And a lot of the Joker scenes just come off like he's trying too hard to be weird and crazy. Like in that one scene where he's sitting all depressed, it's like he wrote HA! HA! HA! all over the walls, and set up a big circular pattern of knives and guns and computers and what looks like baby clothes, drew a smiley face on himself with a Sharpie, and then sits there all depressed then randomly starts laughing. Idk, I guess The Joker is a crazy enough character, that it kinda makes sense, but it just comes off to me like they're trying too hard to make him look crazy in lieu of actually developing his character. Like, all the crazy things he did in Dark Knight actually served to develop the character and the story, it didn't feel like randomness for craziness' sake. If that makes sense.
On second watch, I'm starting to come around to Leto'a portrayal a little bit more, I just think he needs a much better script to work with, better dialouge, the character needs better motivations, tone down the weirdness and randomness, and amp up the psychological scariness. What made Ledger's work so well is you could understand his motivations, there was a method to his madness, he has this frightening charisma that made you want to see what he was gonna do and say next. And I see glimmers of that in Leto's portrayal, he just needs the right material to work with, a proper Joker story with interesting motivations and moments like the pencil trick, the scars monologue, burning the cash, "LOOK AT ME!" It's doable, but the writer has to understand the character. Hell, get Scott Snyder or Brian Azzarello in there, both of their writing shows a clear understanding of the character, with the possibility of meeting or exceeding the bar Ledger set. Joker is Horror meets Comedy. DC needs to take advantage of the great stable of villains they have, and not half ass it
