On the other hand, it's not really like director, Christopher Nolan, needs my approval as with the hype you shall already know what he has created is the movie of the year. Possibly the superhero movie of the decade. As of July 29th 2008, 'The Dark Knight' has already grossed over $333 million, making it the most successful box office release of all time - beating off other cult followings for the movies such as 'Star Wars' and 'Pirates of the Caribbean'. I have also seen 'The Dark Knight' be described as being greater than all three 'Spider-Man' movies combined. Now I was a huge fan of Peter Parker in his trilogy of movies, but Bruce Wayne has certainly opened up a new darker side to superhero movies that could have easily seen the movies 12A age certificate being pushed up a few years, at least.

You may have heard that the movie opens with an incredibly entertaining bank robbery scene, although I would call that a bit of an over exaggaration and compared to what follows in the next 150 minutes will have you disregarding that scene. The Joker is out in full force, and his various henchmen aiding his robbery in clown masks shall have the kids terrified and peering from behind seats already, so do the rest of the movie-goers a favour and do not take young children to The Dark Knight. They are unlikely to follow the storyline, or enjoy the violence, and judging from the age range in the showing I watched last night it doesn't seem that it is the 12A audience that is lining the pockets of the third movie - it's those that do not figid in a seat after an hour.

Meanwhile, the face of the recovering Gotham City is Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) who as district attorney is hailed as the 'White Knight'. He throws himself into the face of danger for the sake of his campaign, but something about him has the aura of a bad guy that doesn't seem to develop. Of course if you are a comic book reader you will know all about Harvey Dent, who never leaves anything to chance and even has a coin with a head on either side to symbolise this. Perhaps the dislike for the character stems from his proposal to Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal), who the audience believe should be with Bruce Wayne.

The Joker is a man with nothing to lose, and that is what makes the movie so modern. Not arroused by the idea of all the money he could be making, Joker is a terrorist that has decided he wants to undo all the good work done to Gotham City. And after Batman goes abroad on a bounty hunter mission to bring back that accountant rat that can testify against every last member of the mobs, the criminals of the city realise that they have no choice but to work with Joker in order to secure their freedom. The Dark Knight certainly has his work cut out, working with James Gordon (Gary Oldman), one of the last few cops not corrupted, and Lucious Fox (Morgan Freeman), the technology in the movie is advanced yet remains realistic.

Batman has turned dark and disturbing, and the fact that the movie does not even choose to use the superheros name in the title of the movie, rather his alter ego, proves that The Dark Knight is further away from 'Batman Forever' than you ever thought you might get. Although Christian Bale has recently been named and shamed as a suspect for assaulting his mother and sister, those tabloid stories are the last thing you'll be thinking about during the movie -- perhaps after you may mention how they were clearly just after his money at the highest point of his career. Whilst I do not rate Bale as the best actor going, his performance and Bruce Wayne is faultless, and it will be interesting to see how this hot property acts out another high-profile character as John Connor in next years big movie, 'Terminator Salvation'.

Before I move on to the big acting opinion, I have to say how happy I was to see not only a 'Prison Break' actor in the movie but also a 'Lost' actor! Nestor Carbonell takes on the role of the Mayor of Gotham City. Good times.