The follow-up to the action hit Batman Begins, The Dark Knight reunites director Christopher Nolan and star Christian Bale, who reprises the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman.

With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and the committed new District Attorney, Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to destroy organised crime in Gotham City for good.

The triumvirate initially proves effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a rising criminal mastermind known as The Joker, who thrusts Gotham into anarchy and forces The Dark Knight ever closer to crossing the fine line between hero and vigilante.

Academy Award nominee Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain) portrays arch-villain The Joker, and Aaron Eckhart plays District Attorney Harvey Dent. Maggie Gyllenhaal joins the cast in the role of Rachel Dawes. Returning from Batman Begins are Gary Oldman as Lieutenant Jim Gordon; Oscar winner Michael Caine (The Cider House Rules) as Alfred; and Oscar winner Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby) as Lucius Fox.

With Batman Begins, writer/director Christopher Nolan opened a new chapter in the Batman film franchise by taking the legendary character back to his origins, re-imagining why and how the billionaire industrialist Bruce Wayne became the enigmatic crime fighter known to the world as Batman.

In The Dark Knight Nolan returns to the Batman saga with the character now, in the director’s words, "fully formed."

"I thought we left the world of Batman at an interesting place in the first film, and the end suggested an intriguing direction in which the story could continue," Nolan says.

Nolan developed the story with David S. Goyer, with whom he had collaborated on the screenplay for Batman Begins.

Nolan and his brother, Jonathan, then partnered on the screenplay for The Dark Knight.

The late Australian actor Heath Ledger plays The Joker in what was his last movie role before his death of an accidental prescription drug overdose in his New York apartment in January.

Ledger’s portrayal of The Joker has earned high praise from critics around the world including regular mention of an Oscar nomination.

"The Joker is somebody without any rules whatsoever," Christian Bale states about The Joker’s role in The Dark Knight.

"How do you fight somebody who is bent on destruction, even if it means self-destruction? That’s a formidable foe."

Bale goes on to say that The Joker’s total lack of morality is one of his most potent weapons. "Batman has a very strict moral code for what he will and won’t do, and The Joker can use that to his advantage.

"Batman still has this huge reserve of anger and pain and knows he could easily go too far, so he must not cross that line.

"He has to be sure that in chasing a monster, he doesn’t become a monster himself."

The Dark Knight is rated M and is screening at Birch Carroll & Coyle.

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