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Joker : Jack Nicholson or Heath Ledger ?

Marquis De Sade

Marquis De Sade

I came for the spankings
My vote goes for Nicholson. He was a textbook, classic, and perfect Joker. He was smart, cynical, believable, and wicked. Although the new joker is "badass", he's just way too overdone, and I did not like this whole "dark" aura that was forced on him.

As I said, Nicholson was a damn believable and convincing psychopath adopting this whole humour thing, whereas the only thing was missing from the new Joker was a My Chemical Romance t-shirt.
 
Marquis De Sade said:
My vote goes for Nicholson. He was a textbook, classic, and perfect Joker. He was smart, cynical, believable, and wicked. Although the new joker is "badass", he's just way too overdone, and I did not like this whole "dark" aura that was forced on him.

As I said, Nicholson was a damn believable and convincing psychopath adopting this whole humour thing, whereas the only thing was missing from the new Joker was a My Chemical Romance t-shirt.
Click to expand...

You haven't seen the film yet :P
 
Ledger's Joker is the original Bob Kane rendition, infused with his own unbelieveable talent. Possibly a posthumous Oscar for that performance. I plan on seeing this at least a half dozen more times in the theatre, it's that good.

Nicholson was a parody, worse actually than the campy Romero schtick, but that's not even germane to the discussion.
 
And keep in mind Nicholson playing the Joker was the first true shark-jumping moment of his career. It wasn't the first cheesy role he had (or the last), and I'm not saying he hasn't been brilliant in a few things since, but it's definitely the point where he showed us he was perfectly capable of not giving a rat's ass.
 
I'd have to give it to Ledger too. I liked Nicholson, in that role, but he didn't have the same menace. Also, I found myself laughing or smiling with sick delight at almost every line Ledger delivered. I think he was born to play that role.
 
Heath Ledger's Joker was not so great. Did you hear Heath Ledger died? Jack Nicholson trying to spray a beautiful lady in the face with acid > Heath Ledger setting a pile of money on fire.

Nicholson's joker had moments when you truly believed he was crazy; a gigantic, childish grin coupled with totally blank eyes. Nicholson seeped insanity. Watch his film again if you are dazed by the music and SFX of the Dark Knight.

Heath Ledger's performance as an insane criminal genius was good. But not great. He never had the face for it, and never had the voice despite of the play-acting he put on (The laugh was excellent, but it was heard more often in the trailers than in the film). Maybe it was the poor makeup. Nicholson's character did not simply boil down to an unsatisfied, murderous eccentric seeking to espouse how fundamental his perception of the world was. Maybe he was but did better than Ledger.

Perhaps if he hadn't DIED it would be possible to review his impression from a more neutral point of view. Overall he does well, but I can't get past the fact that he's pretending to be insane and spouting a loud of BS about his childhood. Just being really, really 'edgy', tense and pushing people's buttons does not make you gripping, or even interesting.

Yes, yes, we all know how the real Joker isn't the campy 1960's Ceaser Romero Joker, and how he's a failed Hannibal Lecter who puts makeup on. Truth is, we're not that interested in that one. Never were, never will be, no matter how many 2nd rate actors are cut down in their prime trying to portray him.
 
That's why opinions are just like assholes ;)

The REAL Joker was the one Bob Kane wrote in Batman. #1 to be exact, and it was an epiphany over the joker in a playing card that one of the cocreators brought in during the early brainstorming sessions that advanced and developed the character.

Ledger had obviously gone back and read that very first issue, since the character rings true to the origin.
 
Ledger looks just like Conrad Veidt did in The Man Who Laughs (1929), which is what he's supposed to look like, btw.
 
Anyone else with a gram of brains see the current incarnation of Joker as a good psycho unto himself, but a disappointment compared to most other film villains?
 
I have mixed feelings about the new movie.

Who was better? They were both brilliant in their own right. Nicholson's Joker was more campy and comic-ish than Ledger's. Yet, that's what made Nicholson's Joker so brilliant. His wonderful and colorful props, his witty one-liners delivered with disdain and sardonicism, and his nigh perfectly timed and pitched laugh. Ledger's joker was closer to a realistic homicidal maniac. Very psychoanalytical much like Lecter but not as controlled. Where Nicholson used gas and chemicals to affect Gotham's masses, Ledger just whipped out his dick and stuck it in Gotham's ear. What I thought was best about Ledger's performance was his ability to show no fear whatsoever. A man who is unafraid of anything can be the most dangerous person alive.

I really do believe that the movie is worth watching several times over because it was that complex. And by complex, I mean long and included A LOT of information.
 
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