Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008
It’s currently 12:05 am on Wednesday here in San Diego. I, the Wotch’s Robin Ericson, and a whole slew of Wotchers here for both the “Ka-Vention” and San Diego Comic Con have just returned to the hotel room after seeing “The Dark Knight.” Like many other things, I don’t believe the hype.
Or didn’t.
Christian Bale did another admirable job as Bruce Wayne and as Batman. Maggie Gyllenhaal took over the role of Rachel Dawes from the Katie Holmes and made the role her own. The supporting cast of top name actors (Gary Oldman, Michale Caine, and Morgan Freeman) had proven why they are some of the best.
And then there is the late Heath Ledger.
Ledger didn’t just try to make the Joker different from the previous ones. He reached inside himself, drew out the darkest part of the human soul, and put that on display for all of us to see.
I amazed at some of the things that the Joker did that had the audience laughing. They weren’t funny. They were horrific. The things he did that they didn’t laugh at were horrific.
And, yet, there was a fascination to what he did.
Cesar Romero’s Joker was comedic and campy. Jack Nicholson’s was over the top but never really had a true direction.
Heath Ledger’s?
Whether you call him “Jack the Ripper”, “Zodiac”, “John Wayne Gacy”, “BTK”, or “The Joker”, there is a stream of evil that exists. A temptation to see what life what would be like when you step outside of the rules and make your own, without regard to anyone or anything else.
Ledger’s Joker shows us that, combined with a genius and focus.
The Abyss has stared back.
And it scares me.
Not because Heath Ledger portrayed a comic book villian, but because images of that is truly here in reality.
Be good.