Why So Serious?

Managed to catch The Dark Knight with my brother and some friends last night. Got surprisingly good seats right smack in the center on the THX cinema knowing for a fact it would be crowded!

Not to overhype this movie.. I think everyone should watch it and then tell me really what they thought about it.

Needless to say, I am definitely gonna give this a very (very) positive review. Iron Man and Hell Boy 2 (no.. haven’t watched the Hulk yet).. can’t be compared to this movie as Christopher Nolan has taken the Batman to the next level.

Heath Ledger. A shame such a young actor that had so much potential even before his role as the Joker. He died of accidental drug overdose, basically mixing alot of mild sleeping pills together, which in effect caused a major side effect which led to his death early this year in February 2008. Lots of talks about him online with regards to his portrayal of the Joker in the Dark Knight. Jack Nicholson did wonders with this role in 1989’s movie Batman. We need to give respect to Nicholson’s as he did a good job in that film. Fast forwarding to the Dark Knight…. with the general concensus online…. everyone, including myself was blown away by Ledger’s interpretation of the Joker. He looked scruffy, less make up… just a white mask, a scar on both side of the cheeks to elongate the angle of his mouth…. rhythmic, rather erratic protrusion of his tongue made him one the best villains so far. I can’t remember when the last villain stole the show. Ledger’s body language in the Joker was so convincing.. a mad man.. with no self consciousness or empathy at all for other humans. Oh and the laugh…. gave me the spooks. I don’t wanna meet this man in person ever!!!

Below is an excerpt taken from WikiPedia, about Ledger having problems sleeping during and after the shooting of Dark Knight. Retrospectively he should have gotten professional help, but who are we to judge that….

In a New York Times interview with Sarah Lyall published on November 4, 2007, Ledger stated that his recently-completed roles in The Dark Knight and I’m Not There had taken a toll on his ability to sleep: “Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night. … I couldn’t stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going.” At that time, he told Lyall that he had taken two Ambien pills, after taking just one had not sufficed, and those left him in “a stupor, only to wake up an hour later, his mind still racing.”

Prior to his return to New York from his last film assignment, in London, in January 2008, while he was apparently suffering from some kind of respiratory illness, he reportedly complained to his co-star Christopher Plummer that he was continuing to have difficulty sleeping and taking pills to help with that problem: “Confirming earlier reports that Ledger hadn’t been feeling well on set, Plummer says, ‘we all caught colds because we were shooting outside on horrible, damp nights. But Heath’s went on and I don’t think he dealt with it immediately with the antibiotics.… I think what he did have was the walking pneumonia.’” … On top of that, ‘He was saying all the time, “dammit, I can’t sleep”… and he was taking all these pills [to help him].’”

In talking with Interview magazine after his death, Ledger’s former fiancée Michelle Williams “also confirmed reports the actor had experienced trouble sleeping. ‘For as long as I’d known him, he had bouts with insomnia,’ she said. ‘He had too much energy. His mind was turning, turning turning always turning.’ “

Talks about Ledger winning Oscars for his villanous role got me thinking. Are people actually feeling sympathetic after his death that they want to acknowledge his acting? With all the makeup (I would say minimal) on…. would this be justified. My answer… a resounding YES. Go watch the film and I don’t wanna spoil your perceptions of the whole movie but I actually felt really disturbed and at the same time humoured with Ledger’s Joker. He stole the show with quirky yet appropriate jokes and Bale’s Batman took the back seat here. Lots of twists and plot here… and the arrival of Harvey Dent Two-Face made it all so special.

The Joker played a big role in this film, with his brilliant mind… he swindled everyone and just caused mass chaos.

Check out the Rotten Tomatoes review too..

Superb. Rest in peace Heath Ledger.