MovieChat Forums > The Batman (2022) Discussion > Paul Dano was laughably bad

Paul Dano was laughably bad

posted 3 years ago by filmgeek99 (656)
47 replies | jump to latest

The character ticked practically every movie serial killer cliche in the book. Innocent, dweeby-looking appearance? Check. Soft spoken, childlike voice? Check. Uncontrollable fits of joy and laughter upon causing chaos? Check. A motive stemming from revenge at an unjust society where the people he kills somehow "deserves" it? Check.

And on top of that, Paul Dano was just laughably terrible in the role. How anyone can say he's the perfect successor to Heath Ledger's Joker just eludes me. He was so over-the-top and cartoonish to the point that I almost started laughing in certain scenes.

The movie sucked as a whole too, but Dano was the icing on a cake made of shit and piss.

[–] Threadkiller (3080) 3 years ago

Dano is definitely one of those weirdly & extremely overrated actors who I've never found to be especially great in anything. Often miscast, his undeserved reputation seems to have stemmed from riding Daniel Day Lewis' coattails in 'There Will Be Blood' where he acted circles around the miscast Dano whose performance got undeserved praise seemingly by sheer proximity to DDL.

[–] Jinx (3734) 3 years ago

DDL is a legend of course but Dano's performance in There Will Be Blood was really amazing to me. What didn't you like about it? I liked the writing of his character in that film a lot and I was at first skeptical because of Dano's age but he gave a very complex performance as far as I'm concerned.

[–] Threadkiller (3080) 3 years ago

In the more restrained scenes I found Dano's performance to be passable at best . In the more demanding scenes I found him to be stilted, awkward & over the top. I found the idea of this awkward, uncharismatic weirdo (like virtually every character i've seen him play) being a credible foil to the ruthlessly shrewd & domineering Daniel Plainview to be distractingly unconvincing in an otherwise great film, carried by a near perfect performance by DDL.

It's indeed my conjecture that many people simply gave Dano a very charitable pass for being carried by the excellence of DDL's performance along with some pretty good direction that makes the film a great watch.

[–] Ace_Spade (9551) 3 years ago

I loved him in TWBB, too (just as I loved his performance as the Riddler).

[–] rateater (10057) 3 years ago

he was zodiac killer and james holmes

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

Yeah, I didn't care for his performance.

[–] DeathbySnuSnu (1008) 3 years ago

Can you name a film where he is not completely miscast? He's just not believable as a human being.

[–] DeathbySnuSnu (1008) 3 years ago

Can you name a film where he is not completely miscast? He's just not believable as a human being.

[–] SweetTooth43 (2050) 3 years ago

Yeah he sucks

[–] Tongue (472) 2 years ago

The riddler in the Batman does not come close to Ledgers Joker. Not even in the same realm

[–] emori (3661) 2 years ago

Paul Dano plays the same character everywhere. That pathetic, ugly, crazy freak maniac. Nerd in glasses. Guy who everyone picked up at school and now he hates whole world because of it.

I dont know why he does it and stereotyped himself like that. I cant stand his characters so pathetic and annoying they are. You want to his the screen when you see him.

The only time he was tolerable ans actually good - was that prison mini-series. Escape at Dannemora. He was playing an inmate who was not crazy maniac, just an ordinary person. And I was surprised that he can actually play a normal role and not be annoying.