Doug: Well, if you've not seen Jared Leto in character for the upcoming big-screen Suicide Squad, take a peek below. I'd offer Neal Adams's rendition of the Joker as being just a bit more in my comfort zone. Sheesh... Marilyn Manson rip-off...
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22 comments:
I love it when these movie people decide to try and change something that has been popular for over 50 years for multiple generations of fans. I as open-minded as the next guy (or the guy next to him anyway) and I understand that some things don't make the transfer from page to screen, but that's sort of nuts to me. I mean, when you see the Joker, whether you're my age or my kids' ages or even younger, you see the Joker on the right. As NBA great Charles Oakley once said, "If it ain't broke, don't break it!"
I like it.
Does it suggest a certain murderous craziness? Yes.
Would I want the Joker to look like this all the time? No.
Does it look good for a movie I have no frame of reference for except that the name is familiar? Yes.
Do I think this version could still be "dressed up" in certain scenes with the purple suit and flower in the lapel, etc? Yes.
Thus, I approve.
A tattooed Joker for a tattooed generation. Does he also curse his head off like Millennials? I'm not a fan so far of this new look.
Payton, I curmudgeonly agree with you.
Doug
I agree with Osvaldo, this version seems a bit closer to how I personally picture Mr. J. At any rate, I prefer this to the Heath Ledger look. Especiallt if they add a purple suit.
Ok, posted this by phone. Now how many times will it be auto duplicated?
Speaking as a Gen Xer, I LOVE profanity - but yeah, I can't imagine the Joker working blue for some reason.
Yes, he is a bit reminiscent of Marilyn Manson in that image, isn't he?
I think I'm with the curmudgeons on this one, I like the dapper purple-suited Joker, and I've liked none of the movie versions thus far. Now maybe, as per Redartz's comment, if they put a purple suit on Leto, I might warm up to him...
Oddly enough, I don't hate it. I don't love it either. I suppose I'm somewhat ambivalent about it. Likely my lack of feeling stems from being outside the demographic the design is aimed at. When I think of the Joker, grills and tattoos do not spring to mind, but I bet if I asked my 18 year old nephew or my 28 year old cousin what they thought, they'd think Leto looked cool.
More and more I am realizing and having to accept that most of the genre-based work out there is not being produced for my age group. If I like it, great, if not, I still have a ton of stuff I can groove on. I do think that despite the modern updating of Joker here -which may age rather badly in ten years or so -they've captured the madness of the character. Ultimately only the film itself will tell.
I think showing a Joker without the makeup, who is subdued and quietly psychotic, at least most of the time, would be MUCH creepier.
Of course, at the end, he'd pop out fully in character, but for most of the film they should just show him sitting calmly in a corner, no expression, looking at nothing. Scary. Like in the Dark Knight Returns.
The tension builds, you know he's gonna blow at some point...
Maybe that's how they'll do it.
M.P.
I don't completely hate it and I applaud the film makers for trying to create a Joker that isn't the same as the ones we've seen before.
But...
... The tattoos are stupid. Not his having tattoos, but the actual words and images on his body. "Ha ha ha" repeated dozens of times looks dumb, the word "damaged" on his head is trying too hard, and the jester skull looks like it came from an Insane Clown Posse album cover. It's unconvincing, as if the executives wanted to appeal to millennials and the focus group report said "tattoos."
- Mike Loughlin
Osvaldo, I had a very similar thought to yours-- that this look doesn't at all mean we won't have the purple dapper dandy we've so long associated with the character. Who's to say what's going on underneath that suit?
Mind you, I don't think it particularly adds anything to the character-- that level of tattooing certainly seems to have little to do with the nature of the Joker we know from the comics. And Heath Ledger's Joker came across as not being the kind of guy who would be concerned with making such a detailed, extravagant body-art statement as that.
What I like? Jared Leto's own look, actually--- something about his pointy, wiry self has a lot of inherent Joker-ness, y'know?
HB
Shades of the Harry Osborn Green Goblin.....gimmick....no fear.
Mike L., I just now clicked the Jared Leto pic to enlarge it; I didn't realize at first that the black mark on his forehead was yet another tattoo - you're right, that one in particular is really too much.
I think HB has a good point, though, about Leto's physique matching the comic book iteration.
Hiya,
Not too worried. After all, only the latest reinterpretation for the dramatic media. Wouldn't ask every actor playing Hamlet to recreate Richard Burbage's performance.
Although I would love to see a mustache covered in white make up again . . .
pfgavigan
I have a similar take to what AnonyMike and Karen posted. Don't hate it, but the tattoos are silly. I have higher hopes for 'Suicide Squad' than I do for 'Superman Vs. Batman' or whatever it's called.
Agreed - Leto's no Cesar Romero, but a different approach is fine. Seems highly unlikely this is going to be the last time an actor plays the Joker anyway.
I can't see the problem with aiming an interpretation at a younger generation. Assuming it actually does that, which I'm not so sure about (it does seem a bit overly contrived, but at my age, I'm not really the best judge of that).
-sean
I dunno, my first reaction to this is 'Gaaahhh! What the hell is this? This is supposed to be the new Joker?' I'm not loving it. I don't have a problem with Jared Leto, just the interpretation of his Joker seems way off to me. I understand that sometimes you need to tweak a character for a new younger audience, but man this really ain't doin' it for me. Still, I hope the movie does well. Lord knows DC movies need a big hit soon.
To be honest, I'm more interested in the Batman vs Superman Dawn of Justice movie after seeing the trailer for it. We need more Marvel style heroes throwing down against one another in the DC Universe! The dynamic between these two and their differing viewpoints on crimefighting will make or break this movie in my opinion.
- Mike 'The only Marilyn I want to see is Marilyn Monroe' from Trinidad & Tobago.
Pfgavigan, re: moustache covered in white make-up. Oh, man. That would be the most awesome thing ever.
Allow me to begin with this:
Do I love the self interview? Yes, I love the self interview!
Did I just do that to blatantly slip in an exclamation mark?
Only God and my hairdresser know for sure!
Do I sometimes feel like a man on a mission? No, very rarely, if at all.
Have I ever been misquoted in a self interview? It's the only way I roll!
Have I yet to get to the point of this posting? Do I ever!?!
Is this the type of interview that ends with a twist? Oh, I just walked out........
I don't love it (I'm a tattoo hating curmudgeon also) but, like Karen, I don't hate it, either. It probably is a Joker that, as Payton mentions, is probably appropriate for the target audience, sadly.
I may be totally off base , but when I first saw this, my immediate thought was "prison Joker" - especially since it's tied to the Suicide Squad movie. I'm just assuming there will be a more familiar look to the character when he's out of prison and in his suit. Maybe even losing the grill on his teeth when he's back out on the street. He's has the potiential to be a very maniacal version of the Joker - maybe even crazier than than the Ledger version.
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