Jared Leto IS The Joker - - - - - - - - Part 17

The best Ledger laugh for me was after Batman beats the **** out of him in the interrogation room.

And that's the best thing about Ledger's laugh. Each one of his laughs (not a lot of them in the flick ) are different and unique.

They run the gamut of being sarcastic, playful, creepy, sinister and just deranged.

 

The interrogation room laugh is a close second for me. It helps to know Ledger really took that punch from Bale before the laugh emanated. Ledger was a crazy ass dude.

 

Say that again. The Grim Reaper has been on over time this Christmas!

 

Oh, I'm not happy about it either....

 

That's my favorite one as well. It's the ultimate Joker laugh and the fact that his laugh is used relatively sparingly only makes it more powerful.

 

It astonishes me (not really) that some people think his laugh was terrible and even nonexistent. Or that he was totally unfunny.

 

I've always been partial to his laugh after "I'm a man of my word."

 

Yeah, man. You know it's bad when the man who sung "Last Christmas" is taken away from us ON Christmas! God have mercy on us all...

This one bothered me the most. People saying his Joker was "too serious" had me wondering if he walked into/out of the same movie.

 

My friends couldn't stop laughing at his more humorous scenes when I first saw it in theaters.

Yet it's somehow the main argument the Ledger naysayers use to go along with their endless " HE WUZ NAHT DA 1 TRUU JOKUR DAT I REMEMBURR " rhetoric.... And when you directly prove them wrong it's STILL " YA WELL HE WUZ NAHT DA JOKURR " . It's so friggin' irritating.

 

I know, man. I was in a packed theater both times I saw TDK & each time, EVERYONE laughed their asses off from the pencil trick alone, not to mention his interactions with the various people at Wayne's fundraiser for Dent and so on.

Their other main argument is that his skin wasn't permawhite and I'm like "so what?"

 

Ledger's Joker is proof that you CAN deviate from the source material and still have the audience in the palm of your hand. Any approach is acceptable as long as it pays off. Leto's Joker did not pay off.

 

Superficially speaking, he may not be accurate, but in terms of capturing the spirit of the character, even the makeup stays true. It's basically the same concept : man undergoes a disfigurement and creates a clown-like persona based around said disfigurement.

 

Personally, it didn't ever bother me that Ledger's version wore make-up. I was always open to it, and imo, it paid off in the most phenomenal of ways. I love the fact that he's akin to the Shape in the original Halloween. This force of nature that almost appears out of nowhere. You know a little about him but not enough to get a clear read on him. He shows up, he devastates and he's eternalized for it.

Again, I think Leto's Joker would benefit greatly from having a film that focuses on his history with Batman, giving us "classic" Joker and showing how he gets to where he is in SS.

It's just a matter of giving the Joker a good story to work with, something that allows Leto to explore all of the nuances of his interpretation without being held back by anything.

 

I agree, but what you're talking about is completely different from what we got. You're basically saying that Leto's Joker would have benefited from being good. Leto, Ayer and WB all managed to get it wrong. Even within the confines of what we got to see, Leto dropped the ball in multiple respects. The character needs a COMPLETE revamp if he's gonna be fulfilling a main role in a movie down the line.

 

Okay. Let's get back on topic. What did you guys LIKE about Letoker?

Things I liked:

- The grills. They are traditionally not a part of the character. But neither is a perma smile. Joker in the comics doesn't have a permanent smile. He just smiles a lot. But he is capable of frowning. But Jack's perma smile really worked for the screen. I feel the same about grills. They really add to the Joker's look in a striking way. Plus I love the idea that Batfleck punched his teeth out. All of them.

- I don't like his tattoos. But I am fine with the jewelry and suits. Joker has always been a showman. Joker has always been a vain glorious narcissist. Ledger's version seems to be unique in his lack of self regard. I don't think a garish wardrobe is out of character.

- The purring noise he would occasionally make. I don't think his performance is good. His voice and physical acting leaves things to be desired. But that purring thing he would occasionally do was a welcome touch.

 

That's the thing, though, I do think Leto's Joker was good. But I also think within the right confines he could've been great. I'm not necessarily in favor of a total revamp so much as I am having someone who understands the character better than Ayer to help Leto get the best out of the aesthetic he's shooting for.

One thing, as I've said before, though, that I would drop would be the excess jewelry. I love the idea of the grillz and tattoos, but he doesn't need the jewelry. Case in point: he looked his best when he's first seen with Johnny Frost, in the car with Harley and then when he's in the tuxedo for the helicopter scene.

 

I like how he says "Doctor Quinzel"

 

I still love the fact that he purposely places his head to the gun after Harley shoots the trucker and then mocks her. Love the delivery of the line "Don't hurt me...I'll be your friend!"

 

Loved that line as well. Disliked most other lines in that scene, though.

 

A little off-topic but I really hate that that scene was deleted because beyond Joker, it showed a whole other side to Harley's character & would've sought to add another layer to her. Definitely more so than her "psycho-analysis" add-on with the team.

And I may have said this before but the entire Arkham scene especial reminds me of TAS Joker.

I do wonder what "few, faded memories" he was referring to. Life before he became the Joker, maybe?

 

The memories of where his classic purple suit is?

 

I liked the "I need a machine gun" line. Was one of the few times where Leto's insanity didn't feel forced.

 

I agree. That was actually my favourite scene of his... which is unfortunate

 

His suit was destroyed in the Metropolis attack. It all comes back around.