Released: 1992

What makes it great: One of the most common complaints about the Christopher Nolan Batman films is that there's not a lot of Batman in them. Of the two modern film franchises involving the character, it was Burton's second film that featured the most incisive textual look at the character. It could be argued that the entire film is an internal struggle for control of Batman's soul. Every character is a reflection of some piece of his fractured psyche. Catwoman's the part that loves to wear rubber and beat the crap out of people. The Penguin is the part that feels like a freak because he lost his parents. Even Max Shrek is the personification of the callous businessman Bruce Wayne frequently pretends to be. When these characters clash in the empty streets of a completely unreal city, it is nothing less that Batman fighting to see which part of himself is strongest, and at the end of the film, Burton's hero finally feels psychologically complete, ready for a series of films that, sadly, we never saw.

-Drew McWeeny