Like nothing you've seen from him before

Rating: 10/10 (18 July 2008)

I don't want to sound insensitive, but when people talk about how Heath Ledger's suicide may have been due to immersing himself too deeply into the role of the Joker, I think it may have been true.
The Joker as portrayed in The Dark Knight is easily the most ruthless character I've ever seen. In one scene, Batman drives his Batpod straight for the Joker, while Joker simply stands in the middle of the street screaming for Batman to run him down. You can tell, as the movie unfolds, that it's not a deathwish that drives him; it's a chilling indifference to his own fate, as long as he can destroy the Batman's soul in the process.
To say that he's prepared to die to accomplish his goal would imply that he felt death was something for which he needed to prepare; the Joker simply doesn't care whether he's alive or dead. He knows that if the Batman kills him that it would haunt Batman for the rest of his life, which would be worse than death.
He repeats this in a scene with Harvey Dent, in which he hands him a gun to see if the heroic Harvey will murder him rather than try to bring him to justice. Recently scarred in an explosion, the newly emerged Two-Face tosses his signature coin to decide the Joker's fate; the Joker's only reaction to this is "Now we're talking."
Some people are offended by this; not that he's violent, but that he's wholly psychotic. They think of the over-the-top Cesar Romero Joker, or even the gangster-clown Jack Nicholson Joker, and say "that's how it should be". These people either haven't read the graphic novels detailing the Joker's reign of terror over Gotham City, or they have and just prefer that they have a "funny villain".
That's not what the Joker is. The Joker is not a risk-taker or a thrill-seeker; he is nothing more or less than a complete psychopath. Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Clown Prince of Crime is absolutely my favorite interpretation. Every scene which features him leaves you wondering, "Would I have closed my eyes if I knew that was coming?", so vicious and yet so compelling they all are. Of course, they often happen too quickly for you to make that decision. If I want comedy, then I'll watch the animated series and catch Mark Hamill's act.
In short, it's like nothing from either the Joker or Heath Ledger that you've ever seen before.