How good is Heath Ledger in the Dark Knight

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  • josevolutionjosevolution Posts: 30,522
    he totally nails what the joker is all about way better than anyother actor even jack can't come close to this performance, and this batman is the best of all the other batmans that have played this role ......retire all the others ..
    jesus greets me looks just like me ....
  • myhookmyhook Posts: 284
    and this batman is the best of all the other batmans that have played this role ......retire all the others ..
    I don't know about that. Keaton was a good Batman. This one was ehh, at best. IMO
    Hey, you wouldn't hire a clown to fix a leak in the jon so why do you let these hooligans tear down the biz? YEEAAHHH. I don't care if he is Mr. Notorious BIG, can he croon?
  • myhook wrote:
    I don't know about that. Keaton was a good Batman. This one was ehh, at best. IMO
    agreed, the movie itself wasn't all that good, but enjoyed all the Joker parts. He was great
  • NothingSoundNothingSound Posts: 198
    This pretty much sums up what it was like walking out of the theater for my wife & I.

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  • Vedd HeddVedd Hedd Posts: 4,614
    Pj_Gurl wrote:
    He didn't just capture it. He absolutely nailed it. He portrayed the joker exactly how he was meant to be. Psychotic, demented, sadistic, murderous, evil. All with a creepy smile and laugh.

    'Let me show you a magic trick'..... hehe. evil.

    Exactly.

    Im not a comic book geek by any stretch of the imagination, but I did read a few as a kid. In "A Death in the Family", the Joker is completely psychotic. He beats Robin with a crobar, which goes on for about two pages, then leaves him in a warehouse full of explosives.

    The Joker in the comic book (at least the more dramatic comics) wouldnt use a hand buzzer.
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  • LizardLizard So Cal Posts: 12,091
    _outlaw wrote:
    pretty incredible.

    Agreed.
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  • Vedd HeddVedd Hedd Posts: 4,614
    what do you mean by this? ledger had moved on from the joker and was filming the imaginarium of doctor parnassus when he died.


    I was reading articles where they were interviewing Gary Oldman and Christian Bale, among others, and they were saying that he was hardly out of character. he would stay in character between takes, and even had developed some sort of sleeping disorder.

    At one point, they said that Ledger said he had gone three days without sleeping.

    Seeing as how he died of an overdose of sleeping pills.........
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  • the wolfthe wolf Posts: 7,027
    It was only after the movie was over that I thought about how sad it is that Heath is gone.


    While watching the movie, it's not Heath on the screen...it's the Joker. Like literally the FUCKING JOKER.

    i agree with this whole post.

    very sad, he wont be able to play the J again.

    and yes, it's not Heath on the screen, the Joker for the first time has been brought to life.
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  • PaukPauk Posts: 1,084
    Totally nailed it. He didn't really have that many lines all things considered, but he didn't need them. 95% of his performance was in the body language and that's what made him awesome. The 5% of talking topped it off nicely. I loved how he spat out words and acted like he wasn't quite sure what he was going to say next. Totally menacing, even in the prison scenes.
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  • NCBRINCBRI Posts: 1,902
    Have not seen the movie yet, but the praise for Ledger's performance started quite some time ago. The Oscar buzz started last year well before he died. This would have been Ledger's movie regardless of his unfortunate demise.
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  • brain of cbrain of c Posts: 5,213
    he's dead on.
  • catefrancescatefrances Posts: 29,003
    Vedd Hedd wrote:
    I was reading articles where they were interviewing Gary Oldman and Christian Bale, among others, and they were saying that he was hardly out of character. he would stay in character between takes, and even had developed some sort of sleeping disorder.

    At one point, they said that Ledger said he had gone three days without sleeping.

    Seeing as how he died of an overdose of sleeping pills.........



    it was more than just sleeping pills. he was mixing medications.
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  • Vedd Hedd wrote:
    Exactly.

    Im not a comic book geek by any stretch of the imagination, but I did read a few as a kid. In "A Death in the Family", the Joker is completely psychotic. He beats Robin with a crobar, which goes on for about two pages, then leaves him in a warehouse full of explosives.

    The Joker in the comic book (at least the more dramatic comics) wouldnt use a hand buzzer.

    You haven't read 'The Killing Joke' then..... one of the quintessential Joker stories and one that Heath was specifically given to inform his performance. The Joker uses a hand buzzer in that story.
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  • saw it last night - what a movie. it didn't stop, was a mix of a crime drama and comic book with bale and ledger putting on perfect performances. can't wait to see it again!

    ledger was so good and i couldn't help but think afterwards how sad it is that he is gone. what a talent and it seems like the plan was to bring him back down the line in another batman. don't know if they can do that now with some else playing him.

    he would have gotten the oscar no matter what, but because of the circumstances, he's a lock. the academy love this kind of stuff.
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  • mdigenakismdigenakis Posts: 1,337
    "Did i ever tell you the story of how i got these scars..."

    very very good
    "Don't let the darkness eat you up..."

    -Greg Dulli

  • CROJAM95CROJAM95 Posts: 10,055
    mdigenakis wrote:
    "Did i ever tell you the story of how i got these scars..."

    very very good


    He has a different version for everyone...Batman gives him a few more


    When he is fallin off that building and decides to do that crazy laugh is all u need to know about the Joker....he just dont give a shit
  • mdigenakismdigenakis Posts: 1,337
    CROJAM95 wrote:
    He has a different version for everyone...Batman gives him a few more


    When he is fallin off that building and decides to do that crazy laugh is all u need to know about the Joker....he just dont give a shit

    "...some men just want to see the world burn".
    "Don't let the darkness eat you up..."

    -Greg Dulli

  • CROJAM95CROJAM95 Posts: 10,055
    mdigenakis wrote:
    "...some men just want to see the world burn".


    "I want my phone call"
  • mdigenakismdigenakis Posts: 1,337
    "...I'm only burning my half"
    "Don't let the darkness eat you up..."

    -Greg Dulli

  • facepollutionfacepollution Posts: 6,834
    So I just saw them film this afternoon, and all I can say is WOW! Ledger was absolutely incredible. I know people are sick of hearing that, but his portrayal was just jaw-dropping, from the creepy voice to all the little mannerisms he really did nail it. It's been a long time since I can remember any blockbuster type film actually standing up to the hype, but this is truly an exception.
  • westsidepiewestsidepie Posts: 627
    intodeep wrote:
    No. not at all. no where near it. Would never come into the conversation of best in performance in history.


    His performace was very good though and he really nailed it.

    Edit- also i would add Christian Bale plays Batman/Bruce Wayne perfectly. He plays his charctor probably just as good as Ledger plays the Joker but Bale is not getting any of the love from critics about his job.

    I will give him some love. I hated every previous Batman. None of the movies had the character of the Dark Knight comics. I saw Christian Bale in Batman Begins, and he made the movie for me. He is Batman. I have also seen him in other films, and I have liked his performances. There was one movie, I can't remember the names, something to do with Equilibrium, where he was great.
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  • Given to...Given to... Wyoming Posts: 4,997
    Fekin awesome. Me and the other coach tried taking our all-star team to this movie, and except for missing the last 20 minutes due to a high storm / tornado warning, we all loved it. Imagine 12 11-12 year olds recounting lines from the movie in the dugout the next morning. Kinda funny to me. I had one kid that kept replaying the " wanna see this pencil dissappear?" scene.


    Now I just have to pony up the extra bills to see the ending or wait till dvd.
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  • spongersponger Posts: 3,159
    ...and one of the medications he was taking was illegally obtained oxycontin, which is like heroin in a pill.

    Kinda have to wonder if his stellar performance didn't have something to do with the fact that he was loaded on pharmaceutical heroin the whole time.
  • AnonAnon Posts: 11,175
    sponger wrote:
    ...and one of the medications he was taking was illegally obtained oxycontin, which is like heroin in a pill.

    Kinda have to wonder if his stellar performance didn't have something to do with the fact that he was loaded on pharmaceutical heroin the whole time.
    Wonder? why? Because he was so fucking brilliant? Do you ever 'wonder' about any other actors or musicians performances?
    and the whole time? You don't know that for sure. No one does.

    Besides, if the academy can nominate a talking pig movie for nearly every category and actually win some shit then Ledger has got to have a pretty good chance as well. Although somehow i don't think he's gonna know too much about that. Dead people don't usually accept awards and make speeches.
  • ||Release_Me||||Release_Me|| Posts: 1,871
    If Ledger gets a nomination and wins then it won't be because he died, it'll be because he really is THAT good in the film.

    Was anyone else creeped out by the way he kept licking the inside of his cheeks, where his scars were? It made a horrible sound and just creeped the hell out of me.

    Also, Bale is the definitive Bruce Wayne/Batman. He changes from billionaire playboy to vigilante so perfetly, nailing both characters. He also conveys the conflicted feelings better than any other superhero performance on screen. Keaton, Kilmer and Clooney have nothing on Christian Bale.
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  • Jeremy1012Jeremy1012 Posts: 7,170
    Alright, saw the film yesterday and very much enjoyed it. Ledger was fantastic. I feel I was right though. The supposedly presumptious prediction I made that there was no way it is a "best of all time" kind of performance, I still kind of stick to. He was great though. Probably the best performance I've ever seen in a superhero film. He should definitely got a nomination for an oscar.

    IMDb is still a bit crazy though :p
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  • AnonAnon Posts: 11,175
    I'm almost sure to be in the minority here, but I thought Dark Knight was really just OK, and I may have even liked Batman Begins a little more.

    The problem, IMO, was just too much plot. I don't know why they try to shoehorn two villains into these movies, especially this one - the Joker was rich enough that there didn't even need to be a second threat, and Two-Face just seemed tacked on and rushed. Didn't like how they handled him at all.

    Add to that the diversion to Hong Kong, the Wayne Enterprises accountant who figures out Batman's secret, the crooked cops, the stuff about invasion of privacy...it was all just too much. The whole movie just felt frenetic and overloaded even at two and half hours.

    Part of the problem may be the hype too, which is not the film's fault at all, but I heard it was incredible and went in expecting to be blown away, and I really just wasn't. I didn't hate it, it was better than most films...but I'd grade it really no higher than a solid B.
  • spongersponger Posts: 3,159
    Pj_Gurl wrote:
    Wonder? why? Because he was so fucking brilliant? Do you ever 'wonder' about any other actors or musicians performances?
    and the whole time? You don't know that for sure. No one does.

    Yes, because he was so fucking brilliant. Drugs can have that effect on some people. For others, it just makes them stupid. But history has shown that there are certain personalities who benefit in certain ways by drug use. Sigmund Freud and Jimi Hendrix are just a couple of examples.

    Do I wonder the same about other actors? Were they found dead from opioid overdoses? That's the thing about speculation. It has to in some way be based partly in fact.
  • AnonAnon Posts: 11,175
    sponger wrote:
    Yes, because he was so fucking brilliant. Drugs can have that effect on some people. For others, it just makes them stupid. But history has shown that there are certain personalities who benefit in certain ways by drug use. Sigmund Freud and Jimi Hendrix are just a couple of examples.

    Do I wonder the same about other actors? Were they found dead from opioid overdoses? That's the thing about speculation. It has to in some way be based partly in fact.
    History has not shown that Jimi Hendrix benefited from his drug use. Your argument can be used the other way too by saying he could have been even better if drugs were not involved. I don't know this and neither do you. Same goes for Ledger.
  • fuckfuck Posts: 4,069
    Pj_Gurl wrote:
    History has not shown that Jimi Hendrix benefited from his drug use. Your argument can be used the other way too by saying he could have been even better if drugs were not involved. I don't know this and neither do you. Same goes for Ledger.
    exactly. to give credit for Heath Ledger's great performance to drugs is kind of weird, lol.
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