10.
The Joker (Tim Burton’s Batman; movie)
Is it really a surprise that the
Clown Prince of Crime would on this list? The Joker is one of the best villains
created in history, and has portrayed in many different ways. My favorite
interpretation is from Tim Butron’s Batman,
where he is played by the amazing Jack Nicholson.
Once a mobster named Jack Napier, he was forever
changed by a fateful encounter with the
Batman. A bullet ricochet from a pipe and went straight through his cheeks,
causing him to fall into a vat of various chemicals. His skin bleached white
from the chemicals and forever smiling due to a botched cosmetic surgery, he
was reborn as The Joker, Batman’s arch-nemesis.
This Joker is bat-shit insane, maybe
even more so than any other version out there. Throughout the film, you can
never really pin down what he wants to accomplish through his exploits. Hell,
it doesn’t even appear he knows what he wants. As James Rolfe (an internet
reviewer) pointed out in his review of the film, when The Joker was asked what
he wanted by Vicki Vale, he couldn’t give a straight answer. He just stared at
her blankly, then replied “My face on the dollar bill”.
Describing his crimes, Joker says
that he’s an artist, saying “I make art until someone dies”…what kind of freaky
logic is that? I’m serious, that’s one of the craziest things I’ve ever heard.
While most people claim that Heath
Ledger’s Joker is the best version of the character, I think this one is still
the best. He’s funny, he’s sadistic, he’s what the Joker should be. Also, Ledger’s Joker borrows heavily from a
character portrayed by Gary Oldman from the film “Leon: The Professional”, but
I’ll get to that later.
No comments:
Post a Comment