Suicide Squad: What did I think of the Joker?

In many ways, Jared Leto as the Joker was a bigger deal than any other casting news that ever came out of Suicide Squad or any of the DC movies, save Ben Affleck as Batman. As much as I am a huge Superman fan and I want this new DC cinematic universe to center around him (and believe me, I am going to do a post on Superman in the DCCU), I understand that a lot of DC’s fandom comes from one character and his rogues gallery, and that character is definitively Batman.

There is a reason why every Batman movie there has ever been has been more about his villains than about him and that’s because the villains in the Batman universe are absolutely spectacular. They epitomize the criminal psyche and they’re not just bad guys, they’re psychological representations of the worst of the worst in our world. And front and center is the crown prince of Crime, the Joker.

There’s a great video that was put out recently on Youtube done by the Film Theorist (Link to his Youtube Page here). He does a great video on the different representations of The Joker throughout all of his cinematic outings. In a Cliff Notes version, here’s the basic breakdown.

In the comics there have been three versions of the Joker. Those versions correspond with each era of comic books (Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Modern) that that particular Joker appeared in.

You have the Joker from the Golden Age of Comics which portrayed the Joker as a criminal mastermind, interested in money and expanding his criminal enterprise while broadcasting his evil plots on TV and still making practical jokes out of his otherwise brutal killings.

Then you have the Joker from the Silver Age of Comics when Comic books were subject to censorship rules and in turn were more kid friendly and less violent. The Joker also took a more kid friendly turn and became more of a practical joker as opposed to a criminal. He played actual jokes on Batman and never killed anybody.

And then you have the Bronze and Modern Age Joker which, after the censorship laws were overturned, turned into a Psychotic agent of chaos. Instead of being interested in money like his Golden Age counterpart, The Joker is instead interested in causing chaos and seeing himself as the ying to Batman’s yang.

The Film Theorist’s theory is that each representation of The Joker in film corresponds with a particular version from the comics. Jack Nicholson’s Joker is more of a gangster with a psychotic twist, therefore he is the Golden Age Joker. Caesar Romero is a prankster with a kid friendly twist so he’s definitely the Silver Age Joker. And Heath Ledger’s Joker is the psychopath, or the Bronze/Modern Age Joker. The last video left us with a cliff hanger ending, waiting for MatPat to tell us where Jared Leto’s Joker falls into. I’m linking that video at the end of this post and do check out The Film Theorist’s videos as well as his Video Game Theories.

The reason I bring this up is because there is a rich history of the character. The film theory video only touches on the cinematic interpretations of The Joker when there have been multiple people who have played the character in video games and the animated shows. But these  versions of the character didn’t just have great talent behind them, they were incredibly written and a lot of thought was put into them. While I’m not sure how intentional each distinction was, it has blended incredibly from Romero to Ledger.

My long winded point is that Leto had very, VERY big shoes to fill. So how did he do?

And the answer is… I don’t really know.

Really, I can’t be one hundred percent certain on whether or not I liked this version of The Joker. Its mainly because he was really only in three or four scenes of the movie.

And I guess when I first saw the movie, besides really not knowing what to think about this interpretation of The Joker, I felt a little bit cheated. The trailers had him front and center, Leto was given top billing, the marketing of this character pushed the idea that he was a quintessential part of the movie, if not the main villain. And while I never thought he was going to be the main villain from what I read about the movie, I was still a little shocked on how little he was in the movie. On top of that, if you read stories about the production of this movie, you’ll find out that Leto went really method on this movie and never broke character.  He would send dead rats and used condoms to his co-stars. All that for 3 scenes in the movie?

Now, if you read more into the production of this movie, especially with recent news from its release, you’ll find that this is a heavily edited movie. According to Leto, there were enough Joker scenes to “make his own Solo Joker Film”. Now I don’t know if that’s necessarily true, but thinking back to the movie, suddenly all those moments where I said the editing was shotty and some of the movie feels a little disjointed, suddenly that makes a lot of sense. The problem I have with this is, this is the second movie in a row that DC has put out that has seemed like an incomplete film. And while David Ayers says that this is his directors cut, hearing news about more scenes just makes me want to get the Blu Ray of Suicide Squad right now so I can see all the deleted scenes and extras if not to get a clearer picture of what I think about Jared Leto’s Joker.

But based on what I saw of the Joker, what did I think?

I’m going to be honest, I’m a little worried. I didn’t hate it, but I also didn’t really love it.

The first thing to say is that I think a lot of people are biased and are going to directly compare jared Leto’s Joker with Heath Ledger. In many people’s minds, especially millennials who experienced Ledger more than Nicholson, Ledger is going to be the quintessential Joker. Ledger was just able to create a character that was terrifying, made you think, and was just an agent of chaos and anarchy that he was a phenomena in himself. Ledger’s untimely death only solidifies a bias I think a lot of people have.

I think, with the limited amount of screen time Leto was given, that is an impossible comparison.

But just based off of his performance in general, I really didn’t know what to make of him. On one hand, he has moments of absolute insanity and you can see how he has the potential to be a dangerously insane individual who would be a formidable match to Batman in future outings, possibly the Batman solo film. But at the same time, there are other scenes where his dialogue comes off as too silly or not menacing enough. On top of that, seeing the Joker as a sort of Godfather character where you kiss his ring and he definitely has some kind of enterprise going for him doesn’t

really blend with the conventions I’ve been used to the Joker as being an agent of chaos. Whereas Ledger’s Joker is like a dog who chases a car and wouldn’t know what to do with it if he caught it, Leto’s Joker catches the car and makes a criminal enterprise out of it. And I’m not sure I’m a fan of that. And his look is included in that. I’m not sure I like the tattoos and gangster look of this Joker. The Wikipedia page of Suicide Squad says the inspiration for the Joker’s look came from Mexican Cartel bosses and the work of Alexander Jodorowsky. I've never put Mexican Gangster and The Joker on the same plane. 

However, what I do like about the tattoos is the idea that there is a story going on there. Both David Ayers and Jared Leto have commented on the possible story that the tattoos tell, I just hope that they point towards future films where we can see those stories be carried out. And regardless of whether or not they have a story, I still think having Damaged tattooed on your forehead is really dumb. 

But that part that doesn’t really work for me with Leto is unfortunately a comparison between him and Ledger.

When Ledger was announced as the Joker and the first pictures came out, I legitimately could not tell that it was Ledger. Maybe it was the scars, maybe it was the makeup, but I could not and sometimes, still can’t pull Heath Ledger from that costume. Leto on the other hand looks like himself but with green hair and clown makeup on. And I thought that could be outweighed by the performance, but again, it was only three or four scenes. It wasn’t enough time to really lay down what kind of Joker Leto is going to be and when he does something, you can’t grasp the direction he’s heading.

Going back to the Film Theory video, it’s a little bit difficult to really figure out where Leto falls in the three interpretations of The Joker from the different ages of comic books. My initial thought is that he’s more of a Golden Age Joker where he’s interested in a criminal enterprise and a psychotic gangster. But at the same time, he’s laying there laughing like a psycho in the beginning of the film. His first scene with Harley telling the story of how he converts her to Harley Quinn paints him as an insane agent of chaos similar to the Bronze/Modern Age. My bets are still on the Golden Age Joker but MatPat, if you’re reading this, have fun developing that theory.

So is there anything that works with this Joker? Yes, there definitely are a couple of things.

First off, while he has moments where he maybe uses the same voice as Ledger (emphasis on

moments), this is a very unique version of The Joker. As many moments that don’t work, there are as many moments that do. Like I said in my spoiler review, I really liked the scene where the Joker hijacks the helicopter to save Harley. Him laughing while spraying bullets around seems like the joker I know and love. Having a purple lambourghini and his costumes are very akin to the Joker I know and am familiar with, pointing towards a more comic book lore based Joker. And hell, even some of the scenes where he’s a gangster were kind of fun and different.

But the part that still gives me hope for Leto’s Joker is his relationship with Harley Quinn.

Their origin story and how they met was one of the most rushed things I have ever seen. I thought they were going to have a grand opening for a really beloved and revered character like The Joker, but instead he just shows up looking like Jared Leto talking to Harley Quinn. However, I did really like the scenes showing their relationship in the beginning. It just makes me want there to be a Harley Quinn movie even more so that meeting can be fleshed out even more! I didn’t necessarily need to see all of the story of Mad Love (Harley Quinn’s origin episode of Batman the animated series) but I want more of how she made that transition from a psychologist to the Joker’s Queen.    

Furthermore, this movie started to develop something that I’m not totally sure other mediums have delved into before when it comes to the relationship between Harley Quinn and The Joker. This is the idea that The Joker actually cares about Harley. In past interactions, whether they have been video games or the animated series, the relationship between the Joker and Harley seemed to always be a one way street. Harley always seemed in love with The joker while the Joker always saw Harley as a means to an end or a way to make the joke funnier. While both those relationships and the one in Suicide Squad are toxic and without a doubt abusive relationships, Suicide Squad at least starts the idea that the Joker has a soft spot for Harley and is going off to save her, not because he wants to keep a toll in his psychotic tool box, but because he legitimately cares about her.

This of course is exemplified in the flashback where he tells Harley to jump into the vat of acid. While he starts to walk away as if the joke is over and he’s just going to let her die, he instead turns around and saves her because he legitimately cares about her. This is an interesting approach and I really hope they develop that more in future movies.

And that’s going to be the real test of Jared Leto’s Joker. Both Nicholson and Ledger’s Jokers ended up being one offs and it made it impossible for them to reprise their role. Leto is being set up to

appear in multiple DC universe movies from here until the end of time. If Margot Robbie gets a Harley Quinn standalone film, I have no doubt the Joker will be a huge part of that. If there is a Batman Standalone film, DC would be stupid not to at least give the Joker an appearance if not make him the main bad guy. Then you have an always expanding DC cinematic universe with all members of the Justice League having their own problems and stories that Leto has the opportunity to be apart of. While he hasn’t been confirmed for any future movies yet, I have no doubt in my mind that we will see Jared Leto as the Joker again and I will be able to give a better analysis on the character and tell you if I like him or not. But the point is, I want to see more.

I may not have been impressed by him in this film but there’s so little to go off that I don’t think anybody is saying this interpretation is horrible yet. The great thing is that this character can be work shopped from the critical response being given and both Leto and the screenwriters can shift fire as needed.

So overall, I think Leto’s Joker needs work. I want to see more of him, and this movie got me excited for future outings with him, especially him and Harley Quinn. But at the same time, I am nervous.

But those are my in depth thoughts on The Joker and that concludes my Spoiler review of Suicide Squad. What do you think of The joker? What do you think worked and what didn’t work for him? Comment and Discuss below! You can also give me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I’ll leave you with this. Here is the video I was talking about. Check out some of Mathew Patrick’s work as he does a lot of videos on film/video games and some wacky yet intriguing theories on both. Enjoy!