The Dark Knight

Christopher Nolan did not make a superhero movie. He made a crime epic that happened to feature a man in a bat suit. The Dark Knight is Michael Mann’s Heat filtered through a comic book lens, with Heath Ledger’s Joker as the agent of chaos who reveals the fragility of Gotham’s moral order. Ledger’s performance is transcendent — funny, terrifying, philosophical, and completely unpredictable. It is the greatest villain performance in film history.

Nolan’s commitment to practical filmmaking gives every action sequence genuine impact. The opening bank heist, the truck flip on LaSalle Street, the Hong Kong extraction — all shot on IMAX cameras with real explosions and real stunt work. The truck flip was done in a single take with a steam cannon, and it remains one of the most impressive practical effects ever captured on film.

The Dark Knight was the first action film to cross $1 billion at the worldwide box office. It won two Academy Awards, including a posthumous Best Supporting Actor for Ledger. It proved that action blockbusters could be commercially massive and intellectually serious at the same time.