hristopher Nolan's second revamped Batman outing is a thrilling, unsettling trip down a dark avenue of greed, corruption and savage violence but the film undoubtedly belongs to the late Heath Ledger.

His mesmerising portrayal of an unhinged, almost demonic, Joker is one of the great screen villain performances. It is made all the more haunting because of the actor's untimely death but it is his sense of deranged menace that makes it so memorable.

He acts almost everyone else off the screen - only Aaron Eckhart as the fatally flawed district attorney Harvey Dent comes close to matching him.

Christian Bale is left only to look mildly peeved (and ever so slightly camp in that bat suit, no matter how many spikes they stitch on) as the caped crusader.

The story opens with a bank heist led by Ledger's Joker and quickly escalates into a complicated plot involving money laundering and Gary Oldman's top cop Jim Gordon refusing to believe his department is corrupt.

As a side issue Dent and Batman's civilian guise Bruce Wayne are vying for the affections of love interest Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal), with Dent odds on favourite to win.

When the Joker begins to exert his twisted influence on Gotham City the cops and the city's regular villains are plunged into a bloody conflict in which everyone is the loser.

Nolan paints the action sequences against a dark brooding background of mistrust, betrayal and violent revenge.

One thrilling sequence after another sees Dent emerge as the monstrous villain Two-Face and those closest to Batman are plunged into mortal danger.

One minor quibble is the growly voice adopted by Bale in Batman mode. It quickly becomes intensely annoying and makes you wish he'd clear his throat. At one point he, Ledger and Eckhart are all rasping away like 40-a-day Woodbine smokers who've been gargling with Cillit Bang.

But in spite of the gadgets, the explosions and stunts the overriding memory of this bleak but unmissable tale is Ledger's cruel, funny and utterly compelling villain. The next instalment will be so much weaker without him.