Ray wrote a really good article yesterday discussing the backlash (and boy we couldn’t see that coming the moment he died, did we?) that has spread across the web like a sick virus that apparently the only reason we care and rave about Heath Ledger’s stunning performance as The Joker in The Dark Knight is because the actor died in such tragic circumstances six months ago.

One thing that has got my blood boiling on three separate occasions in the last week is from people who I respect very well, great personal friends of mine (one actually family) who said such an ignorant comment. I’ve heard, “the only reason it’s so high on IMDB is because the star is dead, the only reason it has such good reviews is because Ledger is dead, the only reason anyone cares is because Ledger is dead”.

One even said, “the only reason it’s doing so well is because he’s dead”. Who is dead? Do you even know his name, who he was, what role he plays? Do you have a mind of your own outside of what you see on BBC News or read in The Sun?

What ignorant bullshit. People are so quick to dismiss greatness, as if by praising and giving their true thoughts on something special would make them seem inferior in someway. Is it spitefulness, jealously or what?

Not even the U.K’s talk show and film critic, the ever popular Jonathan Ross could help himself, who amazingly because he’s such a comic book nut, lambasted the performance of Ledger on his radio show. He even called the movie “boring”!

“It has some good bits, but long periods are boring – it’s all a bit gloomy and self-serious.”

“I’m sure, sadly, if the guy hadn’t died tragically young, they wouldn’t be making all this fuss over it.”

There is something I should mention, an inherent flaw in everyone’s argument about the buzz of Ledger’s performance coming solely because of his untimely death. That is not true. That is an outright lie. On three separate occasions, Obsessed With Film spoke about the early “legendary performance of Heath Ledger” as the Joker.

I had not heard such praise for a performance in a blockbuster movie in years. Hell, outside of Daniel Day-Lewis anytime he does a movie, you would be hard pressed to find such a praised performance for any feature film in the months of November and December as word began to leak over just what Ledger had done with the character.

On December 14th 2007, I wrote in the article “Heath Ledger, the new Lon Chaney?” in response to a newly released trailer of the film.

Ok, maybe that comparison is a bit much but I’m getting goosebumps I haven’t had with a ‘monster’ performance since I saw the original silent version of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. The great Lon Chaney use to transform himself completely into the many villainous roles he played on screen, and my God Heath Ledger looks to have done the same thing with The Joker.

Even earlier than that on December 7th 2007, from a reviewer who had seen the IMax footage before I Am Legend…

I’m sold, Ledger is The Joker.

Heath does great from what little we see him. His gait is awesome when he walks, sort of like the floor is sticky. His voice is awesome and unique….you’ll love it when you see it. Worth seeing IAL for…

His walk – Twitchy, yet fluid. I can’t describe it, it’s like a drug addict who’s not bogged down by being high. His voice – Terrifying, and constantly sarcastic. It sounds like a mix of a 30’s era gangster, and a psych ward patient/Doctor rolled into one. Everything was condescending and mean and most of all, the one you’ve been waiting for; HIS SMILE – Oh, HE SMILES FOLKS. Brief, but it does the job. I forgot who said it, but they said it right. He’s a shark, a vicious, nasty grin that you would not want pointed at your direction. Fitchners face, when he looks at it, looks like he just shat 8 bricks in his pants. Guys, Ledger wins, period.

Oh no, the praise didn’t start in January, we had seen this performance coming months before that and Ok, no one was mentioning Oscars then but Jesus, it was 9 months before the release of the movie. As each image, each trailer, each snippet of his James Cagney-like madness performance and that sickening voice started running down the back of your spin and which you couldn’t quite get comfortable listening to, it was clear this was a performance of a special magnitude.

Can anyone deny this is the best performance by an actor, the best movie and the best direction we have seen in 2008? There is only Wall-E that could rival it for Best Picture so far, another movie not absent of it’s own contraversary over whether it deserves recognition.

Although we can sit here right now and say Ledger deserves an Oscar nod, the truth is we don’t yet know if there is more actors deserving it. We have not hit August yet, and most of the serious films are still a few weeks away from debuting in theatres, I’m sure there will be some more actors coming up who deserve recognition for their brilliant performances.

Once we have seen more actors do their thing this year then we will be in a better position to decide who exactly deserves the praise. But anyone who says Ledger’s performance is one we wouldn’t care about, it’s hard to see anything in their comments but a shit-stirrer or some kind of strange jealously. Say you don’t like the performance, call it over-the-top if you most but don’t say we wouldn’t care if he were still with us today.