The Dark Knight recieved one Golden Globe nomination, for Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker. 

“You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”

My time finally freed up enough that I was able to watch Batman Begins and The Dark Knight back to back (on the Blu-Ray, swish!)  I’ve talked on the blog before about my affection for both films as a lifelong Batman fan, so this moment belongs to Heath Ledger and his portrayal of the Clown Prince of Crime.

I remember way back when Ledger was first announced as winning the role, and thinking “Huh?”  I respected the kid as an actor; I saw Brokeback Mountain and thought he made that movie worthwhile.  But did I see him as the Joker?  Honestly no, not at all.  I missed the ‘prologue’ when it played in front of I Am Legend a couple Christmases ago, so I didn’t get a firsthand taste of the good buzz he started to recieve from that.  When the first pictures leaked as part of the online campaign (for my money the greatest viral campaign tied to a movie, ever, and it’s not even close), I thought it was interesting but it still gave no clue as to how he would play the Joker.

A lot of the Joker is in the script written by the Nolan Brothers, a lot of the Joker is in the great theme created by Hans Zimmer and company, but let me give credit where credit is due and say Heath Ledger makes The Dark Knight a must see movie.  As much as I love everyone else associated with this project, it really is that simple.  As he says in his first meeting with the mob, this Joker is not crazy.  It reminds me of something I picked up on as a wrestling fan as a kid; the bad guy isn’t supposed to think he’ s ‘bad’, he just has a different point of view.  And the great bad guys can justify their point of view to the point you know where they’re coming from even if you don’t agree with it.  The difference between cartoon bad guys (Darth Vader, Jack Nicholson’s Joker), and the bad guys who truly earn anti-hero status (Tony Soprano, even ‘the Batman’ himself in Gotham City). 

Back to Heath; when I first heard talk that he might get love from the Academy, I was very wait and see.  I don’t know if his death has helped or hurt his case (I don’t think it hurt the box office, I’ll put that out there.)  I definitely feel it’s the most memorable performance I’ve seen this year, outside of my own bias toward this character.  I just glanced at his competition at the Globes (Cruise, Downey Jr., Fiennes, Hoffman) and think he’s definitely got a shot to win.  As a Batman fan, I’m so happy with the film and the direction the franchise is going that I’m not going to lose sleep one way or another whether Heath wins a Globe or an Oscar. 

But since the point of this column is if I think he should win, then my answer is hell yes!!!