FILM critics are calling for the late Heath Ledger to receive an Oscar for his `unforgettable` portrayal of The Joker in new Batman film, The Dark Knight.
The first reviews of the new film in Britain`s The Sun newspaper and Rolling Stone magazine praise Ledger`s performance, calling it the role of his career.
Rolling Stone reviewer Peter Travers said Ledger "is mad-crazy-blazing brilliant as the Joker".
"If there`s a movement to get him the first posthumous Oscar since Peter Finch won for 1976`s Network, sign me up.
"Miles from Jack Nicholson`s broadly funny take on the role in Tim Burton`s 1989 Batman, Ledger takes the role to the shadows, where even what`s comic is hardly a relief."
The Sun said, "Heath steals the movie".
"This film is about one man, and that`s Heath Ledger.
"His electrifying performance as The Joker serves up the most menacing, villainous appearance on screen since Hannibal Lecter.
"Ledger has upped the ante for much loved and revered Hollywood villains, and whether or not he wins an Academy Award, his performance will be forever remembered in celluloid history."
The Sun went on to say there were eerie moments in the film, "like when The Joker talks about death, particularly the image of this clown faced actor wielding a gun and pointing it at himself".
This was the last film Ledger completed before his death in January. He was part-way through filming Terry Gilliam`s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus when he died.
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