10 Best Live-Action Batman Characters (Who Aren't The Dark Knight)
2. The Joker - The Dark Knight (2008)
The fact that anyone reading this article most likely expected to see Heath Ledgers performance as the Clown Prince of Gotham quite high on this list and are probably shocked its not at the No. 1 spot! says a lot about what Ledger gave to audiences. While Nicholsons performance as the character was pure, campy, comic book fun, Ledgers is on a whole other level. His Joker is funny without winking at the audience, as if daring them to laugh at the same time hes brutally murdering an innocent person or delivering threats you just know hed love to come through on. Not much can be said about Ledgers performance that hasnt been said already, but every moment he slinks on screen seems to slow down time in the best kind of way; from the dialogue to his subtlest of mannerisms, its something one can easily and effortlessly get lost in watching. The Joker here is nothing more than a force of nature, something both the characters and the audience itself can get so caught up in watching and trying to predict only to get swept away before they even realize what's happening. Countless people doubted that Ledger could bring the character to life properly, but in the span of an opening weekend, Ledger managed to leave an imprint on the character that any future actor who takes on the role is going to be very hard-pressed to top.
Writer, film enthusiast, part-time gamer and watcher of (mostly) good television located on the fringe of Los Angeles, who now has his own website at www.highdefgeoff.com!
