The Dark Knight of the Soul

I finally saw the Batman movie, “Dark Knight.” (I know I’m way behind, just finally getting around to the Summer.) By every measure–character, plot, acting, filmmaking–it was, indeed, a good movie. I need to think more about its theme, though. Was the movie expressing an ideology that is

(a) liberal, showing how terrorism can bring out the worst in both “good guys” and society as a whole (provoking us to torture captives, wiretap the public, and in our fears turn to violence)?

or,

(b) conservative, showing how anarchy lies just below the surface of our society, and that social order must be maintained by force?

or,

(c) nihilistic, that there is no essential difference between anarchy, crime, lawful authority, and lawless vigilantism?

or,

what?