Heath Ledger as Joker in The Dark Knight

[growyourwings]

Woke up this morning still thinking about The Dark Knight (TDK). My husband and son are planning on going to go see it this afternoon and I'm tempted to go with them to see it again.

I was thinking more about Heath in the movie and while I do really believe that his was outstanding, there was this part of me this morning that couldn't help but wonder if I was influenced in that belief by his death. So I did some googling this morning to see what else was being said about TDK.

I found this from The LA Times, The Envelope, The Awards Insider by Tom O'Neill:

Does Heath Ledger have an Oscar I.O.U. for 'The Dark Knight'?

Let's forget for just a moment about all of the hallelujah reviews surrounding Heath Ledger's performance in "The Dark Knight." Can Heath Ledger win an Oscar just because he's holding an I.O.U.?

...

Now Ledger really deserves it, if we believe the New York Times' review of his Joker in "The Dark Knight": " He’s just a clown in black velvet, but he’s also some kind of masterpiece."

"This is a career-making performance if ever there was one," says USA Today about Ledger in "The Dark Knight." "Too bad it was a career-ending one as well."

"Not since Hannibal Lecter has a villain been so terrifying, so engaging and so memorable," says E! Online. If that's an apt analogy, then it's good kudos news for Ledger considering Anthony Hopkins won best actor. But is that the category Ledger should compete in — or should he go supporting? Read more about that great debate — CLICK HERE.

I told Emily and Alex yesterday after seeing the film that I thought Heath's Joker reminded me of Hannibal Lecter. He was just totally evil.

Then I followed the link in the above article to the New York Times references and read this by Manohla Dargis..

Pitched at the divide between art and industry, poetry and entertainment, it goes darker and deeper than any Hollywood movie of its comic-book kind — including “Batman Begins,”

...

Mr. Nolan has found a way to make Batman relevant to his time — meaning, to ours — investing him with shadows that remind you of the character’s troubled beginning but without lingering mustiness. That’s nothing new, but what is surprising, actually startling, is that in “The Dark Knight,” which picks up the story after the first film ends, Mr. Nolan has turned Batman (again played by the sturdy, stoic Mr. Bale) into a villain’s sidekick.

That would be the Joker, of course, a demonic creation and three-ring circus of one wholly inhabited by Heath Ledger. Mr. Ledger died in January at age 28 from an accidental overdose, after principal photography ended, and his death might have cast a paralyzing pall over the film if the performance were not so alive. But his Joker is a creature of such ghastly life, and the performance is so visceral, creepy and insistently present that the characterization pulls you in almost at once. When the Joker enters one fray with a murderous flourish and that sawed-off smile, his morbid grin a mirror of the Black Dahlia’s ear-to-ear grimace, your nervous laughter will die in your throat.

..... [and finally] ...

Mr. Ledger’s performance and the film’s visual beauty are transporting. (In Imax, it’s even more operatic.) No matter how cynical you feel about Hollywood, it is hard not to fall for a film that makes room for a shot of the Joker leaning out the window of a stolen police car and laughing into the wind, the city’s colored lights gleaming behind him like jewels. He’s just a clown in black velvet, but he’s also some kind of masterpiece.

*sigh*


Yes it was a good movie....