Who played the better Joker: Heath Ledger, or Jack Nicholson?

[baya]

ledger, he died.

[D-MiZe]

I personally preferred Ledger to Nicholson. His untimely demise adds to his credibility too.

[RAV3N]

I kind of know what you mean, but he play the characters well too.

Watch Chinatown and one flew over the cuckoos nest. And the shining. And a few good men. Those are all incredible performances from Nicholson. On the level of how good ledger was in the dark knight. My criteria for that is you forget it's them, but become completely immersed in the character.

Well dont get me wrong I do enjoy watching Nicholson act and has done some great work but most of his great roles are similar characters.

When I watch him onscreen I think that he would be fairly similar in real life.

[4Corners]

Seen it body movin'.....Bane bane, that's my name!!! LOL

[4Corners]

C'mon guys...........

It's like because Ledger died, his performance went from maybe slightly overhyped, though it was still an incredible take on the character.....to now somehow underrated because of you guys basically saying he only got praised big time because he died.....

I don't give a **** if Ledger died or not....that the BEST performance in a comic book movie I've ever seen. You forgot you were watching an actor.....and THAT is when you know it was great.

[4Corners]

Does Jack Nicolson actually act? He just seems to be playing himself in movies.

Heath Ledger transformed himself for the role, the two arent even comparable imo.

Jack Nicholson has the GOAT resume. Just go watch Five Easy Pieces, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Chinatown, etc. The guy is also one of the most versatile in terms of characters too.

But Ledger was the better joker. It was as if Ledger was born for that role.

[Sweet Pea 50]

Ledger.

I'm taking into account of not only his performance itself, which I thought was incredible, but the movie material he had to work with concerning the source character

If you stop to think about it, Ledgers' Joker seriously fucked shit up in Dark Knight.

From punking out every single organized crime faction in Gotham, to turning the one man Batman thought could turn the city around into a revenge filled monster in Dent, to blowing up an entire hospital, to his killing of how many city officials, pitting hundreds of people with blowing each other up in a game of survival. I mean, I could go on.

Ledgers' Joker was a beast.

[DreamMerchant12]

C'mon guys...........

It's like because Ledger died, his performance went from maybe slightly overhyped, though it was still an incredible take on the character.....to now somehow underrated because of you guys basically saying he only got praised big time because he died.....

I don't give a **** if Ledger died or not....that the BEST performance in a comic book movie I've ever seen. You forgot you were watching an actor.....and THAT is when you know it was great.

Other way around brah. He was exceptional, and nobody's denying that, but a lot of people have started pactarding his performance as if every other actor on planet earth that's played the joker was below average.

[phallus]

Does Jack Nicolson actually act? He just seems to be playing himself in movies.

Heath Ledger transformed himself for the role, the two arent even comparable imo.

Jack Nicholson was just playing himself, with white makeup on.

He played the same role/character in The departed, without the makeup.

The heath joker was legendary

Well dont get me wrong I do enjoy watching Nicholson act and has done some great work but most of his great roles are similar characters.

When I watch him onscreen I think that he would be fairly similar in real life.

after the shining, jack took basically the same role over and over again, because the money was good and that's what the public wanted to see. in the early 70's though, Nicholson was a great actor, Five easy Pieces depended on heavyweight acting because the entire film is only about the relationships between the characters. The lawyer in Easy Rider was one of jack's best performances, because it's a quiet, nice guy nothing like himself, and somehow he puts more energy and compassion into that character than any of his other roles.

I agree with the poster that said Daniel day lewis would be a great joker, based on his Bill the Butcher in gangs of new york

[Mooshashi]

Caesar Romero was the best Joker, even with a painted over mustache.