Amidst an ongoing struggle to rid Gotham of organized crime, the Batman (Christian Bale) is introduced to a villain whose motivation seem to be to create anarchy and chaos: Known as The Joker (Heath Ledger) because of facial scars that resemble a smile, he wreaks havoc on the city and disrupts District Attorney Harvey Dent's (Aaron Eckhart) efforts to imprison mobsters. Also with Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman and Eric Roberts. Directed by Christopher Nolan. [2:32]

SEX/NUDITY 2 - A man and a woman adjust their clothing while standing next to a bed, when another man walks through the room as if they had been having sex. A man and a woman kiss in a couple of scenes.
► A woman holds a man's hand and asks him suggestively to take the rest of the day off with her (he declines the invitation). A man proposes marriage to a woman. A man and a woman hold hands.
► Men and women are shown in swimsuits on a yacht (male bare chests, cleavage, legs, abdomens, shoulders and backs are visible). Women wear low-cut dresses and tops that reveal cleavage, bare shoulders and backs in several scenes. We see several men in their underwear, bound and blindfolded.

VIOLENCE/GORE 7 - Half of a man's face is burned off (his eyeball, teeth, cheek muscle and part of the jawbone are evident). A man stitches up a wound from a dog bite on his arm (we see the bloody and torn flesh). A man with large scars resembling a smile wears heavy, clown-like makeup accentuating his creepy appearance.
► A man complains of stomach pain, we see a large scar on his abdomen, something inside his stomach blinks and he and several other men in the room explode (we see the flash and rubble). A man drinks what he thinks is alcohol, but it is acid and we see him thrashing on the floor and we see acid burning a computer keyboard on his desk.
► During a bank robbery several men with guns threaten bank employees and customers: two employees are dragged over counter tops and thrown to the floor, one employee shoots at three robbers, killing one, and then he is shot by a robber (he falls to the ground and we see him with a bloody wound later). During a bank robbery several men shoot each other (they are shot in the head and fall to the floor dead) and a man puts a grenade in an injured man's mouth, then pulls the pin and the grenade releases a green gas (it does not explode).
► A man pushes a pencil into a table (it stands up straight), and he them slams a man's head down onto the pencil (the pencil is driven into the man's forehead and he falls to the floor).
► A man shoots another man at close range (we hear the shot). A man shoots the driver of a car, the car flips over and it is implied that the people in the car were killed. A man speaking in front of a large crowd is shot at, but another man is struck and lies motionless on the floor.
► A dead man hanging from a noose slams into an office window (we see a smudge of blood on the window) and we later are shown a video of his being tortured and eventually killed (we hear him yell but do not see the killing). Two men lie dead, slumped over a table with bloody cuts on their faces.
► A man is attacked by dogs, he punches one (we hear it whine), and he is struck by another man with a metal bar, who is then shot in the face with razors (we see cuts on his face) and thrown over the side of a building (he is grabbed before he falls).
► Two groups of men with guns threaten each other, they begin shooting, dogs jump on them (we hear growling and yelling), a dog is punched (we hear it yelp), and men continue shooting; one man jumps on the side of a car as it speeds away and he is thrown into a cement pillar, but he then jumps on the roof of the car blowing out the windshield.
► A man covered in a black plastic bag (presumably dead) sits up, holds a knife to a man's mouth, speaks to him threateningly and then slashes him while others in the room are held at gunpoint (we see the man's arm move in a slashing motion and the victim falls to the ground; no blood is shown). A man fights several men, and he is kicked and punched and stabbed.
► A man is shot in the stomach, he pushes the shooter over the side of a building, the shooter is holding a boy when he falls over, and the man grabs the boy and then falls to the ground.
► A man slams a man's head into a table, then punches his hand, slams him against a wall and punches him repeatedly. A man fights with many men who have guns: several of them are thrown out of a window and dangle from tethers.
► A man is dropped off the roof of a tall building, and he lands hard on his legs (we see the legs buckle and hear a loud crack). A woman is pushed through a window, she slides down and over the edge of the building and then plummets toward the street below; a man grabs her and they both crash into a parked car (they are unharmed). A man threatens another man and a woman with a knife, holding it to their faces, and the woman kicks him. A man punches a woman in the face. A woman slaps her husband in the face.
► A man sets a pile of money on fire and another man is seated on top of the pile (we do not see him die).
► A man jumps off a high-rise building, sails through the air on wings, crashes through a window, fights with several men, is shot at, and holds one man while they are pulled out of the building by a tether that is picked up by a plane. A man driving a motorcycle crashes into a truck and falls to the ground.
► A man in a courtroom pulls a gun and threatens another man who grabs the gun and punches him in the face. Two ferries filled with people are told that they must choose which boat will survive and which will be blown up. A man has many explosives in the lining of his coat, wired to a string around his thumb and he threatens several men in a room. A man holds a gun to a woman's head, and then a boy's head while his father looks on.
► A helicopter is caught in cables, it spins striking an office building with its tail, slams to the street in flames and bounces toward a van. A semi-truck slams into several police cars, one slams into an abutment, a van drives into a river, others are shot at and a couple of cars explode. A hospital explodes and crumbles to the ground. A car with a woman inside explodes (we see the car in flames but no body is visible). A building with a woman inside explodes. A burning fire truck sits in the middle of a street.
► A bus backs through the wall of a bank and strikes a man (he falls to the floor motionless). Armed SWAT teams enter several banks in a search operation.
► A man and a woman are tied to chairs in warehouses filled with barrels of gasoline and an explosive device. A man is forced to read an announcement on video. We see several men bound and blindfolded.
► A man offers to kill someone for money. A man talks about his father being abusive to his mother and says that he slashed his face with a knife. A man with large facial scars talks about his wife leaving him because of his appearance.

LANGUAGE 3 - 3 anatomical terms, 5 mild obscenities, name-calling (freak, scum, garbage), 1 religious profanity, 3 religious exclamations.

SUBSTANCE USE - A man drinks a shot of alcohol in a bar, a man drinks a beer, people are shown holding glasses of champagne and a couple are seen drinking from them, glasses filled with wine are shown on a table in a restaurant (we do not see anyone drink from them).

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Organized crime, drug dealing, money laundering, heroism, good vs. evil, greed, civilization, decency, chance, betrayal, death of a loved one, chaos, fear, anarchy, love, doing the right thing, vigilantism, hubris, the rule of law, morality.

MESSAGE - Important matters should not be decided by chance. Trying to do good but not succeeding, can turn someone into a nihilist.