It had been a successful decade for the comic book movie, with that trend continuing into the latter half of the decade. Just as looked like the public demand for irradiated heroes looked to be diminishing, with lacklustre showings from the likes of Spider-Man 3 and Fantastic Four, out came Iron Man. Coupled with a brilliant script and an excellent performance from Robert Downey Jr as the titular zillionaire industrialist/playboy/freedom fighter/all-round genius, the end result was something truly special. Downey’s career was also revitalised, earning him a role in Tropic Thunder (which would earn him an Oscar nomination). Louis Leterrier’s The Incredible Hulk took a similar approach, this time giving Edward Norton of Fight Club fame a shot at getting under the skin of the green goliath.

 They set a tough act to follow, but followed they were by one Christopher Nolan. With the Batman franchise in tatters after the ghastly Batman & Robin, Nolan set about not so much reinventing the wheel as reinventing the whole damn world; the result being the excellent Batman Begins, a gritty drama that took the bat back to his mythological primal origins, with Christian Bale donning the guise of the caped crusader. After twiddling his thumbs with magic-based thriller/thinker The Prestige, Nolan revisited Gotham with a film that would change everything: The Dark Knight was unquestionably the greatest comic book movie ever made, despite threatening to be overshadowed by the death of its star, Heath Ledger (already a recipient of plaudits and gongs for his role in Brokeback Mountain), who put in a truly terrifying performance as the psychotic Joker that would earn him a posthumous Oscar.

 As well as Ledger, let us not forget some of the other truly magnificent performances in the latter half of the decade: Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler; Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood; Sean Penn in Milk; Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote; Joaquin Phoenix in Walk the Line, and Denzel Washington in American Gangster. Masters of their craft, the lot of them. Veteran directors also continued to create and amaze: Scorsese with The Aviator and The Departed; Tarantino with Death Proof and Inglourious Basterds; Spielberg with Munich; Clint Eastwood with Million Dollar Baby and Gran Torino; Ron Howard with Frost/Nixon, and Danny Boyle with Slumdog Millionaire. 

Elsewhere, numerous epic franchises came to a close, or continued. Ocean’s 12 and 13 continued to cement George Clooney’s status as The Coolest Guy In Hollywood, and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End and The Bourne Ultimatum all brought their stories to their respective conclusions. There were fourth instalments in the Die Hard and Indiana Jones series, and a SIXTH outing for Sylvester Stallone in Rocky Balboa, who also brought out a new Rambo movie. Harry Potter ventured into uncharted, darker territory with The Goblet of Fire; The Order of the Phoenix, and The Half-Blood Prince, and Star Trek was rebooted under the helm of JJ Abrams, to great success. James Bond received similar treatment, with Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace both doing well. Transformers also saw two instalments, with Michael Bay seemingly finding his niche in landmark-destroying, shape-shifting killer robots.

 Teenage girls began to through their weight behind the film industry. The High School Musical trilogy became a shock success, and Zac Efron the latest teen-heartthrob. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the decade can be reserved for Twilight. Based on the books by Stephanie Meyer, vampirism became the latest fad as it chronicled the trials of star-crossed lovers, human Bella (Kristen Stewart), and vampire Edward (Robert Pattinson). Unsurprisingly, sequel New Moon was just as big a hit, this time introducing werewolf Jacob (Taylor Lautner) into the frame. Just goes to show; hell hath no obsession like a love-struck teenage girl.

One of the biggest events of the decade however, has to go to Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. With lacklustre critical receptions to the previous two efforts, George Lucas had it all to do – and do it he did, with style. The dialogue was still clunky and at times unintelligible, but all that was swept away by the sheer grandeur of the spectacle that was brought before us as the saga was brought full circle.

 Advances in 3D cinema outside the confines of the local Imax continued to be made: Henry Sellick’s Coraline made good use of the new technology, as did horror flicks My Bloody Valentine and The Final Destination. With the release of James Cameron’s Avatar though, it looks as though all this could be rendered a thing of the past. With new software being installed in all major cinemas around the country in order to allow for a greater, for innovative experience, it looks as if film has truly entered the next century. Similarly, Pixar continued their dominance of the animated film market, with Ratatouille, Wall:E and Up all garnering critical and commercial success.

 Apparently, some still desired a return to a nicer better age, away from all the technological airs and graces; enter the hand-held camera movie. Cloverfield brought a new angle to the more-tired-than-tired disaster movie genre; District 9 showed a more human side to Sci-Fi, and Paranormal Activity was one of the scariest films fo years. 

 With the war on terror in full swing, it was inevitable that some of it would spill over into the world of film. Jarhead pondered on the boredom side of things, while The Hurt Locker honed in on the gritty reality of it all. Marionette comedy Team America bashed pretty much every side going in their hilarious take on the global political climate, and WW2 was pondered in Downfall, Defiance and Valkyrie. 

Again, it has been nigh on impossible to mention every great film event of the latter part of the decade, to here I will pay lip service to those I haven’t had time to include: Sideways; Coach Carter; Hotel Rwanda; Sin City; Cinderella Man; The Constant Gardener (2005); Good Night and Good Luck; Kidulthood; Hot Fuzz; United 93; Thank You For Smoking; The Death of Mr Lazarescu; Superman Returns (2006); Apocalypto; Blood Diamond; The Last King of Scotland; Hot Fuzz; 300; This Is England; Superbad; Atonement; I Am Legend; The Kite Runner (2007); No Country For Old Men; Sweeney Todd; Juno; In Bruges; City of Men; Rocknrolla; Waltz With Bashir; (2008); Che; The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Watchmen; The Damned United; In the Loop; The Hangover; Bruno; Moon, and Where the Wild Things Are (2009). All in all, not a bad ten years.