The Dark Knight (2008)
Some men just want to watch the world burn.
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.
| Type | Movie |
|---|---|
| Released | 16 July 2008 |
| Genre | Action, Thriller, Crime |
| Director | Christopher Nolan |
| Starring | Christian Bale, Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart |
| Runtime | 152 min |
| Rated | PG-13 |
| Scores | Rotten Tomatoes 94% · Metacritic 85/100 · IMDb 9.1/10 · TMDB users 8.5/10 |
| Budget | $185 million |
| Box office | $1.01 billion worldwide |
Where to watch The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight is streaming on Max ($18.49 a month) in the US. If that is the only reason to subscribe, one month of Max is $18.49 at list price.
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What kind of watch this is
Christopher Nolan’s 2008 thriller runs 152 minutes, a stretch that feels necessary given the scale of the chaos it unleashes. The premise is simple: Batman, Lt. Gordon, and DA Dent clean up the streets, then a new enemy decides the city needs to burn. It is not a superhero movie in the traditional sense. It is a crime thriller that happens to feature a man in a bat costume. The tone is heavy, the stakes are high, and the central conflict feels personal rather than cosmic. It treats its genre with a seriousness that still holds up, even if the concept feels less radical now than it did then.
What the critics said
Rotten Tomatoes lists a 94% approval rating from 341 critics as of January 2026. The consensus calls it "Dark, complex and unforgettable." Metacritic assigns an 85 out of 100, a score that signals universal acclaim. Critics generally agreed it succeeded not just as a comic book film, but as a crime saga. Roger Ebert argued it redefined the potential of the genre by combining comic-book tropes with real world events. That is a high bar for a movie about capes.
How it did with audiences
It cost $185 million and took $1.0 billion worldwide. In North America, it earned $535 million. On TMDB, users rate it 8.5 out of 10. IMDb gives it a 9.1/10 as of February 2026. The numbers suggest audiences didn’t just watch it; they returned.
Awards
Heath Ledger took the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2009, joining Richard King’s win for Best Sound Editing. The film collected 4 awards from 9 nominations. The National Board of Review also placed it in their Top Ten.
What came next for the cast
Christian Bale went from Batman Begins and The Prestige to The Dark Knight Rises, The Big Short, and Ford v Ferrari. Michael Caine moved from Batman Begins and The Prestige into Inception, Interstellar, and The Dark Knight Rises. Aaron Eckhart shifted from Erin Brockovich and Thank You for Smoking toward Sully and the Fallen series. Heath Ledger’s list ends with The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus in 2009. The credits show paths diverging, not a cause-and-effect chain.
If you liked this
TMDB's recommendations for people who watched The Dark Knight.
Read more: The Dark Knight Rises
Sources
- The Dark Knight on TMDB — synopsis, cast, ratings and recommendations
- Wikidata Q163872 — review scores, box office and awards (CC0)
- “The Dark Knight” on Wikipedia, by its contributors (history) — reception, audience figures and legacy, summarised and adapted here under CC BY-SA 4.0
- Where to watch and prices: Binge Boss, from TMDB watch-provider data (powered by JustWatch) and our own provider list
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