It's not often you see a giant bat-shaped car driving through central London, unless perhaps Batman is in town.

The caped crusader's（ 披斗篷的先锋（蝙蝠侠的别称）） famous Batmobile was here for the European premiere of new Batman film The Dark Knight, a film which has already been making waves（ 掀起一阵热潮） at the US box office（ 票房）.

It has set a box office record for best opening weekend（ 首个周末） ever, taking $155m (1.1bn yuan) in the US alone in its first three days in cinemas.

But while it is not unusual for summer blockbusters（ 夏季大片） to make a lot of money, what is less common is for such films to receive good reviews from critics.

"An epic that will leave you staggering（ 摇摇晃晃） from the theatre, stunned（ 受惊的） by its scope（（影片的）范围 ）and complexity," was how Associated Press described the film, one of many reviews which sung the praises（ 表扬） of the latest Batman film.

The movie, which stars British actor Christian Bale in the lead role and the late Heath Ledger as his arch-enemy（ 死敌） the Joker, has already been voted the number one film of all time by users of the website imdb.com.

The story follows the superhero Batman as he battles the criminal underworld（ 黑社会） in the fictional Gotham City.

One particularly stunning part sees Batman leap from the top of the International Finance Centre in Hong Kong; and even features a cameo role（ （电影中）托明星演员的小配角） for controversial star Edison Chen.

Many critics have singled out（ 挑出，选出） Heath Ledger's performance as the maniacal （ 疯狂的）Joker, who wreaks mayhem（ 犯下重伤罪） as Batman tries to stop him.

Anglo-American director Christopher Nolan described his performance as breathtaking（ 激动人心的）, complex and "hard to pin down"（ 很难下结论）. Co-star Sir Michael Caine called him "one of the greatest villains（ 坏人，反面人物） you've ever seen."

Ledger died earlier this year from an accidental prescription drugs overdose（ 意外过量服药）. It now looks likely that he will receive a posthumous（ 死后获得的） Oscar nomination.