Several critically-acclaimed comic book stories - among them ''The Long Halloween'' and ''The Killing Joke'' - were used as in the most recent entry in Nolan's series, ''[[The Dark Knight]]'' (2008), which has thus far exceeded all expectations. Almost universally lauded by critics and shattering numerous box-office records, ''The Dark Knight'' featured the final complete performance of [[Heath Ledger]] as a monstrous version of the Joker, a psychotic who thinks the only sane way to live [[anarchy|is without rules]] and wants to prove it to the world - and at the same time gave the artists and writers who penned the Batman stories a version of the Joker they thought was closest to their own. Though the tone at the start of the film is hopeful - Batman has inspired citizens to stand up for themselves again and has organized crime in the city reeling - it quickly spirals downward, embodying the theme that Nolan chose for the movie: things have to get worse before they get better. | Several critically-acclaimed comic book stories - among them ''The Long Halloween'' and ''The Killing Joke'' - were used as in the most recent entry in Nolan's series, ''[[The Dark Knight]]'' (2008), which has thus far exceeded all expectations. Almost universally lauded by critics and shattering numerous box-office records, ''The Dark Knight'' featured the final complete performance of [[Heath Ledger]] as a monstrous version of the Joker, a psychotic who thinks the only sane way to live [[anarchy|is without rules]] and wants to prove it to the world - and at the same time gave the artists and writers who penned the Batman stories a version of the Joker they thought was closest to their own. Though the tone at the start of the film is hopeful - Batman has inspired citizens to stand up for themselves again and has organized crime in the city reeling - it quickly spirals downward, embodying the theme that Nolan chose for the movie: things have to get worse before they get better. |