'm much older, I've warmed up to it. <
> <
>The film boasts an impressive production design (which earned a well-deserved Oscar) with casts Gotham as a moody, Gothic place in the mold of the twenty-first century, with distinct 1940s and 1980s flavor. The score by Danny Elfman is a wonderful orchestral score that has some of the heroism of John Williams's "Superman" theme but with a moody and oppressive tone to it. And the acting is fairly good -- Michael Keaton makes for a quiet, unassuming Bruce Wayne (but unimpressive Batman), Jack Nicholson makes for a wonderfully loony and twisted Joker and Michael Gough makes for a homely, well-mannered Alfred. <
> <
>However, the film is immensely flawed. The plot doesn't detail about how Bruce Wayne became Batman (save for one or two flashbacks) and the backstory of who kills Bruce Wayne's parents is dramatically altered to focus on the villain. And Batman's entrances were always too dramatic, such as the opening scene where he frightens off the robbers by just raising his cape and the scene where he rescues Vicki Vale by crashing in through the skylight. (I always pictured Batman as a less dramatic and more scary superhero who catches his victims completely off guard, like in the Timm/Dini animated series or in 2005's "Batman Begins".) And while Jack Nicholson is indeed great as the Joker, he hogs too much screentime and relegates Keaton as a supporting character and not the leading character as the film's title asserts. And let's not forget Kim Basinger as Vicki Vale -- while Basinger is certainly very beautiful, the script requires her character to scream often (probably took a cue from Kate Capshaw in "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom", but Basinger does have a great scream) and the script just renders her two-dimensional. Nevertheless, the movie is entertaining to a fault and while it isn't one of the finest superhero movies ever made, it is responsible for reviving comic-book superhero movies up into the mid-90s where "Batman & Robin" ran the Batman franchise into the ground. <
> <
>When the movie was first released on DVD in late 1997 as one of Warner Brothers's first titles to debut on the new home video format, without much in the way of extras and was a flipper disc (with open matte full-screen and anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen transfers on either side), packaged in Warner's now-thankfully extinct snapper cases. With the impending arrival of "Batman Begins" on DVD in October 2005, Warner Brothers saw fit to give all four Batman movies a new digital transfer and provide quality extras for each film. And is the upgrade worth it? A resounding yes. <
> <
>First off, the transfer. Compared to the 1997 DVD, the new 2005 digital transfer is a revelation. The 1997 DVD had boosted black levels, an unnaturally high level of film grain, and the low-lit scenes looked really murky. The 2005 transfer fixes all these problems -- the transfer is brighter, more natural-looking and much cleaner. Much of the unnecessary grain has been removed but enough has been left to maintain a good film-like texture. You can finally make out the details in the darker scenes and overall the video transfer is very pleasing. The disc still has the original Dolby Digital 5.1 remix from the old DVD, but a brand-new DTS mix is offered. The tracks sound good for their age, but are front-centric mainly, with some panning effects (like during the Batmobile chase) and occasional use of the surrounds, which make Elfman's score sound even better. The DTS track sounds a bit more robust and clearer than the Dolby track, but it's not the Batman film to show off your surround system (like "Batman Begins" or even "Batman & Robin"). An optional French stereo dub is provided, alongside optional subtitles in English, French or Spanish. <
> <
>Now, the extras. We get a commentary from Burton and the then-highly anticipated theatrical trailer for the film on the first disc. The commentary is good, but Burton has the tendency to stop for long stretches of time and just watch the movie. A cast or crew member sitting with him could've made the commentary more engaging, but it's good for some of the information Burton tells us. The theatrical trailer is presented in anamorphic widescreen with stereo audio, but it's pretty dull for the most part (it's mostly large chunks of footage put together with Elfman's score in the background). Still, it's good for archival purposes. The movie is divided into 38 chapters, and the main menu is animated against a brief excerpt of Elfman's main title theme. <
> <
>But the second disc is just exhaustive in terms of the quantity and quality of extras. There are three documentaries ("Legends of the Dark Knight", "Shadows of the Bat: The Cinematic History of the Dark Knight" and "Beyond Batman") -- most of which are divided into smaller chunks for easier access. Most of the documentaries feature new interviews with the cast and crew of "Batman", such as Tim Burton, Danny Elfman, Kim Basinger, Billy Dee Williams, Jack Nicholson, Sam Hamm and would-be Vicki Vale Sean Young. All of the new interviews provide some nice behind-the-scenes info about the movie and what happened after. Additionally, there are mini profiles about the main characters of the movie, most of them featuring new interviews with the cast ("Batman: The Heroes" and "Batman: The Villains") and a vintage 1989 featurette "On the Set with Bob Kane". As a nice touch, there's a storyboarded deleted scene featuring the voices of Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill (who provide the voices for the Tim/Dini Batman animated series) and a collection of music videos Prince contributed to the film ("Partyman", "Scandalous" and "Batdance"). Still menus are offered on the second disc, although there's music on the main menu only. <
> <
>This set is available separately or can be purchased as part of the "Complete Batman Anthology", which boxes up this edition along with the other special editions of the three successive Batman sequels. The 1997 disc is also available (for a much lower price than this edition), but I highly recommend this edition if you still haven't got a copy of this movie yet. The video transfer (and the fact that it's in a keep case) alone is worth the upgrade.

Batman, the Way he was Intended
This is by far the best packaging I have seen for the original, and in my opinion, best Batman movie to date. The original creation of Batman as intended to be dark and be mysterious which this movie mastered very well. The creator of the original story and comic book charecter, Bob Kane, was on set during the making of this film. I was pleased to run into this 2-Disc collection of Batman by accident, as it serves the film well. <
> <
>The bonus features are numerous. I like the features that introduce the charecter of Batman, the creator, and the evolution of the comic strip charecter over time. I am very pleased with the digital sound and picture. I could actually make out some of the scenes watching this DVD that were hard to see on previous releases. <
> <
>This is the first of the 8-Disc Batman Anthology: [[ASIN:B000B5XOYI Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology 1989-1997 (Batman / Batman Returns / Batman Forever / Batman & Robin) (Two-Disc Special Editions)]]. The collection features all four movies between 1989 and 1997 in 2-Disc packaging. A great addition to the DVD collection of a Batman fan. For a different approach to the Batman legacy, Warner Bros. recreated the Batman legacy in a newer film entitled Batman Begins with Christian Bale: [[ASIN:B000BUYP4Q Batman Begins (Two-Disc Special Edition)]].