Is Joker the Best Comic Book Film Ever Made?

My take on whether Joker is a comic book movie is that, yes, it obviously is. It's based on arguably the most iconic villain in all of comics, so of course it is a comic book movie. It's a different take on comic book movies, certainly. But, much like you can make a baseball movie (Field of Dreams, Major League and For Love of the Game) in a number of genres (drama, comedy, romance) or a mob movie (Goodfellas, Analyze This, A History of Violence) in a variety of ways, the same can be done with comic book films.

Joker is different than Deadpool, which is different than Sin City, which is different than Endgame and so on. They're all wildly different treatments of stories based on characters in comic books.

 

I found Joker too cliched, derivative and predictable. It was a bit boring, and I really didn't care for the ambiguous ending. Phoenix is great and they lovingly crafted the look of the film's late 70's/early 80's world, but I'd rather just rewatch the Scorsese films it tributes/borrows.

I'm not too big a fan of the genre; I watched many starting with Batman Begins up through the early MCU films but got burned out around Man of Steel.

With that said, I'd vote for The Dark Knight or Wonder Woman for best comic book movie.

 

I do find it interesting that strong performances in the role of the Joker are at the heart of two comic book movies that are in the top five for so many people.

 

Realistically, it’s three. The 1989 Batman and Nicholson’s performance are still pretty revered, and they set the standard for comic book movies probably until X-Men came out more than a decade later.

 

I thought of that, but I wouldn't put that movie in my top five. I loved it at the time, but I doubt I would even put it in my top 10. (Of course, now I'm sitting here trying to figure out my top 10). It depends on your criteria. Do you focus on entertainment value, impact on other movies, overall quality or a combination of all of them? How much do you knock MCU movies for not standing up as well on their own? Endgame doesn't stand up on its own, but it was a very different challenge from Joker.

Right now, Joker isn't anywhere on my list because I haven't seen it. I really need to fix that. Mrs. OOP decided she wants to watch it now, so that will help.

 

Comic book movies aren't my cup of tea, although I enjoyed the escapism of the Iron Man movies.

Joker is the type of comic book movie that can stand alone. It incorporates the Batman universe and tells the backstory, but in the end, it's just the tale of a guy who lives with his mother and goes batshit crazy.

 

That was probably mentioned more than once in the pitch meeting.

 

It might be that the Joker character provides some actors an opportunity to go full-method with a part that has similarities with their own personality and create a bit of a tour de force performance that moves audiences and makes it easier to overlook weaknesses in plot or other parts of those films.

 

It's the capital-A, Acting, that the Academy tends to like, too.

 

Not a big fan of the Joker as a character (this movie or otherwise). My two favorite comic book/superhero movies are Wonder Woman and Into the Spider-Verse.

 

I've been telling people for a while that SpiderVerse is the best Spider-Man movie ever made, but the more times I see it (my kids love it) the more it makes its way up the ladder of my favorite comic book movies. It's so damn good.

 

Damn. Add Spiderverse to my list. Bad omission by me.