Article: Joker trumps Batman in 'The Dark Knight'

The Dark KnightYou can't trust that Joker character. He's a vicious, amoral, psychopathic, murdering maniac and, given half a chance, he'll steal your movie.

Jack Nicholson did it in the 1989 "Batman" and Heath Ledger most definitely does it in the generally excellent "Dark Knight," though their approaches to the character couldn't be much more different. Nicholson camped it up but Ledger, whose death from a drug overdose six months ago now seems even more of a loss, took the Joker seriously -- and found a way to make the demented character seem uncomfortably, almost disturbingly, real.

Writer/director Christopher Nolan, returning after reinvigorating the franchise three years ago with ...

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