I know that it's absolute heresy to so much as whisper the possibility that anything at all might be wrong with The Dark Knight, but a new supercut from the folks who brought us The King's Speech: Just the Stammering goes a long way to spotlight one of the blockbuster's weakest links: Heath Ledger.
The late actor's Oscar notwithstanding, is there any more glaringly showy, scenery-scarfing, overindulgent, "I am so bad! Look how bad I am!" villainy in the modern comic-book canon than Ledger's turn as the Joker? How brainwashed were all of us four years ago when we walked out of Christopher Nolan's spectacle thinking we'd seen the genre's definitive evildoer, only to look back at this 10-and-a-half-minute showcase of cackling, lip-smacking, hand-clapping camp and wonder, "What was that?"
I mean, it's fine! The movie's good! I'm looking forward to The Dark Knight Rises, etc. etc. But keeping it to Academy Award-winning supporting actors alone, something tells me that we wouldn't be cringing as much at all of Christoph Waltz's bits standing apart from Inglourious Basterds, or every longing, bittersweet note of Christopher Plummer's performance drawn out from Beginners. (Hint, hint. Someone should get on that.)
[via thecussingchannel]