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Joker! Joker! Joker!

Thomas Veil

Thomas Veil

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Feb 14, 2004
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Much greener pastures
So they’ve released a photo of Joaquin Phoenix as The Joker (right, below) in the upcoming standalone Joker movie.

What do you think?

Personally, color me underwhelmed. Check out the difference between Phoenix’s look and Ledger’s and Leto’s appearance. This look doesn’t say “I’m a homicidal maniac.” It says “My kids drew on my face while I was taking a nap.”

Halftone2_1.jpg
 
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Thomas Veil said:
This look doesn’t say “I’m a homicidal maniac.” It says “My kids drew on my face while I was taking a nap.”
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Since the movie seems to be an origin movie, about how he fell from comedian to deranged psychopath, maybe the 'nicer' clown makeup is meant to reflect that. And obviously a picture can't show his method of acting.
 
Saw a video on it and thought it was a joke. Just doesn't look good as Ledger's Joker. Hard to take seriously and not in the manner of "Oh this guy is a joker (no pun intended) but he's really a scary bloke." Phoenix isn't a bad actor, but it's going to be difficult to top Ledger's performance, IMO.
 
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I've read a lot of Batman/Joker stories, including all the modern takes from Loeb, Miller, Moore, the stand-alone non-canonical material, liked the various TV and film takes (including animated) - I even like Leto's totally different take on the character - and so far, I like what I'm reading about this new movie in terms of the insanely good casting choice, the makeup is a terrific variation.

However ...

WTH DC/Warner? Making this movie really dilutes creating a unified cinematic universe, it's terribly confusing for non-comic fans (who won't get an "Elseworlds" concept), it's just a bizarre direction for one of their core assets, that already has a movie in develop that _does_ tie into the DCU.
 
D.T. said:
I've read a lot of Batman/Joker stories, including all the modern takes from Loeb, Miller, Moore, the stand-alone non-canonical material, liked the various TV and film takes (including animated) - I even like Leto's totally different take on the character - and so far, I like what I'm reading about this new movie in terms of the insanely good casting choice, the makeup is a terrific variation.

However ...

WTH DC/Warner? Making this movie really dilutes creating a unified cinematic universe, it's terribly confusing for non-comic fans (who won't get an "Elseworlds" concept), it's just a bizarre direction for one of their core assets, that already has a movie in develop that _does_ tie into the DCU.
Click to expand...

Sadly, I think their plan is to use these new "Elseworlds" movies to see what's successful, then try to cram the successful ones together, regardless of tone and continuity, as the new DCEU
 
ucfgrad93 said:
I think Ledger and Nicholson played the Joker the best.
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Agreed, though obviously their versions were scripted differently. Ledger's Joker is an anarchist who by his own admission doesn't have a plan. Nicholson's is basically a souped-up gang boss who enjoys being theatrical. Each actor excelled at playing their definitive versions of the character.

Although I do like Leto's Joker as well. Granted he didn't get as much to do, but the scenes he was in were good, particularly the ones where he seduced Dr. Quinzel to the dark side, and where he "rewards" possession of Harley to a gangsta, putting the guy in a lose-lose situation.

Aside: after leading us on for quite awhile in the TV series Gotham as to whether either Jerome or Jeremiah Valeska would ultimately become the Joker, I read an interview with the show runner in which he made it clear that DC considers that as the ultimate Batman villain, the Joker is just too valuable to be used on a TV show.
 
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ucfgrad93 said:
I think Ledger and Nicholson played the Joker the best.
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Nicholson played the Joker the way he was meant to be played: unpredictable. That's why the Joker was Batman's arch nemesis, despite lacking any super powers. He lacked Bane's strength, Riddler's brains, Peguin's gadgets, Catwoman's agility, Poison Ivy's plant control ability or Mr Freeze's cold ability. Batman's greatest strength--despite the movie version perchance for hitting people--is his ability to strategize. For every villain he's got a hundred different plans to defeat them...although Plan A seems to involve punching and kicking.:D
The only guy he can't plan for is the Joker.
 
Doctor Q said:
The Joker movie is out. What does anybody think of Joaquin Phoenix's Joker now?
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Best acting ive seen in a long time IMHO. I never read the comic books, so im just judging his portrayal of “a” character in this movie.

Having said that, i think Heath’s portrayal is still the best/difinitive.
 
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Thomas Veil said:
So they’ve released a photo of Joaquin Phoenix as The Joker (right, below) in the upcoming standalone Joker movie.

What do you think?

Personally, color me underwhelmed. Check out the difference between Phoenix’s look and Ledger’s and Leto’s appearance. This look doesn’t say “I’m a homicidal maniac.” It says “My kids drew on my face while I was taking a nap.”
Click to expand...

To me, like someone else mentioned, this is very John Wayne Gacie and after seeing the movie... which I loved, I think he nails it on the head. The big question is...

I don't know if the spoiler tag is showing up or not, I am on Chrome and when I hit save, the spoiler tag isn't showing up for me.

Was it in his head or was it real...
 
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rhett7660 said:
To me, like someone else mentioned, this is very John Wayne Gacie and after seeing the movie... which I loved, I think he nails it on the head. The big question is...

I don't know if the spoiler tag is showing up or not, I am on Chrome and when I hit save, the spoiler tag isn't showing up for me.
Click to expand...
Ah, I see your problem; you've gotta put the contents of your spoiler within the tags and write a name for the spoiler where you currently have the content. Right now, it's empty and therefore not showing up. 🙂
 
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It worries me when an actor loses so much weight to "fit into" a role. Joaquin Phoenix reportedly lost 52 pounds to play the part. His body shape did add to the unnerving feeling of the movie, when he sat and stood in twisted positions, but can't they do this with special effects?
 
rhett7660 said:
Was it in his head or was it real...
Click to expand...

I like that the director didnt go out of his way to make the distinction between fantasy and reality very obvious(visually speaking). From the perspective of Arthur, it's all "real", and thats what we see. The sequence when he's on the Murray show, where Murray says he wished he had a son like him..... obviously dreaming. All his interactions with the woman in his apartment building were all in his head(You realize it when she sees him in her apartment, and she says..."you're the guy from down the hall").
The "fantasy" aspect fits nicely with the "Joker's" shifting origins(what i've heard)....as he can't distinguish whats real and what's not in his memory.
It could be that the entire thing is just in his head as well.... and he's actually just been in the therapist's office(at the end) the whole time?
Dare I say, Fight Club influences?
 
hawkeye_a said:
I like that the director didnt go out of his way to make the distinction between fantasy and reality very obvious(visually speaking). From the perspective of Arthur, it's all "real", and thats what we see. The sequence when he's on the Murray show, where Murray says he wished he had a son like him..... obviously dreaming. All his interactions with the woman in his apartment building were all in his head(You realize it when she sees him in her apartment, and she says..."you're the guy from down the hall").
The "fantasy" aspect fits nicely with the "Joker's" shifting origins(what i've heard)....as he can't distinguish whats real and what's not in his memory.
It could be that the entire thing is just in his head as well.... and he's actually just been in the therapist's office(at the end) the whole time?
Dare I say, Fight Club influences?
Click to expand...

Yup... that is exactly what I am getting at and I also loved the fact the director did it this way. I like the fact to me anyway, there is a question that question at the end!!
 
Doctor Q said:
It worries me when an actor loses so much weight to "fit into" a role. Joaquin Phoenix reportedly lost 52 pounds to play the part. His body shape did add to the unnerving feeling of the movie, when he sat and stood in twisted positions, but can't they do this with special effects?
Click to expand...

It worries you? Keep in mind, these actors have health coaches along the whole Preparation process monitoring them in terms of their dietary habits, weight loss and overall physicality to meet the standards for the films character.

Christian Bale is a perfect example of this, he lost a ridiculous amount of weight for the movie ‘The Machinist’, and yet is able to add substantial muscle mass for ‘Batman begins and Reign of fire’. I think these actors have more control over their bodies than you think, even if it seems that they don’t.
 
@Doctor Q

Yep. Several notable PhDs have said, regardless of their "control" and monitoring by glorified personal trainers (aka, "health coaches"), there are physical/physiological impacts, changes to their biology, talking, objective, measurable shifts, brought on by the wide ranging, short term weight changes some of these actors undergo.
 
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