Ledger makes a joke out of Nicholson

Rating: 9/10 (22 July 2008)

I was 13 when Tim Burton's Batman hit the screen. It was an instant hit for me, the moment Batman became my favorite superhero. Still, even then, I thought Joker was silly; actually, all villains in Gotham seemed to be bunch of lunatics - crazy, but not really scary.
Jack Nicholson was a very good Joker, but even he (with his past experience in films like The Shining) couldn't transcend the times.
I can safely say that Ledger's Joker is one of the best villains of all time. The way he talks, the body language, everything is perfect. You forget there's an actor behind the messed makeup and all you can see is a mind so twisted and evil, you can't help being scared. How do you cope with someone who doesn't want anything? Someone who doesn't respond to torture, who doesn't care for anybody? Having seen the movie two days ago, some of Joker's words still haunt me...
There is a slight downside to all that. Simply put, the Joker outshines everybody else. This is not a movie about Batman, it's a movie about Joker; everyone else takes a backseat.
I was rather disappointed by Batman / Bruce Wayne. In Tim Burton's version, you could feel his loneliness. Nolan's Batman is too shallow, especially when compared to Joker. Bruce Wayne is just a mask, we get that; Batman wears a mask. But where is the man behind the mask? How does he feel? When he gets home and gets off his cape, when the Russian ballet dancers and the press are not around, what is he doing? Does he still love Rachel? Other than that, The Dark Knight takes the superhero genre to a completely new level. In fact, I'm not sure it qualifies as 'superhero movie'. If you ignore the character names and settings, it could be a dark thriller.
In conclusion, see it! You'll love it.