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The Last Laugh
Is Heath Ledger's maniacal portrayal of the Joker Oscar worthy?
When early reviews of the latest Batman flick, The Dark Knight (which opened last weekend), started surfacing a few weeks ago, I couldn't help but be cynical. Critics, reputable ones, used words like "brilliant" (Rolling Stone) and "terrifying" (New York Times) to describe the late Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker. Folks were chanting "Oscar" before the thing even got spooled up on the reels.
In stills from the film, the character appeared shabby and greasy – like Johnny Depp's Willy Wonka with a bad hangover. And how "brilliant" could a grown man in smeared clown makeup possibly be? We're talkin' Batman here, not Gone With the Wind.
And then I saw The Dark Knight for myself. All I can say is HOLY CRAP!
It's tempting to bust out all the appropriate critic-speak ("multi-layered," "nuanced," "electrifying," etc.), but none of it would be adequate to describe how amazing Ledger's Joker truly is. It's almost as if the drab clothing and half-assed makeup (it looked half-assed, but was somehow perfect) created an empty vessel for the actor to fill with a numbing, complicated evil.
Director Christopher Nolan promised that we "would be blown away" by the Joker. And I am. Unlike the vain, stylish Jack Nicholson "Joker" from Tim Burton's 1989 Batman, Ledger's villain is intelligent, droll, unspeakably cruel, and absolutely relentless. It's not greed or a lust for power that drives him: It's a sociopathic rage so deep that he seems to have forgotten exactly where it came from.
In stills from the film, the character appeared shabby and greasy – like Johnny Depp's Willy Wonka with a bad hangover. And how "brilliant" could a grown man in smeared clown makeup possibly be? We're talkin' Batman here, not Gone With the Wind.
And then I saw The Dark Knight for myself. All I can say is HOLY CRAP!
It's tempting to bust out all the appropriate critic-speak ("multi-layered," "nuanced," "electrifying," etc.), but none of it would be adequate to describe how amazing Ledger's Joker truly is. It's almost as if the drab clothing and half-assed makeup (it looked half-assed, but was somehow perfect) created an empty vessel for the actor to fill with a numbing, complicated evil.
Director Christopher Nolan promised that we "would be blown away" by the Joker. And I am. Unlike the vain, stylish Jack Nicholson "Joker" from Tim Burton's 1989 Batman, Ledger's villain is intelligent, droll, unspeakably cruel, and absolutely relentless. It's not greed or a lust for power that drives him: It's a sociopathic rage so deep that he seems to have forgotten exactly where it came from.
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