Heath Ledger wins Oscars

HE WON! HE WON! HE WON!!! Yaayy yaayy yaayyy!!!

But since it’s already 11:22 PM and I’m feeling a lil bit sick, I’ll just post more of my comments on Heath Ledger’s amazing victory tomorrow.

Enjoy the video! G’nyt ^_^

The Dark Knight

Finally, the hype surrounding the famous crusader and his latest achenemesis, The Joker, has come to an end.  Warner Bros., The Dark Knight’s distributor, can now safely go to sleep while the latest installment of the Batman series topples every imaginable box-office films.  And, as they slumber, the whole world will give its unglorified and much-expected criticism of Nolan’s masterpiece.

I was expecting the film to blow me away–like Forrest Gump did or, maybe even that slightly unexpected appreciation I felt with Brokeback Mountain–but, it did not.  The “wow” factor was missing.  The film is great and it deserves the credits and accolades being thrown its way.  Much more for the actors (I am using the term actors for it is that–an actor’s movie–except for Rachel Dawes [played by Maggie Gyllenhaal], the absence of female characters in the film is quite noticeable) who gave life to it.  But, it lacks that certain element that will make it jaw-dropping good.  Maybe because there’s too many elements in the film battling out to be the “wow” that audience are carelessly pulled from one spectrum to another.  Yet, alas, in this aspect, Heath Ledger threw all cautions in the wind and went wild-beautiful with his portrayal of The Joker.  True, there’s too many loopholes in the characterization of The Joker.  Or, it might also spring from the fact that The Joker has no scruples whatsoever.  He has no history, no past, and he knows it; he embraces it like the devil himself.  Out of all the Batman films ever done, The Dark Knight focuses on the eternal fight between good and evil, between what is right and wrong, and between what Gothman wants and what it needs.

In The Dark Knight, our infamous Cape Crusader was faced with the burning need to evaluate the circumstances that led him to who he truly is–the black-clad champion or the multibillionaire playboy?  Batman is still the same old hero we knew from the comics and even from the very first Batman film–he still has the same rule and yes, he still has his trusty friends Lucius Fox and the ever-reliable Alfred.  He stil loves the same woman–Rachel Dawes–and he still has, unintentionally, broken her heart because of what he is.  But, in this new installment, Batman faces the hero that his city, Gotham, needs–the new DA, Harvey Dent, who also happens to be Rachel Dawes’ new flame.  With Gothan under the ruthless attack of The Joker and his new breed of mutants, Dent, Lt. Gordon, and Batman worked “hand in batcape” to save the city from the insatiable attacks of the knife-weilding villain.

The Dark Knight is darker–literally and figuratively–than any of its predecessors.  It dived into the very core of human behavior and dared to ask questions about morality and immortality.  What Gotham wants does not necessarily means it is what it needs.  Dent is the new face; and Batman knows it.  More so, he needs it to be.  The Joker, with his twisted mindset, is as tyrannical as the stories he made up to bewitch his victims.  He refuses to acknowledge that good can triumph over evil and instead, pushes the limit with just about everyone in the film.  In this sense, he is more like the psychopatic killer in the movie series, Saw.

There is no doubt in my mind that The Dark Knight will change the course of the Batman series; perhaps, even forever.  To top this off, you need one heck of an actor to surpass that of Ledger’s brilliant acting.  And though this is supposed to be a Batman film, it became The Joker’s for the simple reason that he dominates the screen like no other villain had before.  Sure, Christian Bale was an effective Batman.  Perhaps, he was the most effective out of all of them (Michael Keaton, George Clooney, etc) but, the buzz surrounding Ledger’s acting even before the film’s trailer was shown and certainly even before the actor died showed that in retrospect, it was Ledger’s portrayal of The Joker that gave the film its much-needed edge over all the comic-film adaptations ever made.

The Dark Knight will not “wow!” you per se but, it will leave you wanting, no, craving for more.  And that’s what great about it. A film’s primary purpose is to entertain rather than to leave the audience squirming on their seats, expecting for some award-giving body to shower the film with gold trophies.  I have always said it (and will always believe it too):  it is no use for a film to be an Oscar winner or nominated, for that matter, a film only needs to be believed by the people to be great and that’s it.  No amount of Oscar trophies can compete with the general opinion of the public.  And The Dark Knight sure as hell hit the public like storm.

Dark Knight (yet again)

This review focuses more on “The Joker.”

Associated Press review

The final curtain may have fallen on Heath Ledger but his last film will be remembered as the best of his short-lived career.  I am hoping for a posthumous award as best supporting actor in the Oscars.

Dark Knight Reviews

Check out these two reviews of Heath Ledger’s last completed film, The Dark Knight.

http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/movie/16155928/review/21477208/the_dark_knight

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/37214

July 18 can’t come soon enough for me!  Yikes!  Sooooo excited to see this already!  Boo-hoo~~~