#3: The Dark Knight

In Summary

The film that proved that superhero movies could be taken seriously.

One of the most iconic individual acting performances of recent years.

They also actually flipped a real-life lorry.

It's The Dark Knight.

Not a second of this film feels like it's wasted. Every moment drives the plot forward. The stakes get higher and higher, just like that one continuous note in Hans Zimmer's score that opens the film.

Starting off with a high-paced, double, triple, quadruple, however many-crossinged bank heist, ending with the reveal of Heath Ledger's Joker, The Dark Knight is a supremely confident film that knows exactly what it wants to do with its two-and-a-half hour screen time.

This may be a Batman movie, but it is the Joker that is the star here. There is no need for any back-story, any exposition with the Joker, we can tell from the rough make-up, the greasy hair, the clothes, the voice, the scars, everything we need to know about the character. He may present himself as an unhinged madman on the surface, but he is far more calculating underneath.

The Joker arrives to challenge the Batman's set of ethics. He isn't just a criminal who can be defeated in combat, he is out to prove that anyone can be driven to violence when pushed to the edge - even the Batman.

Just how you can overcome such a threat while sticking to a code of not killing an enemy who is also several steps ahead of you is what drives the film's escalating plot. The message over the course of the film is that a hero is not just someone who defeats villains, but is a beacon of hope.

A Memorable Quote

You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

Things You May Not Know

• This is the first Christopher Nolan-directed film in the IMDb top 100, he has five other entries, making him the most prolific director in the list.
• Heath Ledger had to continuously lick his lips when in The Joker makeup in order to keep the prosthetic scars attached.
• The Batsuit modifications commented on in the film were in reference to the real modifications that were made in order to improve Christian Bale's mobility in the suit. 

One Of The Greatest Of All Time?
Not only was the film monumentally successful at the box office, but it seriously works at a storytelling and character level. To this day, The Dark Knight remains the benchmark for comic book adaptations, playing a pivotal role in making them the tentpoles of the movie industry that they are today.

While the film's escalation gives it serious momentum, the final hour suffers slightly from a lack of new heights to reach. The gruesome introduction of Two-Face and the sonar phone hacking towards the end of the film stretch the realism of Christopher Nolan's Batman universe slightly too far.

Those are minor quibbles against a hugely iconic and watchable film.