What do “The Dark Knight” and “Space Chimps” have in common?
My kids won’t be seeing either.
I saw “The Dark Knight” last night. I’m not a big fan of superhero movies and this movie won’t change how I feel. I like dark, violent, foreboding films, but “Dark Knight” was a little too full of itself with the philosophical musings. (What is villianny? Are bad people heroes? Are good people villians? Why did this dude sit in the center of the aisle and get up, like, four times?)
One thing that can’t be argued is Heath Ledger’s performance. He was far and away the best thing in the movie. This man was an incredible talent. “Brokeback Mountain” is the best movie of the 00’s and his acting in that movie was monumental.
I just wish someone would acknowledge his inspiration for The Joker: Tom Waits. I’m sitting in the theater, watching The Joker doing his sardonic, growly, hipster, scat delivery and it dawns on me. Heath Ledger is doing Tom Waits the same way Johnny Depp did Keith Richards in “Pirates of the Caribbean.” Anyone who loves Tom Waits and has seen him live or on TV must recognize this.
Compare Heath and Tom. You tell me.
It can’t be a coincidence that Ledger’s final movie is “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” which also stars Tom Waits as the Devil. I can’t determine if filming overlapped with “Dark Knight,” but Ledger must be a Waits fan.
This is in no way a criticism. Ledger may have credited Waits, but we may never know. Ledger as “The Joker” will be remembered long after “The Dark Knight” is forgotton.
As for “Space Chimps,” that movie just looks stupid.
Totally agree that Ledger was doing Tom Waits. Others have suggested Johnny Rotten. Certainly the Joker is portrayed as anarchy-loving and his sort of hunchback gait could be an imitation of Rotten's stage moves but the slow drawl, the smacking of the lips and the playful delivery sounds like Waits on his spoken word recordings as far back as Frank Wild Theme to his more recent Orphans release. Remember also that Waits appears as a spooky gothic clown on the cover of Franks Wild Years.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you feel the same way!