Cinema Suicide

I’m on the fence about viral marketing. In many instances, it’s a cheap way to get you to buy into something, like that scene from A Christmas Story when Ralphy gets his decoder ring to finally take part in the secret Little Orphan Annie code and it turns out to be an ad for Ovaltine. There’s so much anticipation because there’s so much energy spent trying to get you excited about something. In many such cases, the hype never lives up to the product and you feel like you’ve followed a trail involving many clever puzzles and collaborative good times only to get to the end of the maze and find a giant billboard for Ovaltine. The almost-an-alternate-reality-game behind the marketing for the upcoming Dark Knight sequel to Batman Begins has, at least, been rewarding dilligent players with some sweet photos of Heath Ledger as The Joker.

I loved Batman Begins. I’m a long time Batfan and of all the movies made of the comic, that was the first one to really appeal to me. If anything, it felt like good old Frank Miller and even with the annoying habit of putting two villains in the movie, Ra’s Al Gul was an unconventional villain and the inclusion of ninjas put it over the top for me. I was on the fence about The Joker, though. Batman Begins put The Dark Knight in a setting that felt substantial and I wasn’t sure if The Joker fit into that setting. The stills that have been trickling down, though, are restoring my confidence. Ledger looks like Dave McKean’s Joker from the Morrisson/McKean graphic novel, Arkham Asylum and I couldn’t possibly be happier about it. Click on the image above for a better look at Heath as The Joker.