Review of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) by Harris K — 13 Jan 2012

I thought I was going to love this. I didn't. It actually makes me mad. I wish "The Dark Knight" could have been Heath Ledger's final performance, because it was so amazing. Not that his performance in this was bad.

Just, the movie was bad. It wasn't enough that the CGI sucked! By the end I had no idea who the good guy or the bad guy was. They all just seemed like a-holes to me. Also, the film suffered heavily from Ledger's death mid-production.

They try to explain this away by hiring three different actors to portray different versions of Ledger in the Imaginarium. As far as I can tell he appears to people how they want him to look, but wouldn't it be easier to hire ONE actor and say that's how Ledger wants to look in the fantasy world? I mean, it's his imagination too.

Also, call me crazy but I have a little theory. As, the movie went on Ledger's role got considerably darker. Now, I'm sure he was already stressed from his gritty role as the Joker. Heck, Jack Nicholson even warned him of the psychological dangers of playing the character.

Call me crazy, but I think being asked to play something dark again drove him crazy, and led to his (possible) suicide. So, in my opinion, this movie KILLED Heath Ledger. The more I think about it, the less I like it.