Batman 7: The Dark Knight (2008)

Elevator Pitch: In an increasingly lawless Gotham a new supervillain “The Joker” arrives on the scene, starting off by carrying out a well planned bank robbery, and thereafter beginning to control events in the city, taking on Assistant Commissioner Gordon, Batman and the new DA Harvey Dent who, by the way, has taken over Bruce Wayne’s love interest, Assistant DA Rachel Dawes. When the Joker’s machinations result in the death of Rachel and the disfigurement of Harvey Dent, a new villain Two Face is created, and the war between Batman and the Joker becomes personal.

Content:  Just a bit of snogging (enthusiastic kissing for you Americans), and some girls in bikinis at one point. Many set pieces, both involving the Joker as he robbs the bank, confronts the criminal gang leaders  and kills some of them, and Batman as he recovers  a gang leader from Hong Kong and more. One or two car chases, involving the Tumbler (the Batmobile), that motor bike thing and a Lamborghini. At one point the Joker is captured and so violence in the cells as Batman tries to get info out of him.

A View: This film was well liked by the critics and is No 4 on the IMDb Top Rated Movies List.  Heath Ledger won a posthumous Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Really it is the first film which might have been called “The Joker”, since Batman is a lesser character, and actually I did not like the new Batsuit, it made Batman look a bit weird in close-ups, although I accept that this might have been intentional. And I continue to dislike the modern Gotham, which is a hardly disguised Chicago. Not a patch on the Tim Burton Gothic environment. But that is just me – probably essential viewing for the cost of a download  if you are a superhero fan.

Additional Info: I usually thumb through the IMDb trivia, but this time there are 318 items, so I’ll stick with the numbers. This movie made over a billion dollars!