4 carefully selected movies like The Dark Knight — and the one to watch next

Watch this route if…

You valued moral pressure, tactical suspense and a villain who exposes the hero’s compromises.

Skip this route if…

You mainly want another superhero universe or comic-book iconography.

Three reasons it works

1. Hero and adversary recognise themselves in each other.
2. Action grows from choices, geography and professional competence.
3. Public order is tested through intimate moral decisions.

Two important differences

1. Heat is grounded crime drama with no mythic alter egos.
2. Logan is more intimate, elegiac and physically brutal.