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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

67
$9.99
75
24 City
66
Adoration
74
Afghan Star
48
Alien Trespass
56
American Violet
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57
Away We Go
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
62
Big Man Japan
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55
Brothers Bloom, The
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx
Call of the Wild
63
Cheri
62
Cherry Blossoms
63
Dead Snow
65
Departures
18
Downloading Nancy
58
Easy Virtue
70
End of the Line, The
77
Every Little Step
64
Examined Life
80
Food, Inc.
38
Gigantic
56
Girl from Monaco, The
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
87
Gomorrah
89
Goodbye Solo
63
Great Buck Howard, The
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx
Home
82
Hunger
91
Hurt Locker, The
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
81
Il Divo
54
Is Anybody There?
71
Jerichow
58
Julia
74
Lemon Tree
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
40
Limits of Control, The
42
Little Ashes
64
Lymelife
50
Management
57
Merry Gentleman, The
66
Moon
35
New York
62
Not Forgotten
xx
Offshore
78
O'Horten
64
Outrage
40
Paris 36
54
Pontypool
71
Pressure Cooker
52
Quiet Chaos
83
Revanche
67
Rudo y Cursi
86
Seraphine
65
Sex Positive
70
Shall We Kiss?
77
Sin Nombre
59
Sleep Dealer
74
Song of Sparrows, The
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
82
Sugar
84
Summer Hours
61
Sunshine Cleaning
28
Surveillance
42
Tennessee
63
Tetro
64
Throw Down Your Heart
80
Tokyo Sonata
63
Tokyo!
70
Tony Manero
74
Treeless Mountain
88
Tulpan
74
Two Lovers
83
Tyson
83
U2 3D
60
Under Our Skin
69
Unmistaken Child
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
22
What Goes Up
45
Whatever Works
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
91
Hurt Locker, The
89
Goodbye Solo
88
Tulpan
87
Gomorrah
86
Seraphine
84
Summer Hours
83
U2 3D
83
Revanche
83
Tyson
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
82
Sugar
82
Hunger
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
81
Il Divo
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
80
Food, Inc.
80
Tokyo Sonata
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
78
O'Horten
77
Every Little Step
77
Sin Nombre
75
24 City
74
Treeless Mountain
74
Afghan Star
74
Two Lovers
74
Song of Sparrows, The
74
Lemon Tree
71
Pressure Cooker
71
Jerichow
70
Shall We Kiss?
70
Tony Manero
70
End of the Line, The
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
69
Unmistaken Child
67
$9.99
67
Rudo y Cursi
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
66
Adoration
66
Moon
65
Sex Positive
65
Departures
64
Outrage
64
Examined Life
64
Throw Down Your Heart
64
Lymelife
63
Tokyo!
63
Cheri
63
Dead Snow
63
Tetro
63
Great Buck Howard, The
62
Cherry Blossoms
62
Big Man Japan
62
Not Forgotten
61
Sunshine Cleaning
60
Under Our Skin
59
Sleep Dealer
58
Julia
58
Easy Virtue
57
Away We Go
57
Merry Gentleman, The
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
56
Girl from Monaco, The
56
American Violet
55
Brothers Bloom, The
54
Is Anybody There?
54
Pontypool
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
52
Quiet Chaos
50
Management
48
Alien Trespass
45
Whatever Works
42
Little Ashes
42
Tennessee
40
Limits of Control, The
40
Paris 36
38
Gigantic
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
35
New York
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
28
Surveillance
22
What Goes Up
18
Downloading Nancy
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
xx
Call of the Wild
xx
Home
xx
Offshore
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Batman Begins
Warner Bros.
FILM:
GAMES:
MPAA RATING: PG-13 for intense action violence, disturbing images and some thematic elements
Starring
Christian Bale,
Michael Caine,
Liam Neeson,
Morgan Freeman,
Gary Oldman,
Ken Watanabe,
Katie Holmes,
and
Cillian Murphy
Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins explores the origins of the Batman legend and the Dark Knight's emergence as a force for good in Gotham. (Warner Bros.)
| GENRE(S): |
Action
|
Adventure
|
Fantasy
|
Suspense/Thriller
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Christopher Nolan
David S. Goyer (also story)
Bob Kane (characters)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Christopher Nolan
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: October 18, 2005
Video: October 18, 2005
Theatrical: June 15, 2005
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
140 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
For the first time since "X-Men," I was on the edge of my seat anticipating a sequel, wondering who'd play the Joker and how quickly Nolan - it must be Nolan! - can bring the next chapter of this story to the screen.

100
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
This is the Batman movie I've been waiting for; more correctly, this is the movie I did not realize I was waiting for, because I didn't realize that more emphasis on story and character and less emphasis on high-tech action was just what was needed. The movie works dramatically in addition to being an entertainment. There's something to it.

100
New York Post
Kyle Smith
A great movie, period. It's great because it's so real.

100
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Keith Phipps
A rousing, reverent, often brilliant re-creation of a seminal comics character, Batman Begins proves Batman is at home in the 21st century as he was in the 20th.

100
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
A confidently original, engrossing interpretation.

91
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
It's witty, gripping good fun.

91
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
Technically, the film is consistently impressive. It creates a grimly gothic vision of a crime-ridden and depression-ravaged Gotham City, a dandy pair of chase sequences involving the new generation Batmobile and a range of innovative visual effects.

90
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
A carefully thought out and consummately well-made piece of work, a serious comic-book adaptation that is driven by story, psychology and reality, not special effects.

90
The Hollywood Reporter
Kirk Honeycutt
For Christopher Nolan to turn Batman Begins into such a smart, gritty, brooding, visceral experience is astonishing. Truly, Batman does begin again.

90
The New York Times
Manohla Dargis
Conceived in the shadow of American pop rather than in its bright light, this tense, effective iteration of Bob Kane's original comic book owes its power and pleasures to a director who takes his material seriously and to a star who shoulders that seriousness with ease.

90
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
Batman Begins emerges from the darkness and leaves a powerful, lasting impression.

88
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
The action scenes are, for the most part, kinetic and exciting - things that have rarely been true of fights and chases in the superhero's previous incarnations.

80
Film Threat
Pete Vonder Haar
Not just one of the best "comic book" movies ever made, but also one of the best films of the year.

80
Empire
Kim Newman
Significantly grittier than previous Bat-beginnings, this finds new things to do with, and say about, a character who's been around since 1938.

80
LA Weekly
Scott Foundas
Of course, a Batman movie is nothing without a Bruce Wayne, and, by a mile, Bale is the best of a lot that has ranged from the square-jawed slapstick of Adam West to the more dedbonair stylings of Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer and George Clooney.

78
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
At times it feels almost too busy with plotting. There's so much going on, and so much to take in, that it leaves you winded. But that's origin stories for you. No one ever said setting up a savior would be simple.

75
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
The buildup is steadily engrossing. That's because Nolan keeps the emphasis on character, not gadgets. Gotham looks lived in, not art-directed.

75
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
What you get out of Batman Begins depends on what you bring to it. It is the most faithful to the origins of the comic strip and it sets up a series very different from the four made by Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher between 1989 and 1997.

75
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
Nolan is a fascinating, offbeat choice for a huge movie franchise such as this. Just as Bale turns Batman into a near-tragic obsessive -- a Scarlet Pimpernel with the soul of a Hamlet and Monte Cristo -- Nolan turns Batman Begins into something much closer to Miller's "Dark Knight" interpretation.

75
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
In Batman Begins, Christian Bale gives us the best Bruce Wayne that has ever graced the screen.

75
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
Batman Begins is a mature take on material often relegated to the kiddie file, and it's simply the latest proof that, when treated properly, comic books are a viable art form for all ages. Bring on the sequel.

75
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
Best of all, there's just the pleasure of seeing something that's both fantastic to the eye and emotionally dimensional. This is how to make action movies.

70
Newsweek
David Ansen
A mostly successful attempt to resuscitate a series soiled by silliness, sloppiness and Joel Schumacher.

70
Slate
David Edelstein
The movie is satisfying, though -- at least by the standards of that depressing phenomenon, the superhero "franchise."

70
Variety
Todd McCarthy
Ambitious, well made but not exactly rousing.

70
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
Batman Begins summons up moments of great eloquence and power. If only its cast of characters was as fully inhabited as its turbulent city.
63
Premiere
Aaron Hillis
Not bad for summer jollies, au contraire, but -- "Holy Raised Bar, Batman!" -- let's pray that the next installment measures up to the sequel summits of "Spider-Man 2" and "X2."

63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Liam Lacey
All of the story is so absurdly humourless that it is dramatically inert, as if Nolan had decided the only way to make the Batman character more substantial was to put weights on his wings.

63
USA Today
Mike Clark
The early going -- say, an hour -- is spent in a fatigued daze. A few powerful jabs eventually punch things up.

63
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
Burton gives us SuperDude; Nolan gives us Sir Subdued.

60
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
The result is handsome and logical, but missing the spark that would make it thrilling.

60
Village Voice
Michael Atkinson
Nolan and his co-screenwriter David Goyer can only press the big buttons so hard—it's still an old-school superhero summer movie, the plotting tortuous, the characters relegated to one-scene-one-emotion simplicity, the digitized action a never ending club mix of chases and mano a manos.

50
New York Magazine
Ken Tucker
Begins, at two-hours-plus, is a nonstarter.

50
The New Yorker
David Denby
The young Welsh-born actor Christian Bale is a serious fellow, but the most interesting thing about him--a glinting sense of superiority--gets erased by the dull earnestness of the screenplay, and the filmmakers haven't developed an adequate villain for him to go up against.

50
Time
Richard Schickel
Nolan's effort is not dishonorable, but what it needs, and doesn't have, is a Joker in the deck--some antic human antimatter to give it the giddy lift of perversity that a bunch of impersonal explosions, no matter how well managed, can't supply.

50
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
Batman Begins is obvious from the get-go - and almost no fun.

50
Washington Post
Ann Hornaday
A good as the performances are, and as dutiful as Nolan has been in preserving the Kane legacy in Batman Begins, there's something joyless about the enterprise.

50
Chicago Reader
J.R. Jones
There are strong turns by Michael Caine as Alfred the butler and Tom Wilkinson as a ruthless crime boss.

50
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
Delivers enough action to please Saturday-night crowds, if not the surreal wit that made the first two "Batman" movies, directed by Tim Burton, so entertaining.

40
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
Needs much more energy and kinetic flow -- less dolor and more dolomite.

40
Dallas Observer
Robert Wilonsky
Even if there were a great movie here, it would have been undermined by two lead actors who are barely even there, asked to deliver lines they can't handle: Bale, playing the Batman with clipped wings, and Katie Holmes as an assistant district attorney who doesn't have the gravitas to pass as an intern. Come back, Alicia Silverstone; all is forgiven.


The average user rating for this movie is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 607 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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