Nicholson Passes On The Joker Crown

Rating: 10/10 (30 July 2008)

Ol' Jack's Joker was dark, creepy, funny, and disturbing. A far cry from Cesar Romero. He was cinema's best Clown Prince of Crime. But Ledger's Joker surpasses him in every single way. He's scarier, more disturbing, has more humor, and even more memorable quotes. Sorry Jack, but to quote Prince from Batman '89 "there's a new prince in town."
Ledger basically steals the movie. Every scene he's in is exciting and perfectly made. I once found myself wanting Joker to pop up just because he was always so good. He's so good that you never even think of Ledger as you watch him. You never think of Brokeback Mountain, A Knight's Tale, or the guy who unfortunately died. You only see the psychotic maniac from the comics. It's such a shame that Ledger died thus eliminating Joker from any other sequel, unless they recast which would be quite controversial and not the same.
The story is engaging. Largely based of The Long Halloween, except that Joker is pretty much the only freak villain. That's my personal favorite graphic novel and I loved how they adapted it. I liked seeing a villain before he became a villain so you can get to know and feel sorry for him. I only wish that we saw more of Dent before he got scarred.
Fanboys certainly will love it. Nolan brings a seriousness to the movie. It all feels like it could happen if someone just went out and did it. Personally, I still love the Burton films. They're both equally good in different ways.
As good as the movie is, it's not perfect. It does have it's problems. It does seem like the movie is about half an hour too long. Some things could have been simplified or streamlined. It has that The Lost World problem where it reaches a couple points that are like an ending but keeps going.
One problem I had with this, and Batman Begins, was the lack of memorable music. Elfman had such a classic score that I can hum the tune months after not watching the movie or listening to the soundtrack. But I watched the movie today, and listened to the soundtrack on the way, but I can barely remember any specific song. The music is good, don't get me wrong. I like listening to it and it sets the mood. But it's like whipped cream. Good and adds flavor but nothing substantial.
Joker monologues at the end. Didn't they watch The Incredibles where Syndrome talks about villains who monologue? It's one of those things that's been parodied so much that it seems silly when it does happen.
I don't care for Two-Face's motivation at the end. The Long Halloween handled him so much better. The movie, he's out for personal revenge. While in TLH he was finishing the quest. The whole novel Dent's trying to take down Falcone and once he's Two-Face he just does it without the law. It was like he was a twisted version of Batman, doing what needed to be done but not necessarily in a good way. I love the idea that Two-Face is an evil version of Batman. But this movie he was just evil. And I certainly don't like that he allowed himself to be manipulated by Joker, that Two-Face did what he said to. Two-Face should do these things out of his own twisted sense of justice, not because a psychopath said to introduce anarchy.
The Bat-Sonar seemed too fantastic an idea. Hooking up every single cell phone in the city to make a sonic map of everything? I can see listening in on every phone to find the Joker but using it to see just disconnected me from the reality of the movie too much. And it looked like it was out of a Wachowski Brother's movie, confusing to look at.
Overall this is a must see film for any Batman fan, comic book reader, or even a casual film fan. It's fun, exciting, and every minute is entertaining. It's nice to see that audiences are taking movies like The Dark Knight and Iron Man seriously, and not just viewing it as guys in spandex fighting other guys in spandex. I wouldn't call it the best movie ever. And I can't clearly say it's the best Batman movie (Burton had a certain quirkiness). But it's better than 95% of the films being made. This movie is going to be remembered for decades to come.