The Dark Knight

"Welcome to a world without rules."

2008 2h 32m EN

🤯

8.5

MASTERPIECE

🔥

94%

CERTIFIED FRESH

💯

METACRITIC

⭐

9.1

IMDB

★8.5TMDB · 36,906🍅94%Rotten Tomatoes●85Metacritic★9.1IMDB · 3,161,907

ActionThrillerCrime

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lt. Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as the Joker.

“Welcome to a world without rules.”

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Cast

Christian Bale
Bruce Wayne
Heath Ledger
Joker
Aaron Eckhart
Harvey Dent
Michael Caine
Alfred
Maggie Gyllenhaal
Rachel
Gary Oldman
Gordon
Morgan Freeman
Lucius Fox
Monique Gabriela Curnen
Ramirez

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Christopher Nolan
Writers: Christopher Nolan, David S. Goyer, Jonathan Nolan
Languages: English, Mandarin
Countries: United Kingdom, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Clocks in at 152 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

$185M budget — tentpole studio territory.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 5.4× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 18 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Mandarin.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "The Dark Knight Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

287+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Christopher Nolan directs. Wally Pfister behind the camera. James Newton Howard scores. Lee Smith cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United Kingdom, United States of America. Dialogue in English, Mandarin.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Clocks in at 152 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.
2$185M budget — tentpole studio territory.
3Made its money back 5.4× over at the box office.
4Released 18 years ago.
5Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Mandarin.
6International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.
7Part of the "The Dark Knight Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
8287+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
9Directed by Christopher Nolan, shot by Wally Pfister. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
10Original score by James Newton Howard. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
11Editor Lee Smith shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
12Christian Bale and Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart carry the top of the cast.
13Marketing tagline: "Welcome to a world without rules.".
14IMDB entry: tt0468569 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
1536,906 TMDB user ratings logged — serious cultural footprint.
16Classified under 18 themes, including "sadism", "chaos", "secret identity", "crime fighter".
17Released under 22 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Wally Pfister
Original score: James Newton Howard
Editing: Lee Smith
Production design: Nathan Crowley
Costume design: Lindy Hemming
Makeup / hair: Deborah K. Dee
VFX supervisor: Pierre Buffin
Sound: Richard King
Stunt coordinator: Tom Struthers
Runtime: 152 min · 2h 32m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $185,000,000
Box office: $1,004,558,444
Return: 543% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: The Dark Knight (2008)
Rotten Tomatoes: 94% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 85/100
IMDB rating: 9.1/10 · 3,161,907 votes
MPAA: PG-13

Awards

Won 2 Oscars. 163 wins & 165 nominations total

Academy Award for Best Sound Editing
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
MTV Movie Award for Best Villain

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Part of

The Dark Knight Collection

With minimal usage of CGI and a focus on character driven narratives, Christopher Nolan's dark, gritty portrayal of Bruce Wayne's transition into Batman and his struggles as Gotham's superhero set the precedent for modern superhero films.

Also by

Christopher Nolan

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Community reviews

What people are saying

tricksy2015-06-09
Excellent movie. Best of the trilogy. Lovely music. Nolan is a genius. So is Heath Ledger.
talisencrw2016-05-25
★ 10/10
This has no competition. It is the very finest comic-book character movie ever made. Knowing the Burton, Donner and Nolan filmic adaptations of Batman and Superman exist helps me to sleep at night. They are Exhibit A of 'How to Make a Comic-Book Movie'. Nothing else has ever come even remotely close. These seven films (I include 'Superman II' because it was mostly Donner's work)--and Nolan's trilogy especially--are what I imagine a great director like Kubrick, Hitchcock or Kurosawa would have come up with, if they had ever been asked to make a Superman or Batman movie. They are the easiest for an audience to identify with because in these the scripts most approximate human emotions and the typical conundrums of the human experience--in short, are the closest, in a good way, they come to the complexities of the human condition. Peerless.
erickprieto2018-11-06
Perhaps the best Batman movie of all times. I think that this Batman trilogy presents the well-known superhero history in an unexpected way with the capable to maintain on the edge of the chair all time. Heath Ledger present an excellent impersonification of a psychopath. All support roles are magnificent. And Bruce Wayne role played by Christian Bale, shows a human being behind of the mask.