Like most of the first reviewers, Matthew D'Ancona over at the Spectator website waxes lyrical about the new Batman Movie, The Dark Knight,which opens this week.

' Very rarely is it genuinely true to say that a movie is astonishing, writes Matthew. 'But no other word will do justice to this film... To describe The Dark Knight as the latest in the (famously uneven) Batman franchise simply does not explain what this film aspires to be and to do.

Steady on Matthew. What are we actually talking about here?

Having seen it myself, I'd agree that The Dark Knight is stylish and full of good performances. Heath Ledger as the Joker (pictured) is however being almost ridiculously gushed over, largely because it is a posthumous performance by a young, popular actor. In truth Ledger's is a role which already existed as an icon of popular culture, and he fills it well, and that's about it.

But what the reaction to The Dark Knight really illustrates is the infantilisation of our movie culture, indeed our broader culture. Comic book superhero films are now analysed with deadly seriousness, and are praised for their 'darkness' 'edginess' and sophistication. The Dark Knight has proved to be the last word in this trend.

But surely we were more adult in our approach in the sixties, when the caped crusader could be seen in the much loved colourful, campy TV series? Even as late as 1989, and the first of the big screen Batman movies, there was still a cartoon sensibility and aesthetic in Tim Burton's operatic treatment.

Now that has disappeared, and movies such as The Dark Knight are poured over for meaning. The truth is, in the last three decades, as attention spans and perspectives have shortened, genuinely adult narratives have been disappearing from the cinema. The child-like and the trivial have taken centre stage and been given not just big budgets but the full broadsheet treatment.

Many film critics dispaired at the effect that the Star Wars series had on the whole perception of film. As the renowned film critic and historian David Thomson wrote, 'What is there to say about Star Wars?'  Many lovers of film have felt the same about the mainstream dominance of the Superhero blockbuster. We are, in effect, going backwards.