Nostalgia Critic's Batman (1989) VS The Dark Knight (2008) Video

[The Dark Knight]

Again, when I read the script, I thought the character was missing the glee and humour and the wink in the eye. Comparing the script to the finished film, that's the biggest ingredient that Ledger brought IMO.

I agree completely.

[Joker81]

That I can agree with.  As good a Ledger was (and I have said this from the start) there was a "little wink in the eye" missing. I'm not talking about a wink in the eye to the audience - I mean a little bit of glee.  Obviously he couldn't (and shouldn't) have given Nicholson's Joker, but a slight absorption of his madness into the performance would have been great.

I had the opposite reaction to his performance, actually. Again, when I read the script, I thought the character was missing the glee and humour and the wink in the eye. Comparing the script to the finished film, that's the biggest ingredient that Ledger brought IMO.

As to him not being the Joker from the comics - there's certainly new material there, but the Joker serving as an agent of chaos and trying to drive Gotham mad isn't far from The Killing Joke.

I'm not talking about motives. I am talking about the character, in terms of manorisims, looks and even down to smiling. Didnt like the chelsea smile. But I agree that what had been done before could not be repeated. Your right about the humor ral, not enough of it.

[Dark Knight Detective]

That I can agree with.  As good a Ledger was (and I have said this from the start) there was a "little wink in the eye" missing. I'm not talking about a wink in the eye to the audience - I mean a little bit of glee.  Obviously he couldn't (and shouldn't) have given Nicholson's Joker, but a slight absorption of his madness into the performance would have been great.

I had the opposite reaction to his performance, actually. Again, when I read the script, I thought the character was missing the glee and humour and the wink in the eye. Comparing the script to the finished film, that's the biggest ingredient that Ledger brought IMO.

As to him not being the Joker from the comics - there's certainly new material there, but the Joker serving as an agent of chaos and trying to drive Gotham mad isn't far from The Killing Joke.

I'm not talking about motives. I am talking about the character, in terms of manorisims, looks and even down to smiling. Didnt like the chelsea smile. But I agree that what had been done before could not be repeated. Your right about the humor ral, not enough of it.

Yeah, the Joker's characterization came to me as more Hannibal Lecter than Joker. As for the appearance, I'm not very crazy about it (other than that he looks like he could be the son of Beetlejuice). I prefer the tidy, permawhite, humorous yet insane Joker. It just makes more sense, & with Jack's spontaneity, we got just that.

[Joker81]

That I can agree with.  As good a Ledger was (and I have said this from the start) there was a "little wink in the eye" missing. I'm not talking about a wink in the eye to the audience - I mean a little bit of glee.  Obviously he couldn't (and shouldn't) have given Nicholson's Joker, but a slight absorption of his madness into the performance would have been great.

I had the opposite reaction to his performance, actually. Again, when I read the script, I thought the character was missing the glee and humour and the wink in the eye. Comparing the script to the finished film, that's the biggest ingredient that Ledger brought IMO.

As to him not being the Joker from the comics - there's certainly new material there, but the Joker serving as an agent of chaos and trying to drive Gotham mad isn't far from The Killing Joke.

I'm not talking about motives. I am talking about the character, in terms of manorisims, looks and even down to smiling. Didnt like the chelsea smile. But I agree that what had been done before could not be repeated. Your right about the humor ral, not enough of it.

Yeah, the Joker's characterization came to me as more Hannibal Lecter than Joker. As for the appearance, I'm not very crazy about it (other than that he looks like he could be the son of Beetlejuice). I prefer the tidy, permawhite, humorous yet insane Joker. It just makes more sense, & with Jack's spontaneity, we got just that.

Agreed Dark Knight Detective.

And no one wanted a Jack Nicholson impersonator for TDK. But what really annoys me is the way people say that Ledgers was definative when it couldnt be farther from the truth. I liked and enjoyed the interprtation for TDK. But I cant help but feel that the Joker character has been minipulated into something it shouldnt have been. I feel the character was right for that movie. But for it to then be extended into current comics and other Batman entertainment I am not happy about and am afraid we have lost what the Joker was suposed to be about (the origin story was even omitted from the re-release of 'The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told' I am raging about that, thats like omitting Batmans origin! All because there is a different and no origin in TDK. This is a sign and alarm bells should have started ringing then! Its like erasing or rewritting a piece of history. Sweeping it under the carpet.),  To me the classic Joker should have the green hair, bleached white skin, big smile with perfect white teeth and of course the purple suit with the tails! Now we have a dirty looking Joker with yellow teeth, scars on his face, no smile and he's the characteristics of a hollywood serial killer not unlike freddy krueger. In all I feel the character has been raped!

[Grissom]

I wouldn't go as far as to say raped but I agree for the most part. There is a flair, a sophistication about the Joker that should have remained. Even in Nolan's realism, why couldn't he have say an albino (lacking pigmentation in the skin) etc. I said this in a previous post but, Ledger did a great job and I can't help wondering if he had maintained that dark humour, that flamboyancy that is one of the Joker's attributes, how it would have turned out. It would have been great to have some of those attributes to The Joker that we all know and love to hate.

[zDBZ]

And no one wanted a Jack Nicholson impersonator for TDK. But what really annoys me is the way people say that Ledgers was definative when it couldnt be farther from the truth. I liked and enjoyed the interprtation for TDK. But I cant help but feel that the Joker character has been minipulated into something it shouldnt have been. I feel the character was right for that movie. But for it to then be extended into current comics and other Batman entertainment I am not happy about and am afraid we have lost what the Joker was suposed to be about (the origin story was even omitted from the re-release of 'The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told' I am raging about that, thats like omitting Batmans origin! All because there is a different and no origin in TDK. This is a sign and alarm bells should have started ringing then! Its like erasing or rewritting a piece of history. Sweeping it under the carpet.),  To me the classic Joker should have the green hair, bleached white skin, big smile with perfect white teeth and of course the purple suit with the tails! Now we have a dirty looking Joker with yellow teeth, scars on his face, no smile and he's the characteristics of a hollywood serial killer not unlike freddy krueger. In all I feel the character has been raped!

Well, compared to some of the pre-TDK comics that have come out in recent years, I find Ledger much more funny and sophisticated than the Joker that sometimes appears on the page. The trend of trying to turn him into nothing but a Lecter-esque sociopath didn't start with The Dark Knight, just as the trend of making him nothing but a harmless clown was going strong well before Adam West's show. The recent Joker graphic novel is far worse a portrayal of the character, and what I think we might have gotten in The Dark Knight had another actor played the part. Thankfully, that didn't happen. Heath has a lot of flair and wit in the part IMO, like I would expect from the Joker.

I've gone from being very skeptical of his appearance in The Dark Knight to liking it quite a bit, but I'd agree that anyone who tries to call it definitive is fooling themselves and that it'd be a mistake to bring that in to the comics just for the sake of having that look. My aesthetic preference would be to have the Alex Ross Joker in the white tie and black tails with a purple overcoat, but I'm certainly fine with what Nolan did. Heath's Joker is more extreme than Keaton as Bruce Wayne, but I think it's a similar principle - in the end, the performance is what counts, and both actors sold themselves as the characters despite physical differences.