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Avg. Critic Score: 70 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
13 OK for kids 13+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 100
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    A confidently original, engrossing interpretation. Read full review

  • 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. Read full review

  • 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. Read full review

  • 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. Read full review

  • 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. Read full review

  • 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. Read full review

  • 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. Read full review

  • 70
    Variety | Todd McCarthy

    Ambitious, well made but not exactly rousing. Read full review

  • 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. Read full review

  • 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. Read full review

View more reviews for Batman Begins on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says OK for kids 13+ Smart and entertaining, but also very violent.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this movie features hard and fast violence, martial arts and shootings conveyed through dark, abrupt, sometimes scary imagery. Less cartoonish than the Spiderman and X-Men movies, these scenes are loud and rough. The caped crusader's origin story includes the murders of his parents, his ensuing depression and attempt to shoot the shooter, martial arts training and fighting, frightening subjective images brought on by hallucinogenic drugs, brief debauchery (drinking, smoking, and swimming-in-a-hotel-fountain with vacuous starlet-types), an even briefer kiss with his romantic interest, a faux drunken speech, and some raucous driving in a seriously armored Batmobile.
  • Families can talk about Bruce Wayne's relationships with various father figures, including his biological father (who is murdered), his martial arts trainer, his butler, and his gadgets-maker.
  • What's the difference between vengeance and justice as the film presents it? Do you agree?
  • How does Bruce put his anger to use for the "public good"? How does the film differentiate between "good" and "bad" uses of violence?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: The movie's overall dark tone gives a sense that the world is a dangerous place, filled with people with bad intentions. There is an attempt to wrestle with the ideas of good and evil and whether the end justifies the means. But overall there is a sense that there are some heroes in the world who are willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.
  • rolemodels true2 Positive role models: Batman is obviously a hero. He fights for justice and fairness, though his tactics are sometimes just as violent or sneaky as the bad guys'. He is a flawed character, but that's what makes him so compelling. One character seems like a good guy at first, but ends up being a scary villain.
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: Some violence is harshly rendered, with sharp, fast editing. Martial arts, gunplay, references to the murder of the hero's parents which he witnessed as a child. Some scary imagery.
  • sex false1 Sex: Romance is implied (one kiss); one "playboy" excess scene, with girls in a pool.
  • language false3 Language: "Damn," "hell," "ass," "a--hole," "crap," etc.
  • consumerism false3 Consumerism: Batman is a longstanding DC Comics brand and there is plenty of merchandise available with the hero's image. The film franchise is also majorly popular.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Some smoking, drinking, and hallucinogenic drugs effects.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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