A Tale Of Two Jokers..

Now, I may be going out on something of a limb here, but I want to talk about Heath Ledger's performance in Christopher Nolan's second Batman outing, 'The Dark Knight'. Now, in no way am I saying that he was shit, but lets look at this from the point of view of the hypothetical universe in which Heath Ledger never died. The universe in which Philip Seymour Hoffman deservedly received the Best Supporting Actor gong and there is a shot of Ledger in the audience clapping along with everyone else. And Mickey Rourke gets Best Actor, because godDAMNit he deserved it more than Penn (bigger travesty than that 'My Cousin Vinny' thing). In this universe, would people REALLY be calling Ledger's performance "career-defining" with such performances as Skip Engblom and Ennis Del Mar under his belt? Would they REALLY call his Joker the beating heart of an already excellent film when Aaron Eckhart's Two-Face has more depth and evokes more feeling in a viewer? Would they REALLY rate his joker over Romero's or Nicholson's or even Hamill's? No, they wouldn't. And I'll tell you why.

Exhibit A: BATMAN #1 (1940). Joker's first appearance.

The Joker was first introduced to the public by his creators via a radio broadcast in the comic. He is a vaudevillian loon, spouting one-liners and killing people in inventive ways, most notably with his modus operandi Joker-brand venom that leaves its victims with a deadly smile on their faces. So it begun, so it carried on, with The Joker seemingly being a psychopath devoid of reason, empathy and logic. After the Comics Code Authority in the 50's, which seriously toned down The Joker's antics, making him more of a nuisance than a civilian threat, The time came for Leslie Martinson in 1966 to bring The Joker to the big screen, played by-the-book and amicably by good old Cesar Romero.

Not being one to hide in the shadows for any period of time, The Joker, both on-screen and in the comics, continued to come up with increasingly ludicrous capers, such as the Alan Moore-devised 'The Killing Joke' ploy to send Commissioner Gordon crazy in an abandoned theme park, or the amusing nee' disturbing 'Laughing Fish' story, in which he imposes his aforementioned death-grin onto the faces of fish, and after being denied a federal trademark goes on a bureaucrat killing spree. Insane much? Anyway, enough of the comic book history lesson...

Exhibit A: Tim Burton's 'Batman' (1989). Joker's first bow on Celluloid.

Right. The point emerges (somewhat). The dawn is breaking on the 90's, Tim Burton is helming the Hollywood birth of Batman. Jack Nicholson is on board as The Joker. His performance, which granted veers more towards the humorous than the horror. BUT. Taking into account the comic book persona that has accumulated of The Joker over time, Nicholson's portrayal stands up pretty well. He's psychotic, no doubt about it. He's violent, no question. But he also maintains that hilarity, he keeps on shooting the one-liners and puns; Essentially, he had the comedy (Joker-Brand products ad, anyone? "Love that Joker!"), and just enough psycho to let us know he wasn't kidding (Carl Grissom's grisly end).

Now, Heath Ledger's Joker..he was a psychopath, no doubt. But where was the comedy? Where was the twisted sense of fun beneath his plans? Whether its down to Nolan's decision to make the movie more of a Crime Thriller than Comic Book Adap, I don't know. But the fact remains that if we were looking for the greatest Joker of all time? Jack Nicholson hands down. Moving back to the other hype, including the Oscar..

Philip Seymour Hoffman was truly masterful in 'Doubt'. How he can take (still brilliant, but not as emotionally challenging) performances from The Big Lebowski, Along Came Polly and Boogie Nights, and then move on to something as powerful as his turn as the ambiguous priest, Brendan (That, dare i say it, overshadowed The Streep herself) is worthy of Best Actor, Supporting should be a given. And as for looking at the other characters in 'The Dark Knight', Harvey Dent was the one to watch in my opinion. The depth behind the character, watching a man with the world at his feet and his girl on his arm end up with nothing is such a stirring journey to take, and gives a viewer a certain empathy with the now-bad character which goes against their own morals. Now I'm sorry, but dead or not, a psycho clown with no discernible root or reason cannot compete with such a tirade of emotional power.

Call me old-fashioned, but I think that to really show such a range of feelings as an actor should have gotten Aaron Eckhart more recognition; perhaps not an Oscar, but a nomination wouldn't have gone amiss. Ledger's Joker was not Bob Kane's (or Jerry Robinson's, it's a much-debated subject) Joker. He made the character his own, moulding a calculated yet mysterious killer as opposed to a sociopathic, happy-go-lucky murderer set on destroying the bat. So there it is, my argument stands that Ledger's joker, although very good, was not as good as Nicholson's (bear in mind, i'm a comic book fan-bitch and consider the original subject matter unchangeable under penalty of death. That said, i did not kill Heath Ledger. Nor did i mean to make a joke out of his death, sorry.) and was not Oscar-worthy in the face of Seymour Hoffman. And was overshadowed in the film by Eckhart's Harvey Dent/Twoface. Not everyone's opinion I know, but one worth considering if you're unsure on the matter.

You Know What Really Grinds My Gears?

Well, for all those well acquainted with Seth McFarlane's magnum opus, you'll understand from the title of this particular post what kind of blog this is going to be in majority. I enjoy complaining, I find so much to complain about that if i didn't enjoy it, I'd have probably seriously considered suicide by now. By complaining, we let ourselves settle into that glorious state of 'Ranting', when our speech is unshaken and powerful, and more importantly passionate. The best and most powerful speeches in history have effectively been complaints. Go on, think about it. "I have a dream", complaint about oppression. "We will fight them on the beaches", complaint about a famous moustache with aspirations of world domination in the name of the 'Fazzerlandt'.

Complaining is something considered to be quintessentially British. I would agree with this if I did not live in Britain and everyone surrounding me wasn't so incessantly optimistic. Unfortunately, I do, and they are. Don't get me twisted, there is nothing wrong with having a positive outlook; except that when your positive premonitions aren't fulfilled, your self-esteem plummets along with your expectations. By taking a decidedly more Murphy-esque approach to life and opinion; rather ironically, you find yourself to never be disappointed with an outcome. Hell, sometimes you even exceed yourself.

So, that said, let this be the beginning of something I have been putting off for a couple of years that everyone said was a good idea. More than likely, i'll forget about it in a month or something, but it's an experience nevertheless. And how could i rightly call myself a teenager when i have yet to force my opinions on people who i feel need telling via the internet?