Joined: Sep 08, 2010 Age: 26 Posts: 1154 Location: South Wales
Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:42 pm Post subject: The Joker
There may be some I miss out because I've either never heard of them or I forgot. FTR Mark Hamill is the best Mr J, but Heath Ledger would come very very close.
Joined: Feb 18, 2011 Age: 23 Posts: 2971 Location: Kent, England
Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 2:55 am Post subject:
Difficult to say since there have been different portrayals of the Joker, Jack Nicholson aimed for a more comical portrayal whereas Heath aimed to give the character more of an edge. Mark is the closest to the comic book and the original portrayal of the Joker but in the Christopher Nolan universe, there is no place for a Joker like that.
Joined: Aug 02, 2010 Age: 29 Posts: 1156 Location: Blackburn, Lancashire, England
Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 10:14 am Post subject:
Ledger for best live-action and Hamill for best voice. Don't get me wrong, i love Hamill for mixing the right blend of comedy and psychotic villainy with his awesome voice-work, but Ledger immersed himself into the role so well, that he ends up stealing the show in TDK. _________________ "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe: Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion; I've watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time; like tears in rain. Time to die."
Last edited by LexingtonDeville on Wed Jun 13, 2012 2:28 pm; edited 1 time in total
Joined: May 26, 2008 Age: 22 Posts: 6123 Location: Sydney, Australia
Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 10:34 am Post subject:
Mark Hamil for me, especially with Arkham Asylum, got the wackyness, the edge, and that laugh. _________________ Blast Reality! Burst it into shreds! Banishment... this world!
Joined: Oct 25, 2010 Age: 24 Posts: 1181 Location: Southern California
Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 12:55 pm Post subject:
Mark Hamill is definitely my favorite. I have to give Heath Ledger credit though, for an awesome performance. _________________ Gaming since 1996.
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Joined: May 19, 2011 Age: 32 Posts: 573 Location: Scottsdale, AZ
Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 1:24 pm Post subject:
I knew this was going to be a two-horse race. (Sorry, Jack fans, but that's the truth)
After a lot of thought between Ledger and Hamill, I went with Ledger. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE Hamill's take on the character and it's pretty much the perfect incarnation of The Joker in the Batman universe. Ledger, however, transcended that universe by offering a version that was the personification of anarchy and menace. More importantly, it was Ledger's take on the character that did what probably no other performance in a comic book film has done: bring in people from outside the comic fanbase. People love to complian about Oscar wins, but this was one win that no one criticized and probably no one ever will.
I voted for Cesar Romero before I saw Mark Hamil, but the latter will always be the voice of The Joker to me. His interpretation is the most pristine to me, but I think its unfair to compare a cartoon to a movie or tv show. For animation you need someone who's talented and can voice their role but for live action you have to account looks, physical condition, and other things. I'm not trying to say voice acting isn't a medium that requires lots of skill nor am I denying there are truly talented people in the industry (Hamil is the best VA to me, period), but you could have a woman voice a male character and vice versa. They could have the most perfect voice that truly matched the character but everything else is handled by the animation studios and artists. And yes I know voice acting is more than just talking for the character, their lips have to synch with the character's mouths.
I'm saying all of this because to me Romero and Hamil are both the best, equally. Jack Nicolson is a close second. I respected Ledger's performance, it was very well done and his take on the Joker was very original, but due to personal bias I will always see him as nothing more than Heath Ledger just acting really well while wearing white face paint and looking disheveled. To me, Romero and Hamil ARE the Joker.
And yes I fully admit to being completely biased to the goofy old Adam West Batman tv series, its always been my favorite. His crazy laugh is just infectious to me and I can't help but laugh as well when I hear him.
I voted for Ledger. I liked his portrayal of the Joker as an anarchist with - maybe not with a genuine case of insanity - but with an anti-social personality disorder.
