I thought I would never see anyone come close to the job Ledger did as The Joker in the Dark Knight Rises. But after seeing the movie, Phoenix comes pretty damn close. The background story for Joker is plausible. There are similarities between the two are there, but Phoenix plays the character just enough differently.
sharePhoenix's joker is blowing everyone's brains out with a gun; Ledger's joker preferred knives. He found guns to impersonal. Knives allowed him to see little details in his victims faces that guns wouldn't.
sharePhoenix. He made the joker more humane and more sympathetic. Ledger was great, but he was a more traditional evil psycho villain, whereas Phoenix's Joker was more of a tragic figure, more layered and complex.
shareTo be fair, Phoenix was an Origin story while Ledger was an already-established villain.
If you put Ledger's face on Phoenix in Joker, they're the same character and are both capable of horrible acts.
Two different jokers in two different kind of films. One was a commentary on terrorism in a post 9/11 world the other on social services programs failing the less fortunate and no where for those with mental illness that are alone to go, what happens when they go over the edge.
shareI pick Phoenix's Joker. Both are great tho'. A slightly different take of the character.
shareHmm... tough, because this one is 24 hours fresh in my mind and people have a tendency to favor a recent good performance over an older good performance.
After thinking about it, I have to try to put each actor in the other's shoes.
Both Ledger and Phoenix were perfect in their intended roles, but I think Phoenix could have pulled off Ledger's role... Ledger couldn't have done Phoenix's justice.
Don't get be wrong, Ledger was great and showed he can play a serious bad guy.... but a heart-wrenching sympathetic bad guy (that has to hide his looks)? Not so much.
Ledger or Phoenix. Pick your Joker
^^
its so odd saying this...
But for me, This is almost a comparison that doesnt make sense...
even the they play the same character, These 2 characters are so far apart and so drastically different, It almost seems pointless to try to compare.
for me, about the only thing I can say is, I think BOTH actors Hit the highest possible level for what they were going for.
for what The Dark Knights Joker was, for what the character is , IMO Ledger Literally Hit the highest possible level
for Who Arthur Fleck/Joker was, Phoenix hit the highest possible level....
to further illustrate what i mean is....I do not believe in either case, any other actor in the world could have hit the level's they hit.
Obviously, theres dozens of Insanely talented actors that could have played these roles Great, But IMO if we could see the "what Ifs"....If we could see 10 different actors cast in The exact role and movie of The Dark Knight, All might have been good, some may have been Great, but I feel NONE would have Hit the Level Ledger did...
the same with Phoenix and Joker, I could see other actors in the role, I could see others actors being Great, But I dont see any other actor Hitting The Level Phoenix did.,
While I think both are probably equally great, I do though however believe Ledgers Joker is more Iconic, More out of the box office and is more impactful to people who watch it.
basically I think when people watch Ledgers Joker, you can tell within 5 seconds of any scene he's in there is something truly special going on here, With Phoenix's Joker you really have to watch the movie to fully get how astonishing his performance is
I dont think theres a right answer for which is better...
however I do feel there Will be a definitive answer for which will eventually become The Majority consensus for which Joker is the best....and IMO I think Ledgers Joker Will still be considered by The Majority to be the overall better Joker.
We didnt get enough of Phoenix in the actual joker role to have a fair comparison. But if we are comparing movies I pick Joker.
share