Dark Knight, The

Rating: *****/*****, or 10/10

Superb sequel to the excellent Batman Begins (2005). The already dark and sombre atmosphere of its predecessor is carried on in this film as the vigilante Batman (Christian Bale) is confronted with his ultimate nemesis, the insane criminal mastermind named simply the Joker (Heath Ledger (1979-2008) in his penultimate screen role, undoubtedly the most memorable character he has played in his sadly all too brief career). Continuing to step up his game in his master plan to bring chaos to Gotham City, the Joker unleashes a reign of terror on the town: in response, Batman is forced to use ever more desperate tactics to ensure the city's survival and order, aided by the relentless district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) who is waging his own war against organized crime. However, even the pair of them can't stop the Joker from killing one person too many, the woman they both love (Maggie Gyllenhaal), with dire consequences to both Dent – turning him into the villain Two-Face – and Batman himself, who must take the fall for Dent's undoing so Gotham's laws he established stay in effect. Ledger's eerie and psychotic but in a twisted manner surprisingly amusing bad guy is a perfect counterpart to Bale's overly gritty and brooding Caped Crusader: after all, 'why so serious?', since this is still a comic book adaptation. However, of all the comic book adaptations done so far, this one deserves to be taken the most serious considering the gripping story, the compelling performances by the lead actors (Ledger was posthumously awarded with an Oscar) as well as grand established actors in supporting roles (among them, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Gary Oldman) and some edge-of-your-seat action scenes, including a night time freeway chase involving a truck and Batman's fan favorite vehicle gadgets, the Tumbler and the Batpod. Partially shot in IMAX, Nolan's preferred cinema format: on the home video releases, this leads to changing aspect ratios that tell you what was and what wasn't produced using IMAX cameras. Nolan would conclude his epic threesome of Batman films – dubbed the Dark Knight trilogy due to the overwhelming success of this film – with The Dark Knight Rises (2012), a formidable flick in itself, but no match for this movie, which in the mind of many (including myself) remains the finest superhero film of them all.

Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart

Directed by Christopher Nolan

USA: Warner Bros., 2008

Black Dahlia, The

Rating: ***/*****, or 6/10

Intriguing and stylistically successful but ultimately haphazard and chaotic movie concerning the 'Black Dahlia' murder mystery of 1947, involving the investigation by two cops of a brutally slain and grotesquely mutilated young woman, based on the novel by James Ellroy. Brian De Palma, no stranger to the genre and the time period, is fully capable of making the scenery and circumstances surrounding the homicide both uncomfortably abject and the object of morbid fascination while utilizing a style that obviously pays homage to film noir, but the overall farfetched yet fairly predictable conclusion of the plot leaves much to be desired, as does Josh Hartnett's acting as a battered cop who's supposedly seen it all, a role that just wasn't suited to his age at the time of shooting this film (way too young, really). Aaron Eckhart does a better job at playing his colleague, as does Scarlett Johansson playing the obligatory beautiful but traumatized femme fatale. The love triangle between the three of them is generally irritating for hindering the progress of the film, but the overall story about abuse of power, corruption in the upper echelons of the law and the vicious objectification of women to deadly consequences remains interesting enough to carry most of the picture.

Starring: Josh Hartnett, Aaron Eckhart, Scarlett Johansson

Directed by Brian De Palma

USA: Universal Pictures, 2006