Why Was Leto's Joker Poorly Received?

[Seth]

While the Critics hated Suicide Squad, there is no denying it has successfully and appropriately introduced many characters into the main-stream culture. Few examples of these characters are Harely Quin, DeadShot, and Captain Boomerang. However, the depiction of the joker in Suicide Squad wasn’t stellar, and clearly didn’t live up to the expectations. In this post I will be discussing what factors contributed to the polarized exceptoin. Share in the comment section whether you liked lato’s portrayal of the Joker.

#1 The screen time given to jared leto’s The joker.


One thing I didn’t completely hate was Jared leto’s acting skills. He conveyed the randomness of the joker accurately, but the problem was the material he was given to work with, and most importantly, the screen time rewarded to him in SQ. Some fans say they got to see more of the joker in The Purple lambo video ( A song made to promote SQ) than they saw of joker in the actual movie. This statement really hits hard, a video lasting less than three minutes has more character than a movie with 250mill budget and a 2:30hrs run time. Leto was not the prime problem in my opinion, rather it’s the screen time. Leto himself even said “Were there any that didn’t get cut? We did a lot of experimentation on the set, we explored a lot. There’s so much that we shot that’s not in the film, and certainly could fill a whole movie”.


#2: The poor tasks given to the joker.

poor writing joke one.jpg
Second problem with the joker in Suicide Squad was actually the writing behind the character. Joker’s motives weren’t clear in most cases. In an opening scene, the scene where the joker is introduced, we see him kill a guy for calling harely quin Hot (She is ). That is not a good reason to kill someone, it was more of a compliment, however the joker received it as humiliation for harely and killed him. This bring me to my next point.


#3: Harely and joker love


In the comics or in the critically acclaimed T.V series The Batman, the relation between joker and harely is a dire relationship. Look I am not a psychopath that enjoys someone beating up someone else. However, in the case of the joker and harely it’s a necessary thing. Why you ask? Well, when joker keeps beating harely and disrespecting her, she eventually gets enough of his sh**t and decides to leave him, leading to one of the most important harely quin moments in the comics. She decides to leave the joker and continue with her life becoming independent of this pshycho. This would have been a strong message, and a good character development. Instead there is a genuine love relation between them which makes the joker less jokeresh if that makes any sense.


============================================#3 One dimensional character.======================================== ===============




Part of what made Heath ledger’s interpretation of the joker so good, was that the character had a sense of purpose. His goal was clear from the beginning, and his actions spoke loader than words. However, Jared Leto’s joker ( although leto did amazing as an actor) felt more like a teenager trying desperately to be edgy, and miserably failing. He is shown to be a criminal who likes harely quin, has lots of tattoos, and loves beating other people, and that’s all we get to see him do in his limited screen time.


==================================# WAS HE REALLY THAT BAD OF A CHARACTER.============================


Now this will sound completely hypocritical, but I want to argue that the hate for leto’s joker doesn’t come from what happened in Suicide Squad. I think it has to do with Heath ledger’s joker setting very high expectations for the mainstream audience.
In The Dark Knight we are shown a joker that is emotionally complex, that has a goal, and is challenging an idea. An idea that no one is civilized, and we are all savages inside. It’s when we are put under circumstances that we show our true selves, and start behaving accordingly. The joker in The Dark Knight was well written, and well executed and acted by heath ledger. This amazing combination has set unrealistic expectations from Jared leto’s the joker.
Comics joker.
If Jared Leto’s came before The Dark Knight, leto’s interpretation as it is in suicide squad right now would have been met with more love. People would have appreciated the finer touches such as the tattoos.

[Uncanny Mutie]

How can you blame limited screen time when it's a SUICIDE SQUAD movie and Joker's appearance was really only supposed to be a cameo anyway? If you ask me, he was lucky to even get as much screen time as he did. I personally would have saved him for a Batman solo movie.

[LordTrump]

Poorly received? He was touted as one of the highlights, even for people who didn't like the movie. The main complaint was that he wasn't there a lot, which, again, Suicide Squad movie.....

You're making it seem like he's B&R Bane.

[Seth]

I don't think joker's role in SQ was intended to be a cameo. If it's a cameo his appearance in the movie would been less than a minute, instead an entire sub-plot in the movie revolves around him.

[noiseredux]

personally, I enjoyed his take, and thought it fit the tone of the movie well. That club scene for instance.

[Rakzo]

One of the main complaints was that the hype of his appearance was too huge compared to the amount of screen time he actually received.

Speaking for myself, I didn't exactly love his performance. Yes, the Joker is supposed to be flamboyant but at times seemed like Leto tried way too hard to be memorable unlike Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger who did it more naturally.

[Carabas]

Nicholson and Ledger had better directors and better script writers. And they weren't part of a shared universe that has image perception problems.

ETA: and they both were in a Batman versus the Joker movie instead of a movie they could basically be edited out of entirely without meaningfully changing the story.

[Lee Stone]

I think he just had big shoes to fill.
And after all the different portrayals (Romero, Nicholson, Ledger, Hamill), he had a bunch of tough acts to follow.

[Rogue Star]

How can you blame limited screen time when it's a SUICIDE SQUAD movie and Joker's appearance was really only supposed to be a cameo anyway? If you ask me, he was lucky to even get as much screen time as he did. I personally would have saved him for a Batman solo movie.

LOVE THAT AVATAR. ( ☆u☆)

On the Joker, he was a side character so he did okay as a side character. If people want the Joker to shine, he needs to be the main antagonist.

[Flash Gordon]

Really terrible writing and make up/design. Bad acting, sure- but that's far from the grit of it. He came off as this weirdly pretentious actor in this big mess of a Hot topic commercial.

[FishyZombie]

Really terrible writing and make up/design. Bad acting, sure- but that's far from the grit of it. He came off as this weirdly pretentious actor in this big mess of a Hot topic commercial.

summed the whole thing up better than I could, in 3 sentences.

[Lightning Rider]

What about the writing is so off-putting? I found nothing in his lines at all that were somehow jarring or out of character or badly written.

[marvelprince]

The rewrites to change the Harley and Joker dynamic really messed up Joker in particular. You're trying to figure out what he's actually doing there, Leto is trying really hard to sell you that he's ....weird? I dunno.

[geomon]

1. Yes his screen time was limited and they cut a lot of stuff with him out of the film. There is more of him in the extended cut, which is a much better film than the theatrical cut in my opinion.

2. He didn't kill a guy for calling her hot. He killed him for calling her a bitch. He disrespected her in his eyes and in The Joker's eyes, only he gets to do that.

3. The Joker forced electro shock therapy on her. Seems pretty fucked up to me. That and driving the car into the water to escape Batman, knowing Harley couldn't swim, knowing Batman would have to rescue her so he could escape. Those are just the two that stood out to me. Keep in mind, Suicide Squad is not a Harley Quinn solo movie, don't expect much insight into her life or dealings with The Joker.

I know it's an impossible task but I really wish people wouldn't compare Jokers (or Batmen for that matter). They are all different, based on different iterations of the character. Even the comic book versions of Joker are different from era to era. As a comic book fan and as a movie fan, and most importantly, a Batman fan, I've come to the understanding that you have to divorce yourself of any preconceived notions you have about seeing your preferred version of your favorite character on the big screen. If it happens, great. If it doesn't, then you're still able to appreciate the character and performance that you're given.

Leto's Joker on the other hand, was all over the place which is mostly because of his really forced performance. Overall, the guy was pretentious AF.

What exactly does that mean, that he was "all over the place"? Could you give me an example?

[Rakzo]

What exactly does that mean, that he was "all over the place"? Could you give me an example?

Basically tried to be too much and achieved too little.