Saw “Dark Knight” last night - enjoyed it very much, although you could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw Anthony Michael Hall in the credits - could not believe that was him.
Any old timers here remember Andrew Robinson as “Zodiac” in the original “Dirty Harry”? I really got a similar vibe from Ledger; his Joker (to me) had a lot of that killer in him. I don’t know that it was intentional - probably not - but I think there are a lot of similarities.
Any comments?
VCNJ~
I didn’t make that connection, but Ledger had me convinced that the character was beyond any form of morality, compassion, " I am you, you are me and we are all together"
that the convict simply portrayed in the boat bombing scene.
The Joker’s first description of his disfigurement mislead me into sympathy for his causes and made a more effective jolt during the second rationale.
I know nothing about Batman and the villains. I vaguely remember the explanation for why Nicholson’s Joker looked like he did. Some industrial accident or something.
Ledger’s Joker was believable from the standpoint of why he’d wear the makeup. I don’t need my fantasy movies to be 100% realistic (or what’s the point…), but I do want them believable.
His performance was stunning. I loved his voice. I loved how he changed it depending on the mood. I loved his physical presence.
Batman lends itself to camp and over saturated direction and cinematography. And silliness. (Dick Tracy comes to mind.) The combination of the great direction and his acting skills really kept the character and the movie from being a farce.
I like how the other characters kept underestimating him. I kept underestimating him, which kept me interested throughout the whole movie.
All I’ve heard about when hearing/reading reviews in the media is how dark this movie. He lit it up! Not in a hopeful, positive way, but in a “Hey, let’s inject this sobfest with some goold old fashioned fucking mayhem!”
One thing that I find interesting is that his lip smacking didn’t bother me. Normally that would have made me want to retch, but it somehow fit his character and didn’t come across as gross.
Agree with the entire post. The Dick Tracy comparison was brilliant! Batman movies are finally taking themselves seriously, and I’m convinced that’s why we’re seeing such an improvement in the current series.
I barely knew who Heath Ledger was before this movie was announced, but now I’m very disappointed that I won’t be able to watch a real lifetime’s worth of work from him. His performance was flawless, and if I say any more I’ll sound like I’m gushing.
Agreeing that Heath Ledger’s performance is magnificent. Esp. if you take out your “Brokeback Mountain” DVD and watch his performance in that shortly thereafter. Wow, just wow.
(and I’m not as enthusiastic about “The Dark Knight” movie itself as everyone else seems to be).
I’m not an old timer but I do remember the Zodiac and I think it’s one of the best bad guy performances in the history of film - quite possibly the best ever, if you ask me. Robinson’s character was not only completely evil and sadistic, he was also cowardly, whiny, weaselly, and slimy - a truly despicable character, as opposed to an unlikeable one, and there was also nothing “cool” or appealing about the character to offset his villainy. The first time I saw Dirty Harry as a kid I remember wanting to step through the screen and just strangle Zodiac to death.
Andrew Robinson received countless death threats after that movie came out and he even had to change his phone number. I think that says it all.
I haven’t seen Dark Knight yet but if Ledger’s performance is even close to that one, I’m even more excited than I already was.
Actually the character was called “Scorpio.” Zodiac was a different killer, who actually existed in real life. “Scorpio” was loosely based on him.
I didn’t love the movie to pieces, either, but Ledger blew everyone else out of the water. Roeper or someone said they gave you juuust enough of him. Too much and he may have descended into camp, too little and he would have been wasted.
The voice, the tics, the right-side-up scene… This may be one posthumous Oscar not seeped in pity. How bittersweet.
I saw a bit of Jimmy Cagney in the character from time to time.
I kind of wish Ledger would be able to reprise the role. I mean, I wouldn’t want the Joker to show up again in the next movie, but I really loved that rendition of him.
He also looked really good in that red wig.
I want to see the film again just for the hospital scene where the Joker puts on hand sanitizer. The whole theater was cracking up.
Oh yeah. There was something hot and wrong about that.
I was surprised how much I loved his Joker. I thought he would annoy me or not live up to the hype, but I was wrong. He was amazing. I really didn’t like the makeup in the still shots but it worked in full motion.
His movements were flawless. I could watch a whole movie of him walking. It’s hard to overestimate how important this was to the performance.
A couple very minor things that bothered me, and they’re not all Heath’s fault (and this just highlights how perfect that character was otherwise):
-They could’ve punched up his dialogue a little more
-In one scene, when he was sitting in the jail cell, he looked exactly like Heath Ledger. Apart from that, I was looking at the Joker
-I didn’t like how he burned the money right after Alfred’s bandit story. Too contrived
-His lip-licking was a little much, especially so soon after David Archuleta spent a season on American Idol grossing me out with it
Best line in the movie (I cannot believe this isn’t in IMDb’s “memorable quotes” section): "I’m gonna show you a magic trick. I’m gonna make this pencil disappear . . . "
Ledger turned in one hell of a performance, but I want to add that the character was extremely well conceived and written. He seemed to understand exactly what the writer and director were looking for, and delivered. Solid effort all around.
Fantastic. Half the theatre was screaming in terror, the other half relvused but trying not to laugh.
Great performance, too disturbing to make repeat viewings enjoyable for me, but still great. My favorite bit - “Our organization is hiring, but there is only one opening available…”
<SLAM!>
Ta-da!
(It’s really the “Ta da!” that made that scene for me.)
I thought it was a riveting performance. I think the the key to the performance was that somehow (and I’m not exactly sure how he did it), Ledger managed to inject a hint of humanity and vulnerability under all the cackling bravado. You can almost sense the abused little kid in there someplace. He made the Joker seem like a real human being and not just an archetype.
Of course, the character was also brilliantly written, but Heath made him pop off the screen in such an indelible way that it’s going to be hard to want to see anyone else ever play him. Watching him was bittersweet. It’s such a loss that we won’t get to see him work anymore. If you watch TDK and Brokeback Mountain back to back, his talent is even that much more evident. It’s hard to believe those two characters are the same person.
I think people might appreciate this performance even more if they could read the script. His portrayal is the perfect example, to my mind, of how a gifted actor can take great writing and make it even better.
In the interrogation scene alone…
“You have all these rules and you think they’ll save you.” I would’ve read that as a threat. He read it as a chance to actually help Batman become a better person (by his own twisted idea of what could make him “better”).
'…they’ll cast you out, like a leper." Somehow he decided that the “like a leper” part should be really kind of a cheery thought. It makes no sense, but it totally works.
And, of course, the simple look on his face when he meets Harvey in the hospital and says, “Hi.”
Oh, I totally disagree (in a good-spirited way, of course.) Who knows if there even is an abused little kid in there? When he talks about his past he’s pretty clearly either lying or just doesn’t remember and is saying what’s convenient at the moment.
“Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another . . . If I’m going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!”