On January 22, 2008, Heath Ledger passed away from a toxic combination of prescription drugs. A few months later, the world was introduced to Ledger's portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight, a role that would earn him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Most people forget that The Dark Knight was not his last film, and that he had actually died halfway through the filming of Imaginarium. Fortunately, Imaginarium is incredibly trippy and Ledger's role was able to be filled by Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell.
This movie is about as confusing as it gets. Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) is an immortal who runs a traveling circus show, in what looks like an oversized horse and buggy. Audience members who go inside enter into an entrancing dreamworld where they choose either the morally correct path, or the morally bankrupt path. This is because of some silly bet Parnassus made with the Devil. Parnassus sucks at his job major time, and pretty much everyone who goes in, goes to Satan. That is, until they discover a mysterious stranger (Ledger) who upstarts the whole show and tries to turn it around.
Heath Ledger is quite obviously amazing in this movie. This is right after his time as the Joker, and his acting chops are top notch. And it is incredibly fun to watch the seamless transition from Ledger to Depp to Law and sometimes Farrell. Ledger is present throughout the entire movie, thanks to a sporadic shooting schedule and it feels like he never died.
Sadly, he can't save this movie from itself. One, it can get incredibly confusing and weird (watching a waltz between the Devil and Parnassus' daughter comes to mind) and two, however incredible and magical the dream sequences are around the middle of the movie, the whole thing is a little dreary and oppressive.
It might be Heath Ledger's last movie, but I'm going to block that fact from my memory and just assume The Dark Knight was.
2 out of 4 stars
-Christopher O'Connell
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