Dark Knight was never going to have an easy time of it. Batman Begins set a high bar and the hype for Dark Knight and the building anticipation of it began almost as soon as the premier ended. Combined with the untimely and unfortunate demise of rising star Heath Ledger, it's hardly surprising that Dark Knight had such massive box office success in its opening weekend... what IS surprising is the general agreement - the film lived up to the hype.

Heath Ledger's performance is truly excellent... which, given the strong portrayal by Nicholson in the 1989 Burton film is saying something. It's new... and very much in keeping with the nature of the atmosphere Nolan has created. Very concerned with realism and a dark, brooding atmosphere... this results in the Joker being simultaneously very different from previous incarnations but very much the same and similarly, Two Face - whose appearance in the film wasn't even touched upon in the trailers - is done in a way that bears little resemblance to the comic book treatments but remains true to the character.

Some might be concerned about the replacement of Katie Holmes... from a continuity point of view... it's unfortunate but in a more circumspect sense? Her substitute is infinitely more suited to the role, so the change of actress is a net benefit... had Holmes been playing against Ledger's sublime Joker, it would have been almost as embarrassing as everyone in Superman Returns trying to act with the talent of Kevin Spacey.

There are a few twists in the film... but most of them are fairly obvious to those paying attention but sitll enjoyable... and overall, the only real failing of the film is maybe that it's pacing at times is a bit on the slow side but overall, the almost universal adoration it received is well deserved and certainly - this deserved to punt the tedious Spiderman 3 into the long grass because it surpasses it in every facet of its existence.

Gotham Knight - or the Batmanamatrix, in reference to the notion it emulates the Animatrix, referencing the same continuity but ultimately being of little true consequence to the film that precedes or succeeds it - is the newly released Batman animation.

The six stories told are without a great deal of overlap... being as they are, simply set in the interim between the end of the last film and before the beginning of the Dark Knight... suffice to say that while the style varies between them that the animation is all of a suitably high quality - although, it's rather strange to see the slightly different realisations of Batman and Bruce Wayne, as they're all voiced by the same voice actor.

The stories vary considerably - from Batman testing out a magical bullet shield (which is fortunately one of the shorter stories and where Batman quickly rejects the device), to Batman saving cops from a mobster shoot out all the way through to Batman and Deadshot facing off. The Animatrix seemed to flounder because of it's different directors and styles... and the Animatrix was essentially just a way for the Wachoski Brother's to introduce the irritating hero-worshipping Kid and explain how Zion was aware of the Machine's digging.

Gotham Knight doesn't have any stories that are facilitated by a particular plot need. They're presumably just what the writers thought would be cool... and it works and even if you find one of the stories dragging a bit, you've always got the prospect of another one just around the corner... all in all, an excellent way to whet the appetite for the new Batman.

It may seem a strange thing to say... but Batman Begins and Casino Royale actually have a considerable amount in common. Both of them were back to basics endeavours in an attempt to reverse the campy trends... and let's face it, Batman & Robin was so bad it sent a fairly profitable, high profile franchise into the abyss... kind of like Superman IV but Superman Returns wasn't particularly good.

Batman Begins may have made that modern day mistake of epilepsy inducing cinematography at times... but otherwise it was pretty much fantastic... and let's face it, that's down to Christian Bale... it's ok to find that man attractive. They managed to get Batman down as a character far better than they ever did in the 1980s instalments...

Perhaps this is proof that less is more. Sure, there might not be quite as many massive explosions or action set pieces but the time of the brainless 80s action film has passed and those which came after were just hollow and campy. The days where Arnie, Sly or similar could be handed a gun and pointed toward a thousand bad guys are sadly disappeared and now we must have things that attempt to be edgy or cool... but at least you can say of these two films that there was something to them.