Best Joker ever vs. Best Batman ever.

Rating: 9/10 (17 September 2008)

The Joker tries out his "chaos theory" on Gotham. To get things rolling, he targets crime bosses, public and government officials, and later -the general public.
Comic book characters are no longer just for kids. At least not the ones in movies. They represent huge financial, intellectual, and artistic investments; with awesome revenues if they succeed. And we all know that this one did big time. I was impressed by how well conceived and developed Batman and his environment was. The idea that one gets is that he's a hero on the cutting-edge of technology. And in this respect is ahead of his time. Indeed, this is what affords him the ability to be a super hero. Just like Iron Man, for example.
In his early days, Batman was more of a great athlete and detective with only a couple of gizmos. It was enough at the time. But now he's very hi-tech: from the suit that he wears, to his means of travel. Nothing drives this point home more than his "bat cave" which is not a primitive cave anymore but is now an enormous, futuristically sterile-looking, light-ambient room serving as his base of operations.
Now I'd like to comment on the early rumblings about Batman's voice. When you think about it (and for some reason, many of us never did before), he would need to change his voice to protect his identity. Moreover, he would need a voice that was intimidating to criminals. So the voice change had this logical dual purpose. It was as intelligently conceived as the Joker's crude face paint.
Lets talk about the Joker.
This comic book villain has come a long way. From a well made up, scheming, over-the-top, clownish dandy, to his latest movie incarnation as a pathetic, cunning, malevolent, and sad human wreck. One who isn't interested in loot, but to live and prove his "chaos theory" (no reason for anything; it's all random and impersonal) -and no doubt, to share his misery with the world.
The carelessly (and perhaps "angrily") smeared paint on his face was brilliant because it was an effective way to make us take the Joker's "happy face" seriously. Just looking at him you knew there was something really bent-out-of-shape inside; something really f**ked up happened to him and he keeps telling a different story each time. So you feel sorry for him, but also fear him; just as you would a badly mistreated animal you know you can't -and shouldn't- pet. Not if you want to keep your arm, anyway.
You know, when I heard some buzz that they were thinking of giving the actor who played the Joker a posthumous award. I was thinking that it was probably a "sympathy" award; that his performance probably wasn't anything special. This was of course before I saw the Dark Knight. Now I see that his performance was nothing short of brilliant. In my mind, absolutely no one could have done better. So now I'm wondering who will play the Joker in the future. Comparisons are going to be made. Any new Joker will -I think- have big clown shoes to fill. Love, Boloxxxi.