Heath Ledger as the Joker

Heath Ledger’s character as a deranged ego-maniacal crime lord called the Joker overshadowed Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne in the movie “The Dark Knight”. That terrible and creepy greasy clown make-up constitutes an obscenely bad dream you don’t want to find yourself locked in. He is pain and chaos, misery and destruction. Gotham City is no longer the Winter Park real estate where Tim Burton’s Penguin and rubber duckie used to dance and rule. Director Christopher Nolan introduced pain and destruction to Gotham in many odd ghastly forms from breathtaking car chase scenes and Batman stunts, exploding buildings to the dramatic transformation of Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Dent to a scarred villain called Two Face. It’s the darkest Batman movie ever but Nolan did it not without some satirical comic relief. Heath Ledger’s Joker lines (“You complete me…”) could draw smiles on a viewer’s face even without the help of his pocket knife. And yes, he gave me headaches, too.

The Dark Knight was one of Heath Ledger’s last movies but it was one of his best by a thousand miles so far. No one could have done Joker better than him, not even a Johnny Depp could match it. Ledger’s Joker came in the mid part of the movie and left the world longing more for such an incredible sterling performance and wondering what might have been had he lived.