Heath Ledger – The Hypersane Joker
We are on day 5 of our Joker discussion and so far we have looked at Joaquin Phoenix, Zach Galifianakis, Cesar Romero and Cameron Monaghan. As we march forward we will now touch on everyone’s favorite agent of chaos, Heath Ledger…. WHY SO SERIOUS!?
As we push forward, with the help of our friends within and outside the Spoiler-verse, we will figure out who the quintessential Joker is. Leading up to our Rankings of all the Clown Princes of Gotham.
Jay Roach
The opposite of Romero, I don’t think he got the insanely happy part right, but the menacing, the new look, the slow delivery gave you a sense of menace, of evil, of the insanity behind his brilliance as a criminal. (read more from Jay here)
John Horsley
While not comic book accurate, this is the truest vision of what I see as the Joker in my head. The performance is amazing, the terror of a character like this is done masterfully well. (Read John’s post about Heath here)
Kenric Regan
Blew me away, when he was announced I didn’t like it, I admit my big Hollywood trendy actor pic bias got in the way. I went and saw the movie twice in one day because I couldn’t believe how good Ledger was the first time. (Read more from Kenric here)
Kaylie Horsley
My favorite of all time. He really tapped into the character. He did everything right as was the right age for it. (Check out Kaylie on Spoiler Country)
JT aka PNWJrock
He had the looks and the laugh for the Christian Bale Batman Movies, sadly though he’s not around anymore, but he still played great role for the IRL Joker. (watch JT steam here)
Jon Anderson
Easily brought to light exactly what is so terrifying about the Joker as a criminal. This wasn’t a over the top caricature. This was sociopathy. (see Jon’s artwork here)
Robert Slavinsky
Overrated is the first thing that comes to mind when we talk about Ledger as the Joker. That isn’t to say he didn’t do an amazing job, but his portrayal was something different than that of the Joker. He wasn’t exactly what we have seen before and while that isn’t a bad thing just not something I feel should be considered the BEST when talking about the Jokers of our time. He was good, but not Hamill good. (Listen to Robert on Shootin The Sith here)
Sara Kay
Gritty, maniacal, and just a tad goofy but not too much. He brought Joker into the real world and made him possible with a stunning performance. Ledger for the win! (read Sara’s other reviews here)
Casey T. Allen
He brought a chaotic sadness that hadn’t been seen before with the Joker. He’s not laughing at a silly gag he’s planted on the caped crusader, he’s laughing at life’s utter futility and meaningless. (see all Casey’s posts here)
Joshua Queen
Just the best. (see his car videos here)
Morgan Iverson
Ledger’s is almost insurmountable though Nicholas led the way. (See more from Morgan here)
Danny J Quick
While Joaquin’s performance was great, Joker is still Batman’s side dish. I only care about him as far as in the way he pushes Batman and it will take more than just one film for me to see him as a stand alone character. Heath Ledger’s Joker is still the greatest on screen depiction of Joker so far… BUT when I close my eyes and think of the Joker… It’s Mark Hamill‘s voice that I hear. (see more of Danny here and see the articles he’s written for Spoiler Country here.)