2. The Dark Knight (2008)
While there has always been a lot of talk around Heath Ledgers Oscar winning performance, this is just one element of what makes The Dark Knight brilliant. The best entry in Nolans Batman trilogy is at its heart a thrilling crime drama that just happens to have these two superheroes at the centre of it. The film has a myriad of plots flying around at once and Nolan, the master plate-spinner he is, keeps each moving toward their final goal. With destruction as chaotic as its villain and grounded by a great cast the film never tests its length, although it did test certification; some scenes, such as the disappearing pencil, caused uproar from parents unhappy the 12A rating let their kids be exposed to such horrors, despite children's ability to see it being in their hands. When it was made, Nolan gave no inclination that he would do a third part, meaning The Dark Knight could quite easily have been the last entry set in the his realistic Batverse. We know it wasn't and having witnessed the explosive finale its safe to say the film still works. Now the middle entry in a trilogy, The Dark Knight makes for an interesting watch. Nolan plays with the preconception of sequels going darker by having a brighter city and setting more of the film in the daylight in contrast to the increasingly dark plot. The ending works on a dual-purpose. While it definitely ties directly into The Dark Knight Rises, thanks to Nolans insistence of not planning more than one film ahead makes the ending feel final, tying up all the major plot threads. Can any other major trilogy boast a middle that does that?