The Dark Knight (spoiler free)

[-NoQuarter-]

I'm growing old of everybody claiming Heath Ledger deserves an Academy Award for his role of the joker. For one, the outcry is only because he's dead, if he was alive, there wouldn't be nearly this much support. Second, although I thought he played the role well, I don't think it would've mattered who was the Joker, because, prior to this movie, the "Joker" doesn't have a specific demeanor that would suggest only Heath Ledger could've pulled it off. If Jim Carey was the Joker, everybody would've thought he did a great job too. SInce most people don't know what the role of "The Joker" is supposed to be, it makes Heath's performance less significant, IMO.

Great movie. Overhyped. Heath doesn't deserve an Academy Award.

One of the most idiotic posts I've ever read on this forum, and that is saying a lot...

[Vinny]

Yeah, why the hell wasn't Jim Carrey's batman movie this good then?

[Wizzle]

He was the riddler, so it's not the same

[Cross]

each to his own i guess. i thought ironman was horrible.

just to make sure because i never read comic books when i was a kid, theres no sequel or anything right?

[DennyMcLain]

Yeah, why the hell wasn't Jim Carrey's batman movie this good then?

Please keep in mind two things:

1. That film was directed by Joel Schumacher, a flamer who gave us gratuitous butt cheek shots of Batman, nipples on his armor, and The Phantom of the Fuckin Opera. Though he's made some good films in the past (Phone Booth, Lost Boys), his gayness coupled with skin-tight superhero costumes on Chris O'Donnell, Val Kilmer, and Homonation pin-up king George Clooney was simply too much for him.

2. ...and produced by Tim Burton. Though he's had some excellent films (Big Fish, Nightmare Before Christmas), generally Burton's major weakness is storytelling. Those four Batmans (he directed two) were all over the place, relying more on mood and set pieces than strong narrative. A example of this would be Riddler's lair off the coast of Gotham.... built it pretty damn quick, didn't he? And I'm sure the U.S. Government was just fine with some weird power station off the coast of a major U.S. city. A similar situation in Batman, where Batman's super-awesome Batplane, complete with fghter jet cannons and computer-targeting gun sights, can't hit the Joker (Batman shouldn't have been shooting at him in the first place, and the look of disappointment on his face when he missed proves he was), but the Joker can pull out some clown gun and shoot the batplane down with one veeeerrry carefully aimed shot. And I'm sure it's okay for Alfred to simply walk Vicky Vale straight into the fuckin' Batcave after Bruce boinked her ONCE. If that's how it's going to be, I can't WAIT for the Poison Ivy re-do (Halle Berry killed Catwoman, so that character can stay gone, thank you very much).

[MoTown]

Good call, Denny.


Also, another point for Wil:

The Joker isn't the same character in every comic. The only thing that is the same in each comic is that he's Batman's true nemisis and that's he's fucking crazy - he has no rhyme or reason for what he does.
Heath Ledger took his own take on the Joker after reading through many of the comics. He couldn't do a Jack Nicholson Joker, or he would have been ridiculed. He took the personality from many of the Jokers he read and turned it into one psycho criminal. All the mannerisms that he has in the film are created by himself. That's why critics are praising Ledger's performance, because it was a very original peace. Not many actors could have pulled that kind of creativity off.

[Wilfredo Ledezma]

I'm not saying Heath wasn't creative. I thought he did a great job. But does he seriously deserve an Academy Award??? Seems the only reason he's being promoted for such an award is because he's dead.

IMO, Heath Ledger did no better or no worse as the Joker, than Jim Carey did as "The Grinch" or Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka (as far as fictional characters)...and thus said, I would say none of those we're worthy of an AA.

[KP43]

I'm not saying Heath wasn't creative. I thought he did a great job. But does he seriously deserve an Academy Award??? Seems the only reason he's being promoted for such an award is because he's dead.

IMO, Heath Ledger did no better or no worse as the Joker, than Jim Carey did as "The Grinch" or Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka (as far as fictional characters)...and thus said, I would say none of those we're worthy of an AA.

Did you just say Ledger's Joker == Carey's Grinch??? lulz.

I'm getting tired of people talking about his death. It's a lame excuse for people who didn't like the movie as much as others/bought into the hype and were disappointed. He did an amazing job, whether he's dead or alive now.

Not saying he should win necessarily but a nomination is deserved here, I think.

[Glenn]

Do we all really care that much about who wins movie awards?

I don't mean to suggest that you guys shouldn't debate whether or not someone deserves an award nomination or not, I'm just surprised that people actually care about that.

[Wilfredo Ledezma]

Do we all really care that much about who wins movie awards?

I don't mean to suggest that you guys shouldn't debate whether or not someone deserves an award nomination or not, I'm just surprised that people actually care about that.

I don't really care about movie awards, it just bothers me to see how dis-ingenuous (sp?) people are to be publically claiming Heath deserves it when the only reason they are doing so, is because he's dead...

whereas if he was still alive, nobody would even think of him as a nominee for such an award, let alone the winner...

nobody i know came out of that movie thinking that heath's performance was "mind-blowing" or "epic"...like i said before, he did a great job, but let's not get carried away...