The cast are all back for Nolan’s second go at the character, with the exception of Maggie Gyllenhaal replacing Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes. And it’s most definitely a step up in every way; Holmes was probably the biggest problem with Batman Begins, dragging the scenes she was in down more than a few rungs on the ladder with her woodenness but this time around the very talented Gyllenhaal gives the character that much needed believability and compassion. Christian Bale is again excellent as the caped crusader and  Gary Oldman (in an expanded role from the one in the previous film), Aaron Eckhart, and Morgan Freeman are all predictably impressive in their respective roles.

However there’s one actor who is a psychopathic head above the rest, and I don’t really need to say who it is as you will already know. Heath Ledger is stunning, mesmerising, astonishing, and utterly astounding as Batman’s arch nemesis, The Joker. The way he gets every mannerism, every facial expression, and of course the infamous high-pitched laugh absolutely spot-on is a testament to how deep he dove into the character. No matter how good the rest of the cast are, Ledger is untouchable here and most definitely deserves that Oscar nomination people have been saying he’ll get. And when he does get nominated come next year it won’t be out of sympathy but because he truly deserves it, he really is that damn good. And anyone who states otherwise is wrong; it’s not often I say that flat out but this warrants such a brash statement. Ledger’s performance will go down in the movie villain history books alongside the likes of Hannibal Lecter and Norman Bates.

Very often in films of this genre, no matter what happens, no matter the dangers our hero has to face, we know he won’t die because he’s the hero of the tale, right? Well, The Dark Knight is one of those rare cases where you genuinely fear for the life of the main character and the (innocent) people around him. It’s one of the key strengths of the film that no one is safe, no matter how established they may be within the story or in the hearts of the comic book fans; you just never know what will happen next and to whom. There’s a certain unpredictability at play here, the likes of which we’ve rarely seen in modern movies, especially those based on comic books.

Aside from The Joker, who I can’t say enough amazing things about, the biggest addition is Aaron Eckhart as “Gotham’s white knight” Harvey Dent. This goes to prove that you can have multiple storylines, or more specifically multiple villains, in the same film and make it work. It could be argued that they should have had the whole film about The Joker and left the character of Two-Face for the next one but I would argue that the two go hand in hand, at least in the way the story is handled here. Some very detailed problems with the conclusion of the two characters' stories aside, as a fan of the characters and the whole mythology I was in utter heaven experiencing a film that includes three of the comic book universe’s best characters.