Review: The Dark Knight

The superhero sequel aims so far and wide, it would be impossible to achieve all it sets out to - we still get one fantastic film, though not one without a flaws.

The three leads fare differently - Ledger is amazing as the Joker (full of psychotic intensity), Eckhart is wasted as Harvey Dent (he and his story are deserving of much more than playing second fiddle to the Joker) and whisper it quietly, but Bale is actually a bit rubbish as Batman this time out (the voice is just plain wrong).

The film is beautifully shot and features great action set pieces, though with perhaps one too many as the whole boat shebang doesn't quiet carry the weight that you'd expect, simply due to its place in the film.

In a strange way you'd like them to be less ambitious, as its feels like there's 2 films worth of ideas cramped into one - a whole film based on Bruce Wayne versus Dent was a definite option, but that battle was only touched on here which is a terrible shame as what made it was golden.

This is light years ahead of the usual summer blockbuster releases and it will be interesting to see if Nolan returns again to raise the bar further, you could view the ending as him signing off on his vision of Batman for now - if that is the case whoever follows will be doing well if they have even a fraction the impact that man has had on modern blockbuster cinema.