Heath Ledger, Jared Leto, Jack Nicholson, and Cesar Romero are all actors who have played the Joker in a Batman movie. They all have different aspects of the Joker that they bring to the table the two actors I will be comparing are Heath Ledger and Jack Nicholson. Nicholson is in the 1989 version of Batman and Ledger appears in the 2008 The Dark Night and they are very different. Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of the 1989 Joker can be described as insane but a unique version of insane, Nicholson adds shaking and he varies tones when he delivers his lines. Nicholson does an excellent job of portraying both Jack Napier and The Joker as two separate characters, Napier is a cocky criminal but, he is calm about it, whereas The Joker is insane and
In 2005 Christopher Nolan spearheaded the commercial re-boot of the Batman franchise with the movie Batman Begins, the movie achieved wide critical acclaim, and, subsequently generated, talk of a sequel. In the summer of 2008, after a vast amount of advertising and viral marketing, the highly anticipated sequel was finally released. The film 'The Dark Knight' grossed almost $67,165,092 in its first day and went on to break countless box office records. Later the next year the film won 2 Oscars and was nominated for a further 6, one award won was the 'Best Supporting Actor' award which the late Heath Ledger posthumously received, for his portrayal of the 'Joker'. Due to Ledger's untimely death the film gained even more publicity and Heath's performance was spotlighted, many people thought this might take the focus off what might be a great film and onto Ledger's performance alone. The film was released, and, although Ledger's performance was nothing short of astonishing the spotlight and focus was not taken off the film itself and the movie subsequently gained wide, and thoroughly deserved, critical acclaim. In my opinion an exceptional solo performance isn't capable of taking focus off a good film if it is itself worthy of credit, the performance is simply a different aspect of the film.
Heroes, the unordinary beings with extravagant abilities, from powers and competence to skills and talents. Heroes are people who are idealized by society for their courage and individuality. Iconic and well recognized heroes like Hercules, Superman, Spiderman and Achilles are some of the few heroes known around. All heroes have a similarity to each other, for example Beowulf and Batman. While both can be considered great heroes, they differ significantly, yet are similar in other ways.
If I were to ask you to think of a name that best defines the role of funniest and most ridiculous person in Hollywood, I would bet that several of you would come up with the name Will Ferrell. This shouldn't come as a surprise to any of you as Ferrell has filled hilarious roles in recent years such as Buddy the elf, Ricky Bobby the racecar driver, Ron Burgandy the anchorman, Chaz Michael Michaels the figure skater, and many others. Ferrell has become a modern comical titan as he blew away Saturday Night Live with some of the best ratings in history and has developed into one of Hollywood's funniest and highest paid comical actors. With the way that he can pull off dumb humor and make people fall out of their chairs laughing time and time again, it seems that Ferrell was destined to be a comic from the start, but it wasn't always that way. Although he is now regarded as one of the funniest and highest paid comical actors in Hollywood, Ferrell's comic acting career probably spawned from a childhood hunger that for a long time, even Ferrell himself was unaware of.
Leto played a more serious character, portraying an aids-ridden, cross dressing, homosexual, who was always attempting to make light of his unimaginable situation. Leto’s character finds purpose helping the main character of the movie sell drugs to other people suffering from the same disease. However, throughout the movie you can see the character struggle with his personal demons that hinder his life and ultimately lead to him dying. For example, you can feel his inner pain in scenes like when he breakdown in front of his estranged father, and all of the times he uses hardcore drugs to make himself feel better about his situation. Jared Leto completely throws himself into this character, even losing over 40 pounds to correctly portray his sickly character. Jared Leto is a die hard method actor and that is shown throughout this movie
The first comparison of 9/11 to the film is one the main character, the Joker whose main concern is to cause constant chaos is compared to the disturbed terrorist, Osama Bin Laden. Saying, “The both have no morals”, “no motive, just wanting to cause chaos.” Both not caring about money or fame, just caring about causing pain to others. Though, as much as this might have been a good theory, Briley does not put too much into it and explain as much as you’d hope he would.
Instantaneously, the title of The Dark Knight jumps out as a parallel to Jesus Christ. The title is stating that the dark knight, Batman , rises, just like Jesus arose. A Knight is “a man ,usually of noble birth, bound to chivalrous conduct” Referring to Batman as a dark knight gives off the impression that, although he is good, there is something dark about him. The dark side of Batman can be said to be that he is the one who killed Harvey when in reality later throughout the movie it explains that he did not kill him, Batman is indeed good. Although Jesus would be considered a “good knight” some may have viewed him as a dark knight because he disturbed some of the peace. Jesus was viewed as someone who came about to disturb the peace of the
James Holmes went to see the film The Dark Night Rises. He was in the theatre for twenty minutes, left, then came back with full tactical gear on and weapons in hand. He shot smoke and gas canisters on innocent bystanders in the theatre. He then shot into the crowd. He killed twelve people and wounded another seventy people. When he was taken the police station they asked for his name. He identified himself as “The Joker,” the main villain in the movie. James Holmes clearly saw the movie and imitated the
For my example of a trickster I am using The Joker from the popular movie franchise by Christopher Noland “Batman Begins”. I will be using the second movie in the franchise “The Dark Knight” for my example of The Joker portrayed by actor Heath Ledger. The Joker is part of the criminal element that is part of the chief city represented in the world of Batman. Although he takes part in criminal acts within this city he was once a soldier in the armed forces and suffers from PTSD as well as other mental health problems stemming from his service. Through this dichotomy we can see that he was once an agent of justice and now acts as though he is a criminal but states himself within the movie that he is only “an agent of chaos”.
Batman (Christian Bale) is hoping to hand on his crime fighting duties to D.A Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) yet when Batman’s cards are on the table the twisted mastermind who goes by the name of the joker (Heath Ledger), forces the masked vigilante to go against everything he ever stood for.
He plays his characters to the point where a viewer believes Nicholson truly lived his life as the character he is playing in a film. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Nicholson plays Randle McMurphy, a psychiatric ward patient, to the point of his performance seeming to be of a reality to him. I say this, because Nicholson seems awfully disturbed in The Shining (1980) as well. Overall, Nicholson seems to have a knack for playing mentally unordinary characters. I think this makes him even more of an interesting actor, since his talent makes his performances almost overly spot-on to be
When comics were first coming out, they were not all that popular but in todays’ world, they have become very popular and well known. Several of these comics have been turned into films, which is one of the many reasons why the popularity has been rising over the years. One of the most well known comics is Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. This comic was composed and released in 1986 by Frank Miller. With the usage of Frank Miller’s powerful, intense lines and the artwork done by Klaus Janson’s and Lynn Varley’s it has elevated this comic up to the very top of mainstream comics. In Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, the skillful illustrations on the pages successfully create the thought that there are underlying meanings, which makes the atmosphere a very intense one throughout the comic. The work of art that is presented on the pages in this comic are embedded in such a way that the pages become the continuum for the meaning. One of the main themes that are imbedded on the pages through the artwork in this book is the ideological struggle between Bruce Wayne and Batman.
Why so serious? If I were to ask you that question six months ago, you wouldn’t understand the phrase. Now that The Dark Knight has been made though, most people will understand what I am talking about. Ever since The Dark Knight was created, the joker has been thrust back into the public eye. Most people only know the joker from the performances of Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight and Jack Nicholson in the 1989 film Batman. Most people forget that the Joker has been a villain since 1940 in Batman #1 (spring edition). The Joker has been reinvented every decade since his first appearance. He started off as a homicidal maniac, then a criminal that was just a harmless nuisance to becoming a mass murdering, schizophrenic clown that we know today. He has been named number one on the Wizard’s list for one hundred all-time villains. In this speech I will tell you how the joker was created, the criminal career of the joker, and trademark characteristics of the joker.
Any fan of Batman knows that “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight” are two of the best Batman films made in the seventy-eight years that Batman has been around. The plots really make you look deep in yourself and show the true and more real sides of the characters of the Batman world. Each movie shows the evolution of Batman and shows only a few of the many crazy and intense adventures of this mysterious hero. These two movies are the first two in the dark knight trilogy, created by the amazing Christopher Nolan. These movies were heavily praised for their astounding realism to the real world, and its pros and cons. But they were also extremely liked for their possibility for
Why so serious? This phrase often triggers the memory of The Joker in one’s head. For a fictional character, The Joker has managed to effect society more than any other super villain. The Jokers appearance is so bold and chilling that the president and publisher of DC comics said, “I keep coming back to the way he (the joker) incarnates madness” (Camp et al, 2010). The president of DC comics is not the only one that keeps coming back to The Joker. Audiences around the world are captivated by his character. Unlike any other super hero movie, the villain gets just as much attention as Batman. The Joker is such a complex and intricate character that his victims and audiences are easily influenced by his actions but even more manipulated by his
A perfect movie character is one that the audience can form a complex, personal relationship with in the short time that a movie is viewed, displaying the art of acting and drama perfectly. When the thought of lovable movie characters is brought up, Johnny Depp will almost always be apart of the discussion. With his quirky, lively attitude which blends perfectly into roles that should not have soul, Johnny Depp is truly a one-of-a-kind actor. With a spectrum of characters Depp has played, ranging from Edward Scissorhands in the movie Edward Scissorhands (1990), to playing his role in 21 Jump Street (1987), up until the recent Pirates of the Caribbean (2003), he is involved in roles that “only the likes of Depp can pull off” (“Johnny Depp”, 1). Although coming from rebellious teenage years and many “ups and downs of his personal life” (“Johnny Depp Biography”, 2), the actor has become one of the great faces of the movie scene of his generation.