The Dark Knight

Dark is not the word. Black would be more like it. While entertaining, this film is very, very, grim. Heath Ledger is brilliant and carries the film, but his untimely death adds an aura of additional darkness to an already bleak tale.

As Batman, Christian Bale continues to prove he's the best choice for the role. He does a terrific job as the tortured cape crusader but is overshadowed by Mr. Ledger. Most of the supporting cast from "Batman Returns" are also back although Maggie Gyllenhaal has replaced Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes and Aaron Eckhart is introduced as DA Harvey Dent. Both welcome additions to the film.

The action sequences are very exciting and well staged. The plot tends to get very thick though and is a bit confusing at times. Was a sequence in Hong Kong really necessary? The themes of the film are very adult and the visuals can be scary for children, especially in a scene where a child is directly in harms way( but makes an amazing recovery in the next scene).

For my money, the top superhero of the summer remains Iron Man.