This is not a review of the movie as a whole, just on his one part. (BTW, movie was awesome)

WARNING! SPOILERS BELOW!!

Anybody who has read into the Batman universe knows how twisted the caped crusader's enemies are. None of them are sane, everyone has a gimmick, and they are dressed like a circus of horrors(or circus of values is Bioshock still haunts your nights). None have reached the level of arch-nemesis of Batman other than The Joker. He is insane, has a very unsure history, and is dressed like a carny. He seems to have a wanton disregard for rules, plans, life, or anything besides the here and now.

Over the years, his back story has changed drastically, from being in a horrible chemical spill, falling in a chemical vat, or being just plain insane. A consistency in his history, though, has been that there is no consistency; in the new movie he changes his story several times as to how he got his horrific scars that make his "smile." Unfortunately, if you go into the new movie expecting a purist joker, with the bleached skin and green hair, be prepared to be disappointed; it is make up. The scars are real but his face is just normal "peach."

That being said, you only see him out of it for a split second once, and it really doesn't affect the plot at all. What really throws the punches in Ledger's portrayal is his perception that gotham is merely a toy chest for him to play with. He truly carries the air of a man who does not care about anything; he lives from moment to moment, savoring every ounce of pain and misery he draws from his victims. He brings a new level of depth to the character never seen in live action before. You never learn who he is, where he comes from, or how he got so bizarre. The mystery allows for the idea that The Joker is not a sum of the disasters that led to his disfigurement like in the 1989 version, but he is merely an insane man who gets undeniable thrills from killing and torture.

Ledger brings a darkness that has not been seen in the character before. His previous iterations ranged from psychotic clown to light hearted prankster but never before has he been pure evil. The closest we have ever come to this version is in the graphic novel "The Killing Joke" but even that falls a little shy. Ledger's voice work pounds home his insanity amidst a myriad of cackles and guffaws. He takes a beating from Batman but rolls over laughing. He even goes so far as to offer "advanced interrogation" techniques to Batman.(Never start with the head; they go all fuzzy and don't feel the rest of the pain.) Only once does he show anger but it is more of his frustration that he lost a game of chicken as opposed to being angry because his men were killed.

He plays the part of a sadistic bastard(for lack of a better word) who plays everybody like a fiddle, messing with them until they snap and kill people. It is impossible to tell when he is being serious or sarcastic, he often punctuates his speeches with violence and joking statements; most of the time, however, his jokes are his violence.(Watch for his disappearing pencil) Ledger's voice is dripping with sarcasm with every statement that oozes from his mouth with the possible exception of his final monologue.

From a writing standpoint, this is the best Joker ever seen in tv or film. He essentially explains the entirety of his relationship with Batman in a scattering of speeches. Over past versions of the Joker, the character has matured vastly. No longer does Gotham need an enema, it needs a better class of villain. He still challenges Batman to remove the mask but he kills people instead of raining money down on them or suing it off him. In the original series he stole diamonds and ran counterfeiting rings while he now burns the money because he can. He is a genius and an anarchist.

Overall, I would rate this as the best version of The Joker ever. As far as the movie goes, you should go see it, then buy it when it comes out.

Kiltman

I'm no fancy schmancy movie buff, but I'd have to agree. Ledger's performance blew me away.

Great review.

Sod it, I've got tickets to see it at the iMAX but that's not til August 2nd. I'm gonna have to see this as soon as possible, it doesn't come out until next week over here and that's going to be my day to see it.

I was astounded at how much I loved the way Ledger played the Joker. That was the best possible performance I could have ever hoped for from a live action movie and I could not agree more with your review. I am so utterly sad that he will never again grace us with his version of the Joker and I think I will probably hate whoever they try to replace him with. This was undeniably a true masterpiece and the movie was perhaps one of the best I have ever seen. Even the movies secondary villian (not gonna say who and ruin it for you) was played incredibly well. 5/5 two thumbs up for me.

I agree totally. Not only is he an awesome villian, he pretty much steals the movie from everyone else.

I do have a minor quibble that for a guy who says doesn't plan, he had some very nicely laid out and complex ones throughout the movie. But he's also a liar so it's not a problem.

I see a serious contender for best supporting actor oscar this year.

I was thinking about this for the whole day and I keep loving the portrayal more and more. I am going to have to go back and see this again. As far as the movies secondary villain, if you know anything about Batman and his "friends", it is rather obvious who will be the secondary. I was surprised that they brought him in this film, sorta like venom in Spiderman 3 but much, much better.

One thing that was frustrating was how we were primarily focused on Batman. We already know everything about him and I really wanted to see much more of the Joker.

Kiltman

Anyone who's seen the trailers and thought "gee it looks good there, but it'll probably be a let down when i see it", slap yourself in the face, hard!!! This movie rules, it has brilliant performances, particularly by Ledger. And i'm gonna go mad if idont see it at least 8 more times before it's out on DVD!

Ledger has to be the only guy who can do the Jocker proparly.

Maybe it's because i'm a heartless shroud of a man but i didnt really care when Ledger died. Sure, He's from perth which a good days drive from my town and he was a good actor, but things that dont effect me directly dont get registered in my barbed wire bound mind. I didnt even know who he was at first. If you think i was heartless about Ledger you should have seen me when Steve Irwin died.

Spell check non withstanding, Santa, that was one hell of an inane post.

There is one thing I want to know. How the hell do I know who all these characters are? I knew who the villain was before he was a villain because of his trademark. I have never once in my life read a comic. I guess it's just because of the movies I saw and the show there was when I was small. I would have to agree that the Joker was the best character in that movie and the lip licking he did all the time was like subliminal messaging because I left the theater licking my lips like crazy.

I really liked the scene with The Joker, where he is sitting in the prison, and no-one wants to be near him. Reminds me of a quote from my all-time favourite DCU comic, Hitman, where he meets The Joker for the first time*...

"And there he sits, just poisoning the world with his presence"

You actually get the impression that the world is a worse place to be with The Joker in it. Not sure about an Oscar - but Heath Ledger was pretty damn good.

*Not actually the Joker - read Hitman 1-3, A Rage in Arkham for the real story,

I thought that line was in "The Killing Joke."

Kiltman

I use to think Jack Nicholson was the best of the "Jokers" but now Heath has the title, no contest. I'll definitely get this when it comes out. I'd love to see the special features and the things that got cut out.

I was never really big on Nicholson's Joker. I'm starting to wonder if it was the performance itself, or just the writing, as there were a few problems I had with the first Batman movie. At any rate, Nicholson's Joker had, in just about every way, paled in comparison to Mark Hamill's Joker in the animated series and the animated movie, "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm."

But yes, Heath Ledger's performance leaves them all behind, and it certainly helps that it was the best written portrayal of the Joker we've seen from The Killing Joke; a version which was, until now, considered too dark to bring to the screen.

Both Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger's 'Joker' performances are perfect.

They portray two completely different characters and they each pull off their individual character's portrayal perfectly

The nicholson joker was more of the Ceasar Romero, Adam West joker; a prankster with a slight tinge of darkness. Thats all well and good but Christopher Nolan has upped the ante and made the franchise mature.

Case and point- in the original TV series with Adam West, one of the Joker's plans was to hide in a stuffed mammoth in the Gotham Natural History Museum and, once Batman arrives after figuring out a well placed clue, jump out and scare him. I am not shitting you, that was his entire plan.

Now, with Ledger's Joker, the same plan would translate to wait for him to come, jump out, stab him and blow the museum up. Violently.

Kiltman

when i first heard Heath was going to play the joker i was "what the hell?", then i saw the make up and i was like "hmm ok still not sure" then i heard the teaser with Heath doing the Joker's voice and i was like "ok this should be good", after watching it i was like "omg that was so awesome"

the Jack Nickelson Joker was pretty good, he was better than the Ceasar on, the 90s animated one was pretty good, the Joker from the Batman, that just finished airing wasn't as good as the 90s one

however Heath's Joker was amazing, not sure if it's oscar worthy but it's still kick ass. it's a combination of a good actor and a good writer/director who both know the source material. Jack seemed to kinda call in the role, he can do that from time to time. however i thought Heath really pulled off the psychotic nature of the Joker.

i also liked the stories about how he got the scars, it added a bit of insight into his character and just how crazy he was. that disappearing pencil trick was funny and brutal and the same time

The scars thing played very, very well into the whole idea of the Joker. He is a man from unknown origins, clearly crazy, but also a pathological liar and sadist. Every Joker has had his own creation story except for the first one, he just sorta was and he kept coming up with more stories about how he is "always smiling!" The Nicholson story is the most commonly used and accepted but others include a masked comedian fleeing from a crime he didn't commit swimming through chemicals to some horrible industrial spill to birth defects.

Ledger's writers were using that ambiguity as not only an homage to the previous iterations but also to make the Joker more than just a sum of his parts. Nicholson's was a man we sympathized with because of his horrible accident but the new Joker kept that feeling away and made him more of a psycho.

Kiltman

kiltmanfortywo:
...clearly crazy, but also a pathological liar and sadist. Every Joker has had his own creation story except for the first one, he just sorta was and he kept coming up with more stories about how he is "always smiling!"...

"If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!"

That's definitely The Killing Joke.

This is what bugs me, and bugs me it does.

Themoment an actor plays in their last movie, everyone can't help but focus on said actor.
It's because he is dead god damnit that everyone is kicking up a fuss. Yes it was a good movie, yes he played it rather well, no you should not quote every fucking line that he says at every given moment. This is what happens to me every day. Someone is always quoting a line he says in the movie in their bad representation of his voice. Another things is that because he is dead, his piss is liquid gold and anyone who so much doesn't bat an eye at his excellent performance will get raped by 14 different fans that have only just joined in "the batman craze" and who haven't even probably seen the first one.

That's what bugs me, yes he did a pretty good job, I enjoyed the movie, but he can't of been that fucking great. I hate to say it but, if he wins an oscar for it, it may be that it's a sympathy vote and not just the roll he plays. The way he plays the joker is good, and he does get quite in depth in the character, but if he does win, there will be SOME votes that are just because of sympathy.

Sorry for the rant, it just fucking bugs me that people think that he was the real star of batman, hell even the producers made it seem like the movie focused around him and not really batman.
It's almost at the point where the movie will be called "The Joker.... And possibly batman, but The Joker!"

Does it bug anyone else, or am I just insane?

the joker isn't evil per say
he's an anarchist with a point to prove, all his ravings and plots, the boats, dent, they all are going to prove that there is no meaning in planning, no real justice, just random injustice.

as he said, he's just ahead of the curve

his ideas make more sense then batmans if you ask me.

The Joker never really scared me before. That changed with TDK. Every damn scene he was in in this movie sent chills down my spine. He scared the shit out of me.

On a side note, when Jack Nicholson played the joker, it was just Jack Nicholson in makeup. I mean it was still awesome cause Jack Nicholson is badass, but i still consciously and sub consciously new it was him. When Heath Ledger played the joker, i saw only the joker, no matter how hard i looked for Heath Ledger.

I loved the killing joke very different but i digress before i even begin.
If anything is played dark which has never been played as dark before then im all for it probably because im a sick and twisted person.
A reveiw i read desrcibed Ledgers portrayl has "Hannibel Lector as an emo" well what can i say but lulz.
I loved Hannibel to.

Pie, I think I see your point.

I admit, Heath Ledger did the best job I've ever seen in any movie ever.
But if he DOES win an Oscar, it'll be hard to tell if he earned it or if it's because he's 6-feet under. Trying to sift through the "OMG HE'S DED LETZ GIEV HIM OCSAR!!!!111" and his actual acting merit would be hard.
When I first saw Heath Ledger was gonna be the Joker, I said to myself "This is gonna be so shit. He can't play a bad guy." but after I saw the movie I said to myself "That was the best performance I've EVER seen from any actor before."

Pie:
This is what bugs me, and bugs me it does.

Themoment an actor plays in their last movie, everyone can't help but focus on said actor.
It's because he is dead god damnit that everyone is kicking up a fuss. Yes it was a good movie, yes he played it rather well, no you should not quote every fucking line that he says at every given moment. This is what happens to me every day. Someone is always quoting a line he says in the movie in their bad representation of his voice. Another things is that because he is dead, his piss is liquid gold and anyone who so much doesn't bat an eye at his excellent performance will get raped by 14 different fans that have only just joined in "the batman craze" and who haven't even probably seen the first one.

That's what bugs me, yes he did a pretty good job, I enjoyed the movie, but he can't of been that fucking great. I hate to say it but, if he wins an oscar for it, it may be that it's a sympathy vote and not just the roll he plays. The way he plays the joker is good, and he does get quite in depth in the character, but if he does win, there will be SOME votes that are just because of sympathy.

Sorry for the rant, it just fucking bugs me that people think that he was the real star of batman, hell even the producers made it seem like the movie focused around him and not really batman.
It's almost at the point where the movie will be called "The Joker.... And possibly batman, but The Joker!"

Does it bug anyone else, or am I just insane?

You're just insane. :P

Regardless of what all the other critics and movie goers might say, from my own personal experience (and I've seen a LOT of movies), that genuinely was one of the best pieces of work ever done. There are very few roles where I could just sit there and watch a an actor in a role, because they just hit all the subtleties of the character correctly, and this is one of those occassions (Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest is another example). Post mortem or not. The only difference now is that the next film won't have as much hype because the joker obviously wont be making a comeback.

Maybe your standards are too high? And just to clarify, this ISNT his last role - he was making (i think most of it was done) another film when he died.

1) This was his last completed role before he kicked it.
2) I personally don't give a shit that he died any more than if I had read about Fanu Lanu(First Name Unknown/Last Name Unknown) in the obituaries. Ya, death sucks but I am not getting bent outta shape for some random actor who I didn't know. The only thing that this really affects in my life is that we won't get a sequel with him playing the madman.
3)I started this because it was a really good acting job, not sympathy or anything. Your right, though, in that if he wins an oscar, it will be heavily weighted in the fact that he is dead.

Sorry, that sounds a little abrasive ;)

I was really hoping for a movie that was more around the Joker than Batman; we already know everything about Batman/Wayne but the Joker is an enigma. As a character, the Joker really could use an entire movie and still not be uncovered to the point of reason. He is a great character that I would love to know more about.

Kiltman

Pie:
This is what bugs me, and bugs me it does.

Themoment an actor plays in their last movie, everyone can't help but focus on said actor.
It's because he is dead god damnit that everyone is kicking up a fuss. Yes it was a good movie, yes he played it rather well, no you should not quote every fucking line that he says at every given moment. This is what happens to me every day. Someone is always quoting a line he says in the movie in their bad representation of his voice. Another things is that because he is dead, his piss is liquid gold and anyone who so much doesn't bat an eye at his excellent performance will get raped by 14 different fans that have only just joined in "the batman craze" and who haven't even probably seen the first one.

That's what bugs me, yes he did a pretty good job, I enjoyed the movie, but he can't of been that fucking great. I hate to say it but, if he wins an oscar for it, it may be that it's a sympathy vote and not just the roll he plays. The way he plays the joker is good, and he does get quite in depth in the character, but if he does win, there will be SOME votes that are just because of sympathy.

Sorry for the rant, it just fucking bugs me that people think that he was the real star of batman, hell even the producers made it seem like the movie focused around him and not really batman.
It's almost at the point where the movie will be called "The Joker.... And possibly batman, but The Joker!"

Does it bug anyone else, or am I just insane?

I was thinking this before I saw the movie. I told a friend that whether he deserves it or not, Ledger will get the Oscar out of sympathy.

Then I saw the movie.

He IS worthy of the praise. He DID do a fantastic job. And, if he DOESN'T get the Oscar, I want to see the guy that does. I didn't care about his death when it happened. Now I care.

He was really good, but he should have had more lines. I just feel like he could have said more.

The Joker really needed to be a much larger part of the movie, having more lines, telling us more about him, and being generally awesome. That was probably the only flaw in the movie I could find, that it did not have enough.

When a movie leaves you wanting more in a good way, I think we can safely say that it did it job and was great.

Kiltman

Two words were going through my head, shortly followed by two others.

Holy Shit.

Chaotic Neutral

*Maybe Chaotic Evil, but he just seems waaaaaaaaaay too crazy*

Yeah, I thought that Ledger was incredible.

He seemed more like the human personification of chaos and evil than an actual person to me.

Does anyone else agree?

I actually didn't like Ledgers portrayal of the joker at all, too me it was kinda like ordering sausage and mash and recieving bacon and mash.
It was close, but it really wasn't quite right.

I've always seen The Joker as a very acute villain, for all of his madness. However, Ledgers joker seemed to be a rambling, bumbling hobo with terrible face paint and hair style.
He seemed to lack direction or purpose, which is what The Joker always had.

Personally, i'd rather they went more into depth about Two face. Let the Joker remain the enigma that he has always been.