Already, there is considerable internet buzz surrounding recently deceased Heath Ledger's final complete role as...drumroll please...The Joker. So much buzz in fact, that everyone, from film critics to established comic geeks everywhere praised Mr. Ledger's brief appearance in the latest trailer release, citing a possible post-humous Oscar recognition for his work in the sequel, in spite of the fact that the much anticipated sequel to 2005's "Batman Begins" has still another several months before its July 18, 2008 release.
For going on about a year now, myself and the rest of the internet forums were abuzz whether up and coming actor Heath Ledger had the panache' to contemporize and portray the Clown Prince of Crime in a manner that was more in tone with the "grounded" and "real-world" feel first established in "Batman Begins" (read: not chessy).
Well....I'm here to sell to you the prospect that here is a role that I'm convinced would do for Heath what the role of Capt. Jack Sparrow did for Johnny Depp (for the record, Depp DID get nominated for Best Actor for his role in Pirates). Trust me when I say this ladies and gentlemen: This IS the performance to watch this year.
And in true High Fidelity fashion, I have a short list on why:
1) Ledger's take on The Joker: "a psychopathic, mass murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy." --- Ok, forget what you've seen in the past. Caesar Romero as the Joker in '66? campy? yes. But that was the '60s. Campy to a fault? absolutely. Jack Nicholson as the Joker in '89? A tad overrated in my opinion. Now, I love Jack's work to death, but his portrayal was less menacing sociopathic and more...old perverted uncle Cletus, if you know what i mean......On the other hand, Mr. Ledger has done his homework, citing inspiration from definitive Batman titles such as The Killing Joke, as well as cues from the Sex Pistol's anarchistic
My point: Ledger was dead set on re-interpretating the Joker as it should be portrayed: as an entity, believing only in unbridled anarchy.....which leads into my 2).
2) The Oscar academy rewards actors who play characters that are, ahem, morally bankrupt. --- In recent years, the Academy (and i think the public as a whole) has since equally embraced both the role of the antagonist as well as that of the protagonist....
To put it another way, "villains drive the plot. Besides, who do you think causes all those explosions?" lol (thanks to The Venture Bros for this quote). Need more convincing? ....ok, courtesy of Wikipedia:
3) Well....He also died recently. --- Now, I don't mean he deserves a pity award for dying and all. What I precisely mean by that is that it'll be nigh impossible to draw parallels between his anarchic performance in the Dark Knight and that of his own inner turmoil during his final months. In other words, whether this is simply art imitating life, a eerie portent of his evidentual downward spiral, or simply the public's fascination with conspiracy theories, it is intriguing to ponder nonetheless.
4) Mr. Ledger's future in acting had legs. Like a catapillar has legs. Well, at least the female percentage of his viewing audience thought so. But I'm comfortable enough in my manhood to acknowledge that the man had acting chops. If you've seen him in 2007's I'm Not There, then you know he has the chops to pull this off, with panache' no less.And 5)
3 comments:
I saw an 8-minute preview for the new Batman movie a couple months ago and it was amazing... I can't wait to see it, although I do find it somewhat creepy to watch a movie in which one of the primary actors is already deceased...
I'm jealous. I heard of that preview in theaters, but never got around to it....
Yes, its creepy. But uninteresting? far from it.
What is that Christopher guy talking about “alright”, it was the best performance I have ever seen. Does he think Heath was like a mass murdering clown in real life. Heath was shy, nervous, kind, genuine etc but the character was the complete opposite, it takes a true actor to do something like that (Johnny Depp is the same, and he has never one an oscar). Lets face it, Jack was being himself in the original Batman but this modern character was so different to Heath! If he does win best actor, it’s not out of pity, it’s because it was the best performance ever! This is also the only chance for the Oscars to not lose it’s show, they have become so boring and no one is watching them, I wonder why! But with a breakthrough of something like a comic character winning an Oscar, popularity will start to rise for the show! Along with everybody on the edge of their seats waiting for Heaths name to be read out as the winner!
Post a Comment