You are showing by what you are writing in this post you STILL haven't. But anyways. I think I was very straight forward about how I felt. I don't feel I danced at all. I said exactly what I felt, first post without even reading the thread. Good, not great, definitely not Oscar-worthy. I guess controversy is not giving a dead guy an Oscar before you even see the movie . . . . I could be wrong, though. So I danced by still saying it was good? Did that "very" you threw in there make me dance? I don't even like dancing. Won't do it. Was my "head-scratcher" when I said "he missed the mark by a tad"? Well maybe I didn't go into all the symbolism as to why of chaos you did in explaining why you did think Ledger's performance was "great" instead of that horrible critique of "good". I could make a similar argument about how all that causality crap in the second Matrix movie was indeed very insightful when actually it was a bunch of garbage. Thank you for pointing out that contast between those two characters. Never would have gotten that on my own. That must have been when Batman meant when he kept saying "Harvey Dent is the hero this city needs right now." I never would have gotten that Harvey was indeed the opposite of Joker, until Joker said it about 20 times and was so proud of corrupting him. Your insight is truly original and beautiful. Whether you believe me or not, I tried to watch it through unbiased eyes either way. I knew people were calling for Oscar. I left the theater let down just a little. Just this small little void that couldn't be filled. I thought and pondered and I came up with what the problem was: Spoiler His suit. I didn't like the color purple. Also there was something Brokeback in his eyes. Made him look kinda gay. Yes thank you, you've said this. When I see a truly gripping character it gives me chills. Chigurgh in No Country, Daniel Plainview in There Will be Blood, hell, even Aaron Eckhart in Thank You For Smoking are examples of this. Heath Ledger played the part well. It was in a Batman movie. He was the Joker. Maybe its the inherent flaws in a character that developed from that pun-flinging Joker you referred to. Maybe it's the fact that I keep on thinking of "WAPPP" and "BAM!!" and "KAPOW!!!" when I think of Batman movies. Heath Ledger played the Joker. Maybe that's the problem with handing deadboy an Oscar. I sat back and enjoyed a good movie. I know I haven't been concrete enough for you. I apologize. The fact is you haven't either. You've babbled through your whole post defining chaos and Oscars and saying Ledger was Joker not Ledger. That's fine. But I want something concrete. What did Ledger do to create this chaos effectively? What did Ledger do to make the character unique? Why did you see the Joker and not Ledger. C'mon man be specific. It's easy to dismiss an argument because you don't agree with it. Find little flaws in it. But the fact is I thought Ledger was that horrible B+ rating that I gave him. And you can give him that little A+++++ that you want to give him. We can all be happy. I'm glad you feel so strongly about it. But quoting something you read in a movie review magazine, or something that anyone who sat in a theater this weekend could have picked up on, will not convince me one iota of your point of view. Have I been concrete enough yet, Evan? Oh wait, I really don't care.
Mlwoo, I don't think there's any need to take a review so seriously. Maybe if you actually wrote out intelligent, non-flaming responses, people here would listen to what you had to say more often. I see based on your signature, I'm not alone in this regard.
Just curious, what was your opinion of Aaron Eckhart's acting in the movie? I personally found him to be every bit as good as he was in Thank You For Smoking. Would you consider him Oscar worthy or not simply because he was in a "comic book" movie?
I'm just waiting for someone to post a picture of Jack Nicholson with "PWNED" in big letters across the bottom.
I like Jack Nicholson's Joker in his own right. These films that included the Joker went in two separate directions as well.
True...and the actor can only work within the confines of the script and the directors vision...but if i had to choose between the two i think Ledger's joker was far superior. Do you disagree? It wasn't that his Joker was bad, Ledger's was just so much better.
I know. I'm just saying. In this particular movie, I almost think that The Joker character was more important than Batman.(As far as making the movie great, not the story line)
Is that Heath Ledger's fault? No. Besides, you didn't need to know Joker's origin in the movie. It wasn't needed.
Agreed. Think of those serial killer movies like The Silence of the Lambs, Manhunter, or Se7en. How much creepier are the killers because we DON'T know what made them the way they are?
Just read the last three pages of the thread. I don't need to say anything else, as posters have already set you straight (or tried). Nice signature by the way.
kind of like in Trainig Day, where the story revolves around Hawke's character, but Denzel gets the nod for lead actor as the villain...
I think "The Riddler" could just be a moniker he gives himself or the media gives him. I don't see his appearance as being an essential quality of the character. As for Catwoman, why would she even have that name unless dressed up in a gawdy cat costume? She could be the "Catwoman", a la a notorious female cat burgler ... but I'm not sure if cat burglary is worth Batman's time. Unless she was stealing on a very grand scale, in which case I have a hard time imagining her doing it solo. And then, if she has a gang working with her,then it starts getting into the "60s Batman TV show" territory. There's probably a creative way to fit her into this universe. I'm just not seeing it.
Exactly. Humanizing the Joker would be a huge mistake. It would be like the Halloween remake where they tried to get you to empathize with Michael. Completely misses the point.
It's been a while. Maybe I'll give it another read at some point. Wasn't she portrayed as a prostitute in Year One?
I disagree, Frank just turned her into a hooker, like he does with lots of his female characters. I like the idea that was introduced by Loeb of her being an illegitimate daughter of Falcone, though it's never been confirmed.
