Moments from the Dark Knight
Been watching TDK endlessly, as well you can imagine and Mistah J remains the shining star in this film. Ledjoker is endlessly compelling with endlessly spectacular moments of delirious delight. Immersed in so much hype it can be so difficult to be objective but in the 'cooling off' period between its theatre and DVD release I'd lost a lot of the awe and passion I felt for this performance.
Being able to see it again brings it all back.
There's just so much to it. There are only one or two moments in the party-crashing and interrogation scene that feel forced to me and the rest is just liquid. Natural, perfect, beautiful and, despite not being the suave prankster of the comics/au, absolutely and utterly the Joker.
We see, without question, his inability to empathise, relate, care for or consider others. From having to pause to remember Rachel's name to spitting on his henches, slicing them open, sacrificing them to his gleeful taunting of the fake Batman - of note, Joker uses his name, 'Brian', as he does it - killers will often detach from such personal detail in their victims, to make their brutality easier. Not Joker.
I don't think his treatment of his henches is reflective of willful, pre-meditated cruelty so much as the incapacity to view them as people. They're there for him to use, but he doesn't even necessarily think that - he just does it. People are not real to him.
AND YET. AND YET.
When the two boats do not blow each other up?
The look on his face can be described as nothing less than heartbroken.
To me this says that although the Joker cannot consider anyone his equal, cannot empathise or care about another - he nonetheless is battling against his solitude. He feels how alone he is and some part of what he is doing is to alter that state of loneliness. He is seeking company. It's incredibly twisted, of course, but so's the character.
I think Ledjoker quite clearly has a death wish, which can be said to some degree of regular Joker too. But in Ledjoker it is far more pronounced, more nihilistic, absent of ego and narcissism.
Anyway, the scope of emotion Ledger captured in that moment is utterly fantastic.
Moments I keep rewinding:
- Leaning out of the cop car having escaped MCU. Perfect. No moment in the whole film says 'Joker' quite so much as that. It's my favourite moment by far, and it's, what? Three seconds long? ha.
- As he begins to plunge to his death, cackling, before Batman catches him. Again, I think it captures a lot of who he is.
- "You have nothing - nothing to threaten me with. Nothing to do with all your strength." Gorgeous, glorious, wonderful.
There are just so many little moments, quirks and nuances, expressions, snatches of dialogue, that are fantastic that I could easily pour over each and every one of them. But I doubt you really want to endure that!! Suffice to say - it's ruly a tour-de-force performance. And Alfred's little speech about the bandit in the forests is the perfect accompaniment to everything Joker is.
I could rave similarly about Gary Oldman as Gordon, who for me is just utterly spectacular in the role, simply perfect. But even though I think so, I lack the motivation to do so! ;)
Being able to see it again brings it all back.
There's just so much to it. There are only one or two moments in the party-crashing and interrogation scene that feel forced to me and the rest is just liquid. Natural, perfect, beautiful and, despite not being the suave prankster of the comics/au, absolutely and utterly the Joker.
We see, without question, his inability to empathise, relate, care for or consider others. From having to pause to remember Rachel's name to spitting on his henches, slicing them open, sacrificing them to his gleeful taunting of the fake Batman - of note, Joker uses his name, 'Brian', as he does it - killers will often detach from such personal detail in their victims, to make their brutality easier. Not Joker.
I don't think his treatment of his henches is reflective of willful, pre-meditated cruelty so much as the incapacity to view them as people. They're there for him to use, but he doesn't even necessarily think that - he just does it. People are not real to him.
AND YET. AND YET.
When the two boats do not blow each other up?
The look on his face can be described as nothing less than heartbroken.
To me this says that although the Joker cannot consider anyone his equal, cannot empathise or care about another - he nonetheless is battling against his solitude. He feels how alone he is and some part of what he is doing is to alter that state of loneliness. He is seeking company. It's incredibly twisted, of course, but so's the character.
I think Ledjoker quite clearly has a death wish, which can be said to some degree of regular Joker too. But in Ledjoker it is far more pronounced, more nihilistic, absent of ego and narcissism.
Anyway, the scope of emotion Ledger captured in that moment is utterly fantastic.
Moments I keep rewinding:
- Leaning out of the cop car having escaped MCU. Perfect. No moment in the whole film says 'Joker' quite so much as that. It's my favourite moment by far, and it's, what? Three seconds long? ha.
- As he begins to plunge to his death, cackling, before Batman catches him. Again, I think it captures a lot of who he is.
- "You have nothing - nothing to threaten me with. Nothing to do with all your strength." Gorgeous, glorious, wonderful.
There are just so many little moments, quirks and nuances, expressions, snatches of dialogue, that are fantastic that I could easily pour over each and every one of them. But I doubt you really want to endure that!! Suffice to say - it's ruly a tour-de-force performance. And Alfred's little speech about the bandit in the forests is the perfect accompaniment to everything Joker is.
I could rave similarly about Gary Oldman as Gordon, who for me is just utterly spectacular in the role, simply perfect. But even though I think so, I lack the motivation to do so! ;)