10 The Dark Knight
The second Nolan helmed Batman movie to appear in this list, The Dark Knight was that bit more complete, that much more
absolute than its more recent counterpart thanks for the most part to the late, great Heath Ledgers swansong performance as the Man Who Laughs (thats the Joker, for those of you behind in Batman lore). The Dark Knight is nothing short of a modern masterpiece thanks to a superior script, fantastic performances and some truly breath-taking action. With The Dark Knight Nolan successfully toes the line between art and commerce, between popcorn fodder and festival darling. Nolans second foray into the Batman mythos is deeper, darker and more emotionally articulate than both its predecessor and its sequel and the result is, quite simply, a thinking mans actioner with more levels than an old Atari game. Sometimes action movies are a guilty pleasure; theyre terrible, but we watch and enjoy them anyway because carnage, even without justification, is usually pretty entertaining to watch. Theres nothing guilty about the pleasure youll get from The Dark Knight though, far from it. Nolan genuinely succeeded here in creating probably one of the finest action/thrillers this side of the new millennium.
Best bit: Joker makes a pencil disappear.