A Tribute To The Best Vol.2

So, after much thought and consideration, I've decided to make "A Tribute To The Best" my trademark post in response to Old Turtle's "Entertainment Weekly" and Ah Beng Turtle's "A Slice of Life".

Today, I'm going to touch on a subject - quite a sensitive one, at that - that's been niggling at the depths of my mind for quite some time now.

This post is dedicated as a tribute to an actor who played a role so well that people had trouble differentiating between character and actor. It is dedicated to a family man, a father, a brother, a son and an outstanding actor who wow-ed fans and movie lovers all over the world with his masterclass of a performance in one of his last movies (The Dark Knight) before his passing - as the reincarnation of Batman's ultimate arch nemesis, The Joker.


This post is dedicated to Heath Ledger and The Joker.

Now, I'm pretty sure that one of the first things that came to mind when you saw that picture was probably something along the lines of,

"Why...so...serious?"

Or, "Let's put a smiiiile on THAT face!"

Right?

Now, I won't lie to you, I had my doubts when he was initially announced as Jack Nicholson's replacement as Batman's arch-nemesis in Christopher Nolan's Batman series. But after watching it last month - twice in a day, mind you - I've come down to the conclusion that no other man could've nailed this role any better. There's no denying that in spite of his excellent showing as a gay cowboy in Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain (a role which won him an Academy award for Best Actor) that THIS was an absolute virtuoso of a performance from the talented Australian.

"Why...so...serious?"

His performance not only impressed the neutrals and fans but also captivated the hearts of the more diehard Batman fans. His free reign in creating the character (Nolan had given him the freedom to create most of what we saw in the movie) had given us the opportunity to see a more dark and sinister Joker as opposed to the comical one portrayed by Jack Nicholson in 1989.

Now, that's not saying Jack Nicholson did a bad job as The Joker.

That's just saying that Heath Ledger simply did it to perfection.

"Welcome to a world without rules..."

The Joker that he created has given us a side of the villain that most of us - meaning the non-comic Batman fan - had never seen. The ominous aura of chaos and insanity gave us the perspective of Joker as a super-psychotic genius whose true purpose was to inflict chaos and destruction on Gotham city and, naturally, to generally make Batman's life a living hell.

Would The Dark Knight have done as well as it did in the box office without Heath Ledger as The Joker? I seriously doubt it. Heath's death might have propelled the ratings a tad bit but I personally feel that he singlehandedly made this film what it is today - a masterclass. I mean, Christian Bale's a great actor and all that but, c'mon - you gotta' be lying to yourself if you said you watched The Dark Knight to see Bale in action. I think I speak for most of us when I say that we watched the movie to see Heath Ledger as The Joker.

So instead of discussing the talented man's cause of death on some random discussion board on Facebook like we personally knew him, I think we should just salute the man for his outstanding ability to enthrall and entertain us with his performances. The only regret we should have is that we no longer have the chance to watch him perform.

Because he was, if any term was suitable to go by his greatness - one of a kind.

R.I.P Heath Ledger (1979-2008)

Rest in Peace, Heath. You'll always be remembered.