With all the bad Batman and DCU reputation going on with the failure of the game Kill the Justice League, Batman fans are all torn. But fear not! while the Joker has had many, many portrayals, the recent and underwhelming or down right bad performances of Joker; such as Suicide Squads Jared Leto. While dreading on the past can be disheartening, it may lead us to my personal favorite joker; Jack Nicholson. While movies from a lot of past series of Batman such as Batman (1989) or Batman Forever are usually neglected for the more recent Marvel-like action movies, they are a good start into how Joker can be executed as a great, vile and even silly villain. And I think that Jack Nicholson is one of the better joker performances I’ve seen and enjoyed.
Jack Nicholson was the final actor chosen for the film, but other actors were considered like Robin Williams, Tim Curry, Willem Dafoe, and while I also love these actors, I feel Nicholson was and is the best choice for the role. Also being the top choice for the studio and Tim Burton the director, Nicholson even having the final say for the final look of the character, makeup done expertly by Nick Dudman, who worked on films like Indiana Jones, the Last Crusade, and Alien 3.
Consequently, we end up with one of the most well designed variations of Joker, Looking like the main act of a circus. The changes to the costume compared to the Jokers before him are palpable, with instead of having the usual green and purple, the design decides to give Joker a proper accent color, yellow, giving his design more dimensions with the new addition. The adage of the hat also adds more spice by giving joker a full outfit that actually fits him, since usually the only accessories Joker has are never usually clothing items usually being things like a cane, a prank flower, cards, or the iconic ‘Bang’ gun, but nothing that ever really sticks and is notifiable throughout the film. But the best part is his face. In the movie Jokers face is due to him falling into a vat of corrosive chemicals, Not only changing his body majorly by whitening his skin and changing the color of his hair, but severely disfiguring his face, leading him to plastic surgery. After surgery his face is permanently stuck in a smile, while some Jokers never usually go as far as to alter his face to the extreme.
While his design is great, but his performance is even better, he is still the chilling and villainous Joker, a right clown. He’s silly and maniacal in the best ways. His scene with Vicki Veil was the perfect demonstration of his nature, being charming in the best way he can, while still being the grinning, green, goober he is. While this version of Joker was written by Tim Burton, and watching his related work Burton obviously molds him to be more fitting to the style of his films, but that doesn’t bring his performance down one bit. If anything, it made the role better due to Burtons frequent writing with similar characters. His Zany and crockpot personality is written beautifully. I highly recommend just watching his clips alone on Youtube, as the movie hasn’t aged well but its still enjoyable none the less. Is he the best Joker? No, but he’s my personal favorite I cant talk for the rest of you, but I know who I enjoy best. Signing off – from The Torch, KC.
