Every Christopher Nolan Movie, Ranked

4. The Dark Knight (2008)

There isn't an ounce of fat on The Dark Knight, a perfect superhero movie that has all that makes Nolan tick wrapped inside a faultless exploration of Batman's mission and its cost. A biting dismantling of human evil and the superhero image, it remains the quintessential Batman movie, as well as Nolan's most iconic film. 

At its centre, Bruce Wayne tests the limits of his body in a fight to end crime in Gotham, a plan thrown into chaos by the arrival of the madness of the Joker (Heath Ledger, in a performance for the ages) and the city's new district attorney, Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), who Wayne sees as Gotham's shining beacon of hope.

Stunning in its construction and bracing in its thrills, The Dark Knight's secret weapon remains, fittingly, its spirit. The film is dark and hopeless, the Joker an unstoppable force of nature, but also pulsing with hope all the same, as the people of Gotham band together and Batman sacrifices all he is to keep his city alive.

It's a brilliant tale of philosophy and morality, a timeless classic that cemented Nolan as one of the modern greats of cinema.