We knew it was going to happen, but not so soon: The first reviews of The Dark Knight are out, and Heath Ledger's Oscar is already being polished. Rolling Stone's critic, Peter Travers, has already jumped in the driver's seat of Heath's love bus:
I can only speak superlatives of Ledger, who is mad-crazy-blazing brilliant as the Joker. It's typical of Ledger's total commitment to films as diverse as Brokeback Mountain and I'm Not There that he does nothing out of vanity or the need to be liked.
Ledger's Joker has no gray areas — he's all rampaging id. He creates a Joker for the ages. No plastic mask for Ledger. His face is caked with moldy makeup that highlights the red scar of a grin, the grungy hair and the yellowing teeth of a hound fresh out of hell.
If there's a movement to get him the first posthumous Oscar since Peter Finch won for 1976's Network, sign me up.
And while we don't doubt that Heath's performance is phenomenal, we're unsure whether the Oscar buzz would be surrounding his work if he were still alive to see it. But maybe that's just the Debbie Downer in us.
Editor
Waahhhhhh waaahhhh. Cat aids.
I guess there's no knowing till it actually comes out. I'm sure he'll at least be nominated. If his id is as believable as he makes it sound.
Nothing makes you more famous than death
I disagree. I predict that if he does win an oscar, it'll be for his performance, not because he died.
Um, is that a photo of Glrg? It's sort of what I imagine that person to look like.
While I hope it's not because he's dead, I fear that watching the movie w/ that knowledge sets up the darkness of the character before Heath even gets onscreen, giving the viewer a feeling of dread before the actor proves it to us.
Sort of like watching The Sixth Sense, knowing the ending (which I did, some idiot told me). I'll never know if I would have figured it out. The Dark Knight trailers give me chills every time I see them, and it looks like Heath is incredible- but we'll never know if we'd see the performance the same way if he was around.
COME ON IT'S BATMAN
Let me be the first to say that losing Heath Ledger was a huge blow to Hollywood.
Okay. Now that I've gotten that out of the way, we must all ask ourselves one question: Do we REALLY care about Heath Ledger when this movie stars the greatest Batman ever, Mr. Christian Bale?! I didn't think so.
Helen, you and I, same page, same line.
look at that offensive use of commas!
CHELSEA…what exactly is wrong with an actor from a Batman movie being up for an Oscar?…and why do you keep changing your name?….Chelsey…PROANA..glrg….THEY ALL SOUND THE SAME TO ME.
Chelsey or glrg are not me PROANA is
I want to be like glrg when I grow up.
chelsea, nicholson was nominated for the same role.
I don't get it every batman movie I've seen seems weak to me.
PROANA is chelsea hiding in plain sight
every? every? what? what? (i'm in shock I can't stop repeating myself)
have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moon light?!?!!!?!?!!?
1989 batman is awesome!!!! I personalyl believe that it was by far the best batman. Howvere, batman begins was a whole different kind of awesome. It was tyhe batman is supposed to be.
Question: have you accidently been watching the W's batman cartoons and confusing htem for movies? I mean, its a pretty easy mistake.
clearly, whitney is right and batman is my jesus.
*it was the way batman was supposed to be.
i have got to start proof reading,and slowing down.
I"m beginning to believe the Oscar award is meaningless, and not to show appreciation for a terrific preformance. Seems every sob story they mention "possible oscar performance", just as the jolie/pitt's put out press releases for each movie they do stating, "Oscar Talk!"….Ha! Still waiting for that to happen
I guess I'm not a fan
It's BATMAN, not the Godfather.
Just because he died people are trying to make an Idol out of him. Get over it. He died. Nobody cares.
Im sure if he didnt die no one would give a shit about his role in a stupid batman movie.
White man, disappear.
April, don't forget "this town needs an enema". Classic, and applicable to so many situations.
HA!! That is such a good line.
im watching that movie the minute this damn clock turns to 5:00
It seems like an amazing performance, judging by the commercials. I read it took him two weeks to perfect his accent, and if you compare this performance to A Knight's Tale or Ten Things I Hate About You the growth is astounding. He did win an Oscar right? I think if he is nominated it will be because he deserved it. One thing that bothers me about his whole situation is that they label it an "accident" as opposed to a drug overdose which is what it really was. Heath had to know mixing those kind of drugs and booze would be dangerous, any serious partier does.
Chelsea, "Batman" and the story that series tells is a mask for a universal theme: the battle between dark and light, good and evil. It's the story that haunts us from cradle to grave. So it's not *just* Batman. That story is bigger than Batman.
Though Batman is pretty fkn great anyway. I can't wait to masturbate to Heath's performance.
If he is nominated it will be because he gave a great performance.
Nominated for Oscar. Another 13 wins & 28 nominations. he was critically acclaimed for years before he died.
even before he died I was completely creeped out when I saw pics of heath as the joker. They made me want to go see the movie and i am not one of those batman/comicbook geeks at all, lol. no offense to batman/comicbook geeks out there