AN ILLUMINATING DARK KNIGHT

The surprise hit amongst the recent batch of movies for me was the Christopher Nolan-directed Batman sequel, The Dark Knight.
What a compelling movie it turned out to be thanks to the wonderful performance from Heath Ledger and Nolan's gripping script. The ovie just kept going to greater and greater heights -- challenging each character to their limits and showing what a malevolent character Ledger's Joker was.

The Joker has no special gadgets or armour or tricks -- he practically gives the middle finger to the Grim Reaper in his relentless deathwish -- and is such a malevolent force that he is truly frightening. The Joker unleashes a staggering amount of mayhem with the most minimal of effort. In addition, the humour with which Ledger plays the Joker only adds to his multidimensionality -- especially when he dresses up as a nurse or does his neat disappearing pencil trick.

The pathological side of the Joker also emerges when he keeps feeding others different variations of how he ended with a scarred face, making his origins a true mystery. He tells lies effortlessly

Go see this movie to get a glimpse of what a genius of a performance Ledger gives us all, before his untimely death.