Despite performing well at the box office, Suicide Squad was still panned by critics for its convoluted story and weak portrayal of characters. A well-executed marketing strategy was able to draw in audiences, but also over-promised a few essential details, which ended up disappointing fans even more. One of these details was the performance of Jared Leto as the Joker, which some have called the worst, comparing it to past portrayals in both the small and big screen.
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Suicide Squad currently holds a Rotten Tomatoes score of 26%, which means it is horrible. But also getting a lot of flack was Jared Leto, who, according to one tweet was “trash a**” as the Joker. The Tweet, which can be found below, is just one of many which slam the Suicide Squad character.
Jared Leto was a fucking trash ass Joker. 🚮🚮
Don't @ me bitch
— Matt B ♋ (@_Berrien_) August 14, 2016
Jared Leto was possibly the worst joker ever in suicide squad.
— matty rawlinson (@mattyrawlinson) August 14, 2016
Others could not help but compare the actor to Heath Ledger’s award-winning performance as the clown prince of crime in Christopher Nolan’s the Dark Knight.
Saw suicide squad yesterday and it was okay but one things for sure Heath Ledger over Jared Leto as the joker.
— Gabriel Garate (@GG_04) August 14, 2016
While others have compared him to Mark Hamill, who does the Joker’s voice in the animated series and (most of) the movies.
I am now watching #BatmanTheKillingJoke (even this animated Joker is better than the @JaredLeto joker) #RIPHEATHLEDGER
— FOE (@FOE_01) August 14, 2016
Critics have also been very unforgiving. Like Matthew Jacobs of the Huffington Post who panned Leto, comparing him to Ledger and Jack Nicholson of the Tim Burton-directed Batman movie.
“He lacks their (Ledger’s and Nicholson’s) brooding complexity.” wrote Jacobs in his article. “The Joker of “The Dark Knight” was a terrorist with a cause, whereas the Joker of ‘Suicide Squad’ is merely a joke. And an uninteresting one, at that.”
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Some fans did come to the actor’s defense, saying that his performance was on par or even went beyond Ledger’s performance (or they just really thought Jared Leto was hot).
Jared Leto as Joker in Suicide Squad is the hottest thing ever pic.twitter.com/wViARaVSHh
— B*tch Code 💅🏻 (@TheTumblrPosts) August 17, 2016
A video by comicbookmovie.com tries to give fans a thorough explanation on why many have branded Jared Leto as the worst Joker ever unfairly. The video, which can be viewed below, delves into other aspects of the movie, that may have caused audiences to be critical of Leto’s performance.
Is Jared Leto the worst Joker ever? Hopefully, DC (and the fans) gives him one more chance since he did receive less than 15 minutes of screen time in the movie. What a joke! Ha.
Photo Courtesy: Kesavan Muruganandan/ Flickr
