Heathledger.com

Heath Ledger’s performance in the upcoming Batman film is winning him rave reviews, with many critics pushing for the late Australian actor to be awarded a posthumous Oscar.

Five months after his death, the first critics to see The Dark Knight - due in Australian cinemas in two weeks - are giving the actor plenty of praise.

Rolling Stone magazine critic Peter Travers says Heath’s portrayal as the Joker was brilliant.

“It’s typical of Ledger’s total commitment to films as diverse as Brokeback Mountain and I’m Not There that he does nothing out of vanity or the need to be liked,” he wrote.

“I can only speak superlatives of Ledger, who is mad-crazy-blazing brilliant as the Joker.

“If there’s a movement to get him the first posthumous [acting] Oscar since Peter Finch won for 1976’s Network, sign me up.”

Sam Rubin, a respected entertainment correspondent for Los Angeles KTLA network, said Ledger would “absolutely be nominated for an Oscar, and at this point in the year is a hands-down favourite to win it posthumously”.

“Ledger offers perfect pitch, perfect tone, his Joker hits all the right notes,” he added.

Meanwhile an Associated Press review described the Joker as possibly Ledger’s finest performance - even better than his Brokeback Mountain role for which he was nominated for an Oscar.

“At times sounding like a cross between tough guy James Cagney in a gangster flick and Philip Seymour Hoffman’s fastidious Truman Capote, Ledger elevates Batman’s number one nemesis to a place even Jack Nicholson did not take him,” the review said.

Steals the show

British tabloid The Sun said Ledger steals the show in the Christopher Nolan-directed movie.

“His electrifying performance as the Joker serves up the most menacing, villainous appearance on screen since Hannibal Lecter,” it said.

“He may look like Marilyn Manson on steroids but he is clearly in control of the heinous plans leaving Gotham City in need of a hero.”

Even the Ledger’s co-stars in The Dark Knight have been pushing for Ledger to be recognised at the Oscars.

Christian Bale, who plays Batman, told MTV: “if anybody deserves it, of course, it is Heath”.

British actor Gary Oldman, who plays Gotham City police officer Lieutenant Jim Gordon, also believes Ledger’s performance is Oscar-worthy.

“The academy tends to overlook movies like this but [Ledger's] acting is so good it’s going to be very hard for them to avoid it,” Oldman said.

Ledger died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs in January in the US.

He was filming The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus at the time of his death.

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