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Ledger was a fine actor and his passing was a tragic loss, but the best I'd say about his work as the Joker was that he did the best he could with a badly underwritten part.
His Joker comes into the story already his menacing self and undergoes no change throughout the action. There's no character arc and nothing for him to work with.
I guess the idea was that he would just be evil without much backstory or motivation. Sorry, but Nicholson's Joker was more complex and better developed. Jack Napier turned Bruce Wayne into Batman. Then years later Batman created the Joker, and the two spent the rest of the narrative trying to destroy each other.
How can you say Nicholson's was more complex? You knew his story...you knew how he got that way. it was simple; he fell into chemicals and poof the Joker. Ledger character had to work with no backstory (or several differento ones as he tells it) and no origin what so ever. that's way more complcated to do and he pulled it off phenominally.
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My only point had little to do with Ledger (who I thought was great, but still not as good as Mitchum). I just disagree that Nicholson had a better written role. I thought the script for TDK got the character much better than the first movie
Exactly. It was a new spin that made the original character (nicholson's) pale in comparison
Oh, and I second John Doe from seven. Amazing role by Kevin Spacey. My villiam list would go something like Vader, Lector, Ledger's Joker, John Doe, Anton, and everyone else.