You should go see ‘Dark Knight’ immediately.

I just got back from seeing the 12:01 showing, and I’m still so wired about it I had to write something. I honestly thought that all the hype surrounding the movie was mainly because Heath Ledger’s rather untimely death, but it turns out that his portrayal of the Joker was beyond about 90% of the performances I’ve seen on screen. I don’t think that the Joker was ever supposed to be the campy, well-coiffed, happy-go-lucky Jack Nickleson rendition (which I loved btw), although that was a good movie and a good performance.

Ledger owned the role on a different level. He made the Joker into a chaotic, morbidly amusing (but immensely entertaining), disheveled, extremely disturbed embodiment of insanity without purpose or motive. Sometimes I watch movies with the intent of seeing the actors compete over owning the screen, over truly taking the IDEA of the character inside of themselves and spitting out something new–something that even the best screenwriters couldn’t come up with. He pulled it off and blew the pants off of anyone else in the movie. The idiosyncrasies that he blended into the role were so believable and genuine that after several of his monologues or sequences people clapped. Nobody talked, nobody went to the bathroom–for 3 hours. (relevant side note: I considered peeing on myself)

One great performance can’t hold an entire movie together, and Chris Nolan (director of the last one too) put together some shots and scenes that were impossible to look away from. The action sequences were super tits, trust me–almost never lets up.

I loved Batman when I was a kid, and I started to love the comics even more when other artists and writers actually morphed Batman from the ‘Caped Crusader’ into the ‘Dark Knight.’ The joker was always written as a villain who was ever present, but was never REALLY a threat to Gotham. He had these insanely intricate (but easily defeated) schemes that ‘The Bat’ normally knocked out in the first few pages. Not so much in this flick.

That was not only the best Batman movie I’ve ever seen by a looOOoOoong shot, but the best of the ’super hero’ genre as well. I abhor when movies get lamed up with corny shit for a few laughs or become so predictable that you could go get a soda, come back, and could guess what happened in your absence (lookin’ at you, Hellboy II..what a waste). Well, this wasn’t it. I really think that the hardest roles to nail are the insane ones. Whatever mental barrier that has kept most from owning a truly insane persona on screen are, Ledger went far beyond them and never looked back.

Heath Ledger = The Joker.

I’m pissed that he can’t be in any sequels, and that shit for brains ‘actors’ are ruining good roles everywhere.