The thing that I couldn't stand hearing everybody praise , was a thing about the movies main villain. The villain was supposed to be the Joker and he was played by a very out of line Heath Ledger who finally seemed to step out of the nice guy shade.But the thing that puzzled me was: This motherfucker is not the Joker. This was some other crazy guy who had been beaten up by his dad and threw out a line like: "Why so serious?" but there is no way in hell that guy was the Joker. Heath Ledger to me was a fine actor. I didn't have anything on him. I didn't like Brokeback Mountain because I thought it was to gay and all but I think A Knight's Tale is a great movie. And Heath Ledger surely gave his all and showed a new side of his talent in The Dark Knight but him portraying the Joker is one of the worst castings I have ever seen.
Heath Ledger played a madman with a very distinct way of handling himself. He runs around doing stuff that was really calculated and depending on a lot of things to fall in place prior to his actions. He burned a bunch of money, had a Jacket on that was wired to a bunch of grenades but mainly he had a master plan that needed Harvey Dent and Batman to do certain things. And that right there is the main problem Heath Ledger's Joker has, but I'll get to that. First off lets talk about some of the minor problems.
The Joker is not a result of some father beating his family up and cutting his sons cheeks to pieces and having no real identity. The Joker is riddled in mystery and doesn't tell anything about himself or his past. He is a result of a man falling into a pile of chemical waste after batman interacts with him. But nothing is really certain about him other then his hatred of Batman and him being a complete psychopath.
Another problem with ledgers Joker is his outfit. The Joker has green hair, red lips, white skin and wears a purple and orange suite constantly. It would have been difficult to fit into Nolan's batman but the joker look he picked was fucked. And worst of all, his face was painted! How the fuck does that happen. He runs around throwing cheesy lines at people and try to go one on one with The Batman and then he wears facial paint. That is wack as fuck and shouldn't be the way you show the main villain. That makes him way to human. The Joker has to be the odd man out for him to work properly. He has to be the only guy like him and not just another white guy who got porked by his dad.
On another note Harvey Dent's face gets hit by acid not burned. How can he live without one of his eyelashes? He ends up getting acid on his face by accident and batman is kinda to blame but he doesn't end up being some sour, burned out waste of time that shoots up the entire town. He is a sneaky guy who knows how to handle himself and be the head of an operation. Though he might have to personalities inside his head but he's no half brain. The Jokers interaction with Two-Face in the hospital is stupid and has nothing to do with how Harvey ends up raising hell and being one of batman's sworn enemies.
The biggest problem Ledger's Joker has is that the Joker is a psychopath. He thinks out a plan to get batman killed or rob a bank and that's it. He might hatch a plan that evolves on more then one level but he always has one main goal and then he just goes with it. It might be a clever plan and all but it's a short term plan. Nolan has the Joker develop a master plan that takes huge preparations. There's the cellphone bomb, The part where he puts the blame on Batman at the parade, The whole Harvey Dent thing, The gangster set up with the grenade jacket and so on. This is on a scale that Lex Luthor or Dr. Doom would find fitting but the Joker as insane. He lives in the moment and does so by blowing stuff up and cracking jokes. Harley Quinn follows him around and adores him, but she is just as crazy as he is so they're a cute couple. The Joker doesn't blast Batman's batmobile with rounds and rounds on an open street. He intoxicates the entire Police department with a gas that makes them all smile and laugh until they cramp, and he does this so that he can steal a van filled with gold and while he does it he has a big smiley faced bomb timed to blow up in 30 seconds and only Batman can stop it.
That's the Joker and that Joker is Mark Hamill. Hamill was the voice of The Joker in: Batman: The Animated Series which I was a huge fan off in the 90's. Kevin Conroy is always a kick ass batman and all but Hamill gave the Joker the life he had when he was in the comics. He talked and laughed like the Joker did when you where reading his lines in the comics. His voice complimented his insanity and nobodies ever come close to him. He was The Joker in the video game Batman: Arkham City and my god was he just as good as I remembered. His dialog with batman when he reveals his plan is magical and in the extras you can see Mark Hamill transform himself into the Joker when he does his lines. It is magical to watch. His lines have always been well written and his delivery is so spectacular and unique that he in some way has made sure nobody can really be The Joker other then him. That is why I think Nolan should have picked another villain for Ledger to mess around with. Maybe The Red Hood or Hush but the best thing would have been to make him The Riddler since he is a guy that really hatches big plans and all. But all that in mind the Payday style bank robbery was awesome, but under bozo's mask was hiding something that only a true fan could see and that thing wasn't The Joker. It was good but no Joker.
Get a life and start listening to better music!
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