--- On Tue, 7/22/08, Sumant Srivathsan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Chris Nolan's Joker is a nihilist! Which was
> pretty damn cool. In a scary
> > and horrifying way.
>
>
> I just thought he was a sociopath. Or am I just splitting
> hairs? :)
A sociopathic nihilist, sure :D
Don't want to spoil the movie for those who haven't seen it yet by
subtantiating the nihilist bit.
> Jack Nicholson Joker trauma? I thought Jack was a great
> Joker. He was just
> right for Burton's Batman universe, which was heavily
> comic-book influenced,
> and he played a larger-than-life character to perfection.
I beg to differ. Burton's Batman universe was far less comic-book influnced
than Chris Nolan's is. All of Burton's characters and even the universe were
significantly different from the comic book. Of course, Chris Nolan draws on
very specific comic book interpretations of the Batman, specifically the Frank
Miller and Dennis O'Neil version which emerged in the mid-80s. He even uses
Carmine Falcone and the Maroni family.
I agree Jack Nicholson performed adequately. However, IMO, this is only because
he played (a) Jack Nicholson's standard neurotic psycho villain. With face
paint. (b) Tim Burton's vision of the Joker, which was Jack Nicholson in his
avatar as neurotic psycho villain, with face paint.
As a comic book fan, and non-fan of Nicholson, this resulted in afore-mentioned
trauma. But that's just me.
> just right for it. It
> would be unfair to either to compare the performances. Or
> to diss Cesar
> Romero and Mark Hamill along the way.
Heaven forbid! I actually think Mark Hamill's voice rendition was the best
non-comic book version of the Joker. Heath's is a close second, in my view.
> As for Oldman, I think he's stuck in an under-developed
> character. Gordon
> has potential, but I'd love to see someone like Tommy
> Lee Jones take it on.
> Oldman, however, would probably make a fascinating Riddler.
Oh lord. Now you're bringing other traumatic memories back. Joel Silver version
Batman, Tommy Lee Jones playing Two Face, Jim Carrey playing the Riddler... Gah.
I love Oldman - I just think he does exceptionally well playing bad guys. He's
too old to play any of the standard villains in Nolan's Batman, though. The
Preston Payne avatar of Clayface, maybe. That would be awesome.
Quite a few Chris Nolan fans on list, as I recall - Thaths, have you seen the
movie yet?
cheers,
Divya
