Suicide Squad Reviews: 10 Things We Learned About The Joker
8. He's A Gangster
Expect to see this Joker as more of the strip-club owning mobster he appeared to be in early marketing. As Village Voice confirm he "is more a slick, flamboyant Mob boss than the deranged anarchist of The Dark Knight."
The parallel with James Cagney - a reference point Heath Ledger also used for his portrayal - comes up a couple of times reading the reviews, and it seems Leto has channelled the great man in rebuilding the Joker as a mobster.
According to ComingSoon:
"Frankly, Leto isn’t doing much more than channeling James Cagney’s gangster film work. And there’s nothing wrong with that – if you’re going to play a bad guy, emulating one of the most iconic actors in film history is probably the smart play. Leto’s Joker is a wiry, coiled-to-strike snake, but he’s missing that elegant chaos that Ledger seemed to exude from his pores."
FilmDrunk meanwhile report that he's more gangsta than gangster:
"Whereas Jack Nicholson’s Joker was a disfigured robber baron and Heath Ledger’s was a fanatical nihilist, Jared Leto’s Joker is essentially Stitches, the rapper. I LOVE SELLIN’ BLOOOOWWWW. He has caaraaazy silver teeth, “damaged” tattooed on his forehead, dyes his hair wild colors, and crashes Lamborghinis for fun because he doesn’t even care, bro. Everything he does screams “Don’t f*ck with me, bro, I’m crazy!” Like Crazytown crazy."