One of the flagship Warner releases on HD DVD, Batman Begins was delayed on BD to better capitalize on interactive features. Unfortunately, Warner appeared to make no effort to capitalize on Blu-ray's overarching feature: superior capacity. The bitrates of the BD are no better than that of the HD DVD. That means the picture and sound are also held back by the HD DVD, and appear to have been sourced from the same transfer. The video and audio are not bad at all, but Batman Begins is not up to reference quality by any accurate assessment. The most frustrating part of this observation is not just waiting more than a year for no significant bitrate improvement over the HD DVD, but in comparing Batman Begins to a six-minute prologue of The Dark Knight, which is included on the BD. Every frame of the prologue is truly reference quality, generating a stark contrast to the comparably veiled and constricted dynamics of the main feature.
Watch the scene on the frozen lake, where Bruce spars with Ducard. The color and detail is a touch muted, although the resolution is actually quite good. The tonal balance, from light to dark, appears lifelike, but definition is subdued as if a thin layer of plastic is placed over the screen. It is this "veiling" from the low bitrate transfer that hinders the picture and separates it from reference quality BDs like No Country for Old Men.