Buddha babble on Real Life Fiction

For those of you who have not joined the throngs of comic book fans, grimacing parents of excited children, and curious onlookers who have seen the hit freak show “The Dark Knight” starring Christian Bale as Batman and the late (now) great Heath Ledger as the Joker you must be crazy waiting THIS long not watching a film THIS good.

Without going through the usual Heath Ledger eulogy or the mind-staggering world wide box office statistics, “The Dark Knight” is fresh breath of comic movie coolness (Batman vigilantes, the Bat-cycle) that makes you forget this is a superhero film with its BRILLIANT scriptwriting (the magic disappearing pencil), crisp dialogue (“You complete me..”), poignant characterizations (Gary Oldman is THE Commissioner Gordon) and stinging moral dilemmas (is he the hero we deserve or the hero we need for the moment?).

Dark? Indeed the movie is what with district attorneys being scarred for life, hospitals being blown up, and lady loves being blown to bits BUT it IS a dark reality with all those gray areas with choices we make on an everyday basis like when to call it quits, who do you save first, and is it all worth it.

"The Dark Knight" is a film littered with surprises. From the get go, the casting was a surprise simply because it was filled with strange choices- Aaron Eckhart for Harvey Dent? Heath Ledger for the Joker? Very few people saw that one coming but director Christopher Nolan reaped a chilling portrayal of Two Face from Eckhart and an even terrifying Clown Prince of Crime from Ledger. “We’re both freaks, you and I..”

"The Dark Knight" might not be all that Frank Miller but it’s certainly many shades of landmark Batman story lines like Year One and of course, Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke.

The Joker is a raving lunatic true.. but here he gets unanimous raving reviews for playing a raving lunatic. Heath Ledger may have been truly the Joker’s first casualty but he has truly put the (over the) edge on fearfulness with this classic villainous icon. Suddenly, the Joker is truly scary. Heath Ledger may have put a scruffy, agile angle to the Joker, but he is radical, diabolical, unpredictable and violent- all created by that ONE bad day that separates the sane from the psychotic.

So into character was Ledger that the details into the insane criminal mind were revolutionized and made stark raving clear (the Marilyn Monroe portrayal, the mobile phone sewn into the stomach, the repeated wetting of the lips). I never made a big fuss over his passing until this film. Now that he’s gone it’s going to be difficult to find another Joker to fill his clown shoes.

While he won’t be coming back like Gordon, he is about to walk away with an Academy Award for playing a character called the Joker.

Guess who has the final laugh?