Originally posted by Alpha Centauri [That's too easy of a get-out clause, though: "People wouldn't be saying it if he died.".Why? Daniel Day-Lewis was praised as giving one of the best performances since Orson Welles in Citizen Kane for There Will Be Blood. Yet, if he died and got the same praise, people would say the same thing.
People that perish are treated differently once they die than they did when they were alive and that kind of logic works on a larger scale for famous people. Individuals tend to think only of the positive highlights of an individual and even unnecessarily praise them once they've died.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that's it is right or even reasonable but it is what people do. Also, I don't think that works evenly. Day-Lewis is known as one of the greatest method actors but Heath Ledger wasn't. Sure, Ledger was always praised as a great actor but not on the same scale as Day-Lewis. He might go from, let's say for argument's sake, seventy two percent popularity to ninety three percent popularity, whereas Day-Lewis is already high enough that he cannot go much higher once he's deceased.
I have to agree. People probably would say the same thing about Day-Lewis but that is because "people" aren't too bright for the most part.
It's very likely that his death garnered acclaim, but that doesn't mean that he wasn't a revelation in that role, because he was.
I'd have to agree. I thought his role was superbly well done.
Also, I think what Ultra means by "comic-like" is comic book, not comic as in comical. To that I ask what would you have done? That Joker is so much like the one in The Killing Joke that it's uncanny. Considering that T.K.J. is considered to be the Joker's definitive story, what would you have done to make him MORE comic-like?
It depends, really. The Joker has a very unpredictable personality and I think that nailing his character isn't something that's really an easy task but some of the mannerisms were a little awkward and the Joker simply seemed "eccentric" instead of insane. I thought that Ledger's Joker was more akin to Brian Azzarello's Joker than the canonical Joker in "The Killing Joke."
I'm not saying the Joker in TDK was necessarily a lower quality Joker. I'm simply saying that Nolan's "realism" formulae may have been a little less symmetrical to the insanely hyperactive magic of the Joker I see in comic books. Ledger's Joker was great in it's own right but I see all of these biased fanboys constantly shouting, "Oh dear! It was so much like the comics! It was the greatest Joker ever! RIP! RIP!" It's rather annoying.
I don't think The Dark Knight was light years ahead of Batman Begins, but to suggest there's a better crafted superhero movie out there is ridiculous to me personally. Batman isn't a fly around, big explosions, C.G.I. style hero, you have to realise that. If the reason you think it isn't a good superhero movie is because it doesn't have half the glisten of Iron Man, then you need to learn to appreciate them for what they are and are not.
I'd have to agree with this. A lot of individuals believe that the superhero formula has to be the same in every media outlet it is placed in and I especially think that's incorrect regarding Batman. He shares similarities to those heroes but he is a whole different ball park.