Jonathan Nolan

6) 'The Dark Knight' (Release date: July 18, 2008)

From its spectacular IMAX "let's show you exactly the kind of mess you're in for" opening bank robbery sequence, a beautiful short blockbuster in and of itself, to Heath Ledger's definitively unhinged and ever stakes-raising ... more nihilistic Joker antics to ultra-suspenseful set pieces that also function as bedeviling questions in ethics, Christopher Nolan gave us what some considered a comic book adaptation that transcended comic book adaptations. Whatever you call it, the film was an undeniable coup, a masked-hero story with a true noir heart beating under its elaborate big-budget trappings.

How much did the movie gross at the box office?

His on-screen geek persona made him a star in the '80s, but in "The Dark Knight," he plays Gotham Cable News reporter Mike Engel. Who is he?

(Warner Bros.)

  Close