The Dark Knight

The first movie review I read is from AMC. It talks about how Heath Ledger feels like a medium channeling an icon than an actor performing a role. They also talk about how he has all these amazing traits that other all time great actors had. One of the last things they mention in the first article is how people claim Ledger lost himself in the Jokers character after the movie was done shooting and they compare it to a similar thing Dustin Hoffman did in Marathon Man.

After reading this first article my initial reaction was I agreed with how they say he was like a medium channeling the Joker on to the screen to us. He did such a good job it was made it seem like the Joker really existed in our world. And when they talk about Ledger losing himself in the role, I can really see where that is possible. When you act a certain way for so long its hard to stop some of the habits you create. And he portrayed the Joker so well it was almost like he actually became him.

The next article I read was from Rolling Stone. One of the first things the author says on Ledger is, "I can only speak superlatives of Ledger, who is mad-crazy-blazing brilliant as the Joker." And he goes on to talk about how he doesn't wear a mask and hair and teeth really add to the character. He also talks about how Ledger does roles not out of vanity or the need to be liked as he shows total commitment to every role he takes on. One of the last thing he comments on is how Ledger's Joker has no gray areas.

I really like the part of this article that talks about how Ledger doesn't do roles to become famous or liked. He does them because its what he loves and wants to do and he puts all of his soul into his roles. And when they talk about how good he was as the Joker, I definitely have to agree, he made that movie tens times better than it would have been with somebody else as the Joker. When talking about the gray areas and how Ledger's Joker doesn't have any, I will also have to agree with that because you get to feel like you know the Joker and all his emotions and feelings through Ledgers acting.

We read that the ultimate goal of an actor should be to make us believe completely in the reality of the character. Ledger over achieved this goal I would have to say. When becoming the character you have to learn the characters reflexes and natural reactions, and when people say Ledger got lost in the role, this is probably why. The people of the Dark Knight did an excellent job of casting this film.