This is some serious praise.

Anybody who has witnessed Nicholson's masterful performance in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" can attest to it's brilliance. It's one of the finest 2 hours of acting ever captured on film. Not only did it do justice to a established literary character, it propelled Nicholson into the stratosphere of Hollywood stardom.

To compare Ledger's performance to Nicholson's finest is quite a statement.

Let's not lose sight that Jack Nicholson is one of the best actors we've ever had the pleasure to watch. Let's also not lose sight that his performance in "Cuckoo's Nest" is his finest. So, to compare Ledger's performance to the best work from the baby boomer's best actor is praise that is either outlandish in its generosity, or a truly remarkable testament to Heath Ledger.

If this praise turns out to be warranted, Heath Ledger will forever be remembered in the same light as James Dean, Andy Kaufman and Kurt (not "Kirk", dummy - ed.) Cobain - genius lost too soon.

As word continues to get out about his final (and apparently masterful) performance, it appears more and more likely that this will be the case.

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