by Onemargaret

Created on: March 10, 2009   Last Updated: March 11, 2009

Even though Jack is a very talented actor and I respect him greatly, I have to give it to Heath, since he brought so much more to the character of the Joker. He was brilliant, from the cool, calculated movement of his eyes to his demented facial expressions. He was sinister and at the same time, he made you feel quite sad for him and his character. One minute he made you mad, the next minute he made you laugh. Heath took you from one extreme to the other.

In the opening scene of the movie, "The Dark Knight," the Joker robs a Gotham City bank with his accomplices and then tricks them into killing each other. Of course, being the Joker, he had to leave the very last accomplice for him to destroy. Health did this scene like he could really care less. Nothing was going to get in his way, when it came to ruling over Gotham City and destroying Batman. He was bent on elimination and even self-destruction; anything necessary to get exactly what he wanted. His determination was evident throughout the movie and the only way to stop him was to kill him.

In order for the Joker to really get to Batman, he decided to take something that he truly loved, Rachel. Now, Batman was forced to choose between Dent and Rachel, who were both rigged with explosives on opposite sides of the city. Ledger was brilliant as he taunted Batman to the glorifying end. Once he felt like he had Batman where he wanted him by playing on his emotions, he suddenly did something crazy, where he emerged as the fabulous villain he surely was. No holds barred. It was definitely a fight to the finish.

Now, that he had taken away something close to Batman's heart, he clearly had no remorse and he continued on his merrily way to dig into Batman's gut even further. He knew that Dent, the survivor and fianc, still loved Rachel. As Batman saved his life and not Rachel, he was also filled with overwhelming guilt. Knowing this, the Joker played on his emotions by influencing Dent to turn on the man who saved him, namely Batman. Heath supplied non-stop action and vengeance in this movie. He had that, "I don't care" way about him and he was really good at portraying the role. Since he was hurt by the world, it was now his God-given right to bestow hurt right back.

That's why I prefer Heath Ledger over Jack Nicholson in the role of the Joker. He was quite deserving of the Oscar and any other award befitting the man, the actor, the legend!

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