Ledger no joke in “The Dark Knight”

By Allison Brophy Champion

Published: July 25, 2008

“The Dark Knight” emits shadows enough to fill a mid-night sky, but not enough that you won’t want more.

More of the late Heath Ledger, that is, as The Joker, a madman with a ripped up face and psyche.

There’s nothing laughable about this classic character, circa 2008, and it’s obvious that 28-year-old Ledger, who died in January after consuming a dangerous cocktail of prescription drugs, gave it his all, literally.

The young Australian’s haunted and brilliant perform-ance defies adequate description, and yet it’s too brief to satiate.

They could have made a whole movie about Heath Ledger’s The Joker. Really, no one else exists when he’s on the screen in “The Dark Knight” —this performance is that entrancing.

The latest Batman movie teases us then with what could have been though it satisfies on many other levels.

At more than two-and-a-half hours and set in what seemed like perpetual evening, it could have made me sleepy, but no.

An old-fashioned bank robbery by men in clown masks opens the movie, and its PG-13 rating, I felt, was conservative.

Yes, it’s Batman, but “The Dark Knight” isn’t for kids.

People get killed, lots of um, and there are more explosive devices than in Baghdad.

The clown robbers work for The Joker, of course, and they’re all part of a generic urban underground — “the mob” in the most general sense of the word.

This mob has Italians, Irish, Hispanics and African American guys and they’re all mean.

“Criminals in this town used to believe in things,” says the Gotham Bank manager, so what does The Joker believe in?

“I believe that what doesn’t kill you makes you stranger,” he says, the words curling off his tongue like Bozo’s hair.

It’s the first glimpse of Ledger and he’ll have you hooked.

The Joker can’t resist showing the world his face and it’s a face Batman, the Dark Knight, (Christian Bale) hates.

Bale is back as a sullen Caped Crusader and he does a decent job reluctantly fighting darkness.

Gotham City doesn’t need him anymore, he thinks, and yet he always shows up — and disappears — at just the right moment.

The only thing I don’t get about Batman is his deep, deep, deep voice, which sounds kind of funny at times.

But I don’t think I’m supposed to be laughing.

Chicago as Gotham is the movie’s next biggest star behind Heath Ledger — the Windy City hangs on for this dim drive, soaring, like there’s no tomorrow.

Fresh-faced Gotham District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) vows to ruin the tomorrows of the city’’ mafia. He effectively rounds up 549 of the city’s worst crooks and that’s why Batman thinks Gotham doesn’t need him anymore.

Maybe what Batman needs is some Prozac. He seems depressed.

No, what Bruce Wayne really needs is his old girlfriend Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a lawyer working under the dashing Dent, and his new girlfriend.

What The Joker needs is for Batman to reveal his face. Until he does, The Joker will play— as in blow things up and kill people.

The best scene in the “Dark Knight” is when he crashes some swanky party attended by Harvey and Rachel and lots of other rich and glamorous people.

Ledger transcends the character here, getting too close to people’s faces, pinching their cheeks together like a mean crazy grandma would. Makeup smeared with no reason all over his face, The Joker is drawn to Rachel.

He likes knives too, even has them in his shoes.

A word about Gyllenhaal: glamorous! She fits the part.

After the party, most of the rest of “The Dark Knight” is spent in anticipation of more clashes between the title character and his disturbed nemesis.

Seasoned actors Michael Kaine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman round out the good guys and with this trio there is no shortage of watch-able talent.

Add to that awesome chase scenes through Chicago tunnels, The Joker in drag, and a wicked Batman chopper, as in, motorcycle, as in, it’s one half of the Batmobile, and this movie is one hell of a wild ride.

“Madness is like gravity,” The Joker says, and you can tell his end is near. “All it takes is a little push.”

Enough said.

Alison Brophy Champion can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 101 or