Suicide Squad Reviews: 10 Things We Learned About The Joker
3. It's Also Not As Good As Ledger's
Just as Ben Affleck will forever be compared to the other screen actors who have played Batman, and every remake will be ominously overshadowed by the original, Jared Leto's Joker has been endlessly compared to Heath Ledger's.
It seems a fairly general consensus that he falls somewhere between Ledger and Jack Nicholson on the spectrum, but there are few who say he's the best yet. Even more positive reviews of him and the film, like on ComingSoon, refuse to level that praise:
"Jared Leto, his Joker isn’t bad. It’s nowhere close to Heath Ledger’s iconic work, but it works for Suicide Squad and the larger cinematic universe, because this is a Joker that’s going to be around a while."
Some sites - like the Beaumont Enterprise - are far less forgiving:
"Leto, working in the sizable wake of Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger, proves a massive disappointment in the role, lacking in both menace and wit despite the tall-tales of his Method extremes during shooting."
It seems he's going to be hated by some, and overshadowed by Ledger for others (as USAToday prove):
"And Leto’s weirdo take on the Clown Prince of Crime is a far cry from the late Heath Ledger, though it definitely works."