Joker Origin Movie First Look: Image Analysis

There has been a lot of buzz surrounding the upcoming Joker Origin film, starring Joaquin Phoenix (Gladiator, Walk The Line) as the Joker. The film is the first in a line of films about DC characters that aren't connected to the DCEU. Over the weekend director, Todd Phillips (The Hangover, War Dogs) released the test for the Joker-Make-up on Twitter, which trended for quite a while and got fans interested in this project. Then, the day after, on-set footage was leaked of Joaquin Phoenix in his make-up as the Joker on the subway. And thanks to this one-two punch, this film has now become a hot commodity for DC. 
   So how much does this version of the Joker differentiate from other versions? And what does this mean for the current DCEU version of the character played by Jared Leto (Dallas Buyer's Club, Suicide Squad)? Let's dive in!

Joaquin Phoenix's Joker

Whilst Todd Phillips did tweet the make-up test for this, I was not a big fan. However, in the stills from the set of the film... He actually looks good. I can definitely see some inspiration from past incarnations of the character, such as Heath Ledger's Distorted Make-up and hair, and Caesar Romero's Colourful costume (Which I will discuss in a bit). But I really want to talk about Joaquin Phoenix because he is ACTING under that make-up! He looks like a man with a plan. This is something I always liked about the Joker. That he put on the disguise of a madman with no plan. But in reality, he's a mastermind playing everyone around him.

The Make-Up

The Make-up is clearly inspired by Heath Ledger's look from The Dark Knight (2008, Christopher Nolan) with the distorted and uncontrollable make-up. Whilst it is the same look from the test footage tweeted by Phillips I feel like the Make-up in these stills looks better. Mainly because it's more refined and not so goofy. The red lips are smaller in this picture so they don't look as child-like, and the Blue around the eyes is a lot more emphasised. Similar to how Ledger had black around his eyes, except Phoenix has more of a Harlequin look around the eyes 

The Costume

As for the costume. I'm not a fan. Whilst I like the callback to Caesar Romero's Joker from the 60's I don't think it works here. A friend of mine told me that it was because the make-up and the costume don't fit well together. And I have to agree. Whilst the make-up is messy the costume looks clean and the two don't mesh. Whilst you could say that Ledger's Joker had a sophisticated look I would that was also quite messy and matched well with his make-up. As for the colours. I get that they're trying to call back to Caesar Romero from the Adam West Show. But the bright red doesn't really work here. Mainly because it's too warm a shade of red. So it makes it less intimidating. Overall, I like that the filmmakers are trying to emulate the more classic look of the Joker. But overall I don't think it matches with the make-up or the tone of the film.

Jared Leto's Joker

What this means for Jared Leto's version of the Joker is a little unsure. What I will say is this is a very different take on the Joker compared to Leto's version. Whilst Leto's version is based on the works of comic book writers like Grant Morrison and Scott Snyder, who both re-imagined the character in a unique way, Phoenix's Joker based on more traditional looks. Because of this, I'm starting to feel that these two versions of the Joker can co-exist. I still believe that Leto can give a solid performance with his Joker, so long as he's given the right script. But it all depends on how well Phoenix's version is received by audiences. If audiences love this version then you can expect some changes to be made to Leto's version.

Conclusion

Overall, I like the way this Joker looks. It's not perfect, the costume I feel needs work, but it's interesting. And the inspirations from past iterations of the character are clearly on display. 

So that's my Image Analysis of the on-set stills of Joaquin Phoenix's Joker. What do you think of this look? Do you agree or disagree with anything that I said? Please write a comment down below. And, if you liked what you read then you can follow this blog for more content. Thank you for reading. :)