by Fritz Esker
**1/2 stars (out of four)

Heath Ledger returns to the screen one last time in director Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. Ledger (who died during filming) plays a man rescued from death by Christopher Plummer’s traveling mystery show. Plummer is a centuries-old man who was granted immortality by the devil (Tom Waits) on the condition that any child he ever has will become the devil’s property by her 16th birthday. Plummer’s daughter (Lily Cole) is about to turn 16, so Plummer and Ledger team up to try and save his daughter from the clutches of the devil. Like most Gilliam movies, there are interesting visuals and the story does keep the audience engaged for most of its two-hour running time. And compared to Gilliam’s last effort (the awful, unwatchable Tideland), it is downright wonderful. But, Ledger’s character never really comes into focus. It’s hard to grasp what makes him tick and the script makes him seem alternately heroic and devious, but never really seems sure of what he is. It’s not a bad film, but in the end, one that will likely only be of interest to hardcore Gilliam fans and hardcore Ledger fans.