No film could live up to such expectations but The Dark Knight soars tantalisingly close, probing the inner demons of Gotham's favourite crime-fighter as he duels with his most famous adversary.

The death of Heath Ledger from an accidental overdose of prescription medication casts a long shadow over Nolan's gloomy picture, adding a tragic dimension to The Joker.

Ledger's powerhouse portrayal of the demented clown with an unquenchable thirst for anarchy is being tipped for an Oscar.

Certainly, it's a dazzling performance; a far cry from Jack Nicholson's camp trickster in Tim Burton's Batman.

However, he is not the film's most intriguing or affecting villain: That honour belongs to Aaron Eckhart as the fatally flawed District Attorney Harvey Dent, whose metamorphosis into vengeful Two-Face is riveting.

Nolan builds on the solid framework of Batman Begins to deliver even more eye-popping action sequences including a high-speed chase on the Bat-Pod through Gotham, which reaches a crescendo with an 18-wheeler flipping end over end.

The director shot many of these set pieces with IMAX cameras – a first for a major feature film.

On the gargantuan canvas of these special cinemas, The Dark Knight leaves you breathless.

Having vanquished The Scarecrow (Murphy), millionaire Bruce Wayne (Bale) continues his crusade against crime aided by Lieutenant Jim Gordon (Oldman) and District Attorney Harvey Dent, who is romantically involved with old flame Rachel Dawes (Gyllenhaal).

Crime figures soar when deranged criminal mastermind The Joker declares war on the man in the cowl.

As the people of Gotham turn against their saviour, Bruce relies on loyal butler Alfred (Caine) and Wayne Enterprises technical genius Lucius Fox (Freeman) to stop him falling into the abyss.

The Dark Knight opens with a nerve-shredding bank heist that introduces the character of The Joker and steadily cranks up the tension.

Nolan and brother Jonathan, who co-wrote the script, don't waste a single second of the 152-minute running time; this is a lean, muscular and extremely violent battle between good and evil.

The Joker's opening trick (making a pencil disappear) sets the grisly tone for the rest of the film.

Casualties are high, even among the principal cast, interspersed with terrific confrontations between an increasingly conflicted Batman and his adversaries.

Bale is somewhat squeezed out of the frame – there could have been more scenes of Bruce wrestling with his conscience – and a pivotal action sequence involving Batman's new sonar-imaging lenses is horribly disorientating thanks to strobing computer effects and Lee Smith's hyper-kinetic editing.

However, these are minor blemishes on an otherwise thrilling adventure that echoes Harvey's prophetic words: "You either die a hero... or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain."