Psycho Smackdown: ‘Watchmen’‘s Rorschach vs. ‘The Dark Knight’‘s Joker
Watchmen
Zack Snyder
Patrick Wilson, Jackie Earle Haley, Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Stephen McHattie, Matt Frewer, Carla Gugino
(Warner Brothers; US theatrical: 6 Mar 2009 (General release); UK theatrical: 6 Mar 2009 (General release); 2009)
Trailer
Official Site
The Dark Knight
Christopher Nolan
Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Eric Roberts, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman
(Warner Brothers; US theatrical: 18 Jul 2008 (General release); UK theatrical: 21 Jul 2008 (General release); 2008)
Official Site
This time next year, if there is any justice left in this baffling business called show, Jackie Earle Haley will be reaping the same kind of universal accolades that followed the late Heath Ledger when he starred as the ultimate sociopath, The Joker, in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight - and here’s hoping that the middle aged former child star does so without all the tabloid hysteria of a publicity fueled (or God forbid, posthumous) Oscar campaign. In 2008, Ledger’s unhinged criminal, compelled by nothing other than his innate need for chaos, transformed the Batman franchise into a true psychological thriller. There was never a moment’s doubting the character’s motives - he was insane. But Haley’s latest turn as Alan Moore’s anarchic anti-hero Rorschach in the big screen adaptation of Watchmen is every bit as bugfuck - and beautiful.
As our main protagonist, our personal private investigator and overall window into the Watchmen world, Walter Kovacs (otherwise known as the aforementioned masked vigilante) is a truly disturbed and uniquely fashioned personality. While part of him plays like an FBI profile gone exploitative, there are several, more solid dimensions to the character’s complicated arc. For his part, Rorschach is the last outlaw, the rebel who refuses to drop his caped persona, no matter the law or the legal ramifications of violating same. He is brutal and unapologetic, staring justice square in the face while using whatever means necessary to get his advantage or point across. He refuses to back down, taking the death of The Comedian as a sign that his own lifeline is growing short. By decipher the clues as to who killed the aging icon, Rorschach hopes to find meaning in his own isolated ideal - and the purpose of the once prevalent superhero situation.
In this regard, the man in the ever-shifting mask is the prohibitive polar opposite of the nameless villain with a penchant for perverting everything around him. The Joker is perhaps the most symbolic of Batman’s many villains, since he wirewalks on both the notion of humor and horror quite effectively. It’s the same kind of mixture that makes up the Caped Crusader’s demeanor - especially in Nolan’s version of the comic. Batman wants Gotham City to return to some semblance of normalcy, to get the communal courage to take back the streets and stomp out the various crime lords who appear to rule reality. The Joker wants something similar - he exists for no one but himself - but in his version of the metropolis, Id has replaced Ego as the main means of expression. Random acts of incoherent menace will be his chief way of achieving said aims.
In this regard - the sadistic desire to harm - Rorschach and The Joker are very much alike. Both even have baffling back stories that try and suggest the reason for their simmering psychosis. Of the two, our Watchman’s is the better, since we get to witness how the life of a prostitute’s son turns into a man on a murderous mission. This is especially true when Kovacs speaks to a prison doctor about his past. Indeed, Rorschach’s investigation and “resolution” of a missing child case is more than memorable. It bristles with a kind of cruelty that a certain clown (and scared) faced trickster would totally appreciate. Similarly, The Joker’s take on certain mobsters, self-absorbed and bloated on their own sense of supremacy, would definitely make his ink blotted buddy smile - if only for a second.
But there are real differences between Rorschach and The Joker, differences that go beyond personality and dig deep within the concept of each character’s humanity. Both are philosophical to a fault, but only the former finds a principle behind the prostylitizing. He may often sound like Travis Bickle with a huge hard-on for righting wrongs, but Rorschach is all about returning balance to a world gone wonky. The latter, on the other hand, just wants to tip things over the edge once and for all. He will burn money for no other reason than he can, going so far as to destroy a hospital as a test of personal will. One has filled a prison with his purpose. The other sees nothing wrong with pressing an inmate’s moral mantle against those in the supposedly civilized outside world.
As far as being a complete bad-ass, though, the comic book movie may have a new champion. While Ledger truly turned The Joker into the kind of man who clearly “doesn’t have a plan”, Haley’s Rorschach is so multi-dimensional it hurts. He’s part hero, part villain, part victim, part abuser. He’s torn and broken inside, preferring his mask to a life outside his identity. When he is framed for the murder of dying nemesis Moloch the Mystic, his only concern is his “face”, the expressionistic cloth that covers his frightened, fragile façade. During his interrogation scenes, Haley’s efforts are heartbreaking. He gives Rorschach the kind of dignity we just don’t expect from a psychologically unbalanced individual. Through the actor’s expressionistic eyes, we witness a lifetime of struggle and striving. In his broken, beleaguered words, we understand everything The Joker misses. Crime may pay for a while, but the ultimate price comes for those trying to stop it once and for all. But don’t take this as a sign of weakness. When push comes to slaughter, Haley’s Rorschach rips people apart with the best of them.
Again, if there is any justice, Watchmen‘s arrival as a media event will start the Jackie Earle Haley nomination ball rolling. His work is just as strong - and sometimes stronger - than Ledger’s, and his character is not just some loose canon bit of grandstanding. The Academy did indeed do the right thing by giving the late actor his due. Turns in Monster’s Ball, Brokeback Mountain, and I’m Not There mandated as much. But Haley has the same strong performance past to draw on - and he also has a previous nom for his sensational comeback as “reformed” pedophile Ronald James McGorvey in Todd Field’s Little Children. It can’t be stressed enough - Haley dominates a film filled with amazing, accurate portrayals. He’s the reason Watchmen holds together over its long, elaborate running time. When he’s onscreen, we’re safe. When he’s gone, things threaten to spin out of control.
In a perfect world, Watchmen will walk away with much of the pop culture debate for the next few months, giving way to Summer’s popcorn purpose before re-rearing its raison d’etra again for the eventual DVD/Blu-ray run. Within all that commercial sturm and drang, outside the natural tendency to cast assertions as facts and opinions as truths, there will hopefully be a discussion about Jackie Earle Haley, his turn on the oddly appealing psychopath, and how it compares to ones that have come before. And inside this conversation, between the exaggeration and the evisceration, someone will see the similarities to last year’s equally enticing event movie and draw the only logical conclusion possible. If Heath Ledger deserves awards recognition, so does Haley. Rorschach and The Joker are cut from the same cloth - and it’s some might messy material indeed.
Comments
I don’t think its fair to compare these roles/actors at all. Heath Ledger was truly amazing. That kind of acting only comes along every 50yrs. I am not saying that this guy wont be good, but come on don’t compare him to Heath! They are each their own.This guy is good too I am sure.I will say this though. The Watchman has an R rating, that means that they will have way more reach with the violence and scary scenes.Its a bit easier to do things with an R rating. Heath had to work with PG13. Its very difficult to keep a PG13 movie scary and really good and entertaining! RIP Heath,my bro,my mate. I look forward to the Watchmen!
Comment by Kate L from Canada — March 5, 2009 @ 3:10 am
you cant compare what heath did with the joker to the actor who’s playing rorschach. he was ok but not great as heath was with the joker!
Comment by janaya — March 7, 2009 @ 11:12 am
I don’t know what these two people are talking about. Haley’s portrayal of Rorschach in this film is unbelievable! When you are watching him, he IS Rorschach in every way. You feel pain for him when he is in trouble, you are angry with him when he goes too far. 45 minutes into this movie I started thinking to myself, this is the most authentic portrayal of a character I have ever seen on film. I felt like I had to know more about him ASAP. Just for the record, I have never read the Watchmen book and I am not a comic junkie. I enjoy movies and I have seen thousands over the years. I can’t say that this is one of the best films I have ever seen, but this character, shown to us by this actor is one of if not the best I can recall.
Comment by Rob S from USA — March 7, 2009 @ 8:37 pm
I agree that heath was the better actor(by a bit), being able to be calm then crazy in a moment while rorschach was just always angry.
But i agree with this article because it is comparing the characters not the actors and in this rorscach definatly wins
Comment by The naidemoC — March 8, 2009 @ 1:33 pm
Haley was amazing. If not for him that movie would have flopped. I think there should be another watchmen film with just Rorschach in it. That would be brilliant.
Comment by Fernando Martinez from Miami — March 10, 2009 @ 5:03 pm
With WAY less screentime than Ledger’s Joker, Jackie Earle Haley’s Rorschach left a bigger impression on me.
While Ledger gave a PHENOMENAL performance, Haley didn’t even seem like a performance at all; it was just SO real. Haley was literally behind a mask 80% of the time, and even those moments were electrifying.
Ledger was PHENOMENAL, but Haley is just LEGENDARY. If Ledger could win an Oscar, it’ll be a shame if the Academy won’t at least NOMINATED Haley.
Comment by Gina — March 11, 2009 @ 10:55 pm
First off, I would like to state that both Haley and Ledger are phenominal actors. I’ve always been impressed by Heath in every role I’ve seen him do, and Jackie’s comeback story is phenominal. They both were terrific in “Dark Knight” and “Watchmen”, and they both deserve just as much attention as they’re getting.
However.
When it comes down to it, I think that Rorschach was the better portrayed character. I don’t want to say that Ledger’s Joker was overhyped, because it wasn’t, it just didn’t leave any impression on me. I left the theatre thinking, “Wow, that character was really f***ed up.” But when I watched JEH’s portrayl of Rorschach, God, my heart went out to him the whole film. There were so many parts where Ii really got into the film because of Rorschach, and every time something awful was about to happen to him I felt like I was on the edge of my seat (and this is coming from someone who has read the comic a bijillion times and see the movie twice, yet even the second time had me going “oh God, oh God, what’s going to happen next???”). Rorschach is a much deeper character than the Joker. The Joker’s father slit his mouth to make him “smile” and then he purely lost his mind. Rorschach? Rorschach has gone through so much more. While he hasn’t lost his mind, he certainly has a warped view on what’s good and evil. He tries to save the day by extracting the same amount of violence on those he’s punishing that they in turn performed. Every time I read/see the movie I notice something new about Rorschach that makes me think about his character even more.
In short, though Heath was amazing as the Joker, Rorschach’s deep character makes JEH come out the better actor of the two roles.
WATCHMEN! <3
Comment by Julia Gaskill from Oregon — March 13, 2009 @ 1:22 am
It’s not fair to compare the two at all in my eyes.
They were both so utterly fantastic and believable, and -both- of them became the characters they were playing.
The Joker’s want, and probably more accurately, -need-, for complete and total chaos and anarchy is beautiful in it’s own way. The fact that a human being that was once no different than anyone else on the planet can command such power and intimidate and yet want nothing than to watch everything and everyone burn, is…....fascinating to say the least. To have no morals, no guilt, no sympathy, no empathy….he is free in a sick sense of the word. I find that compelling and deep in it’s own way.
Rorschach’s desire for justice but the brutal way he goes about it, the refusal to compromise or back down about anything, is commendable to a certain extent.
He finds human being’s habits disgusting, pointless and pathetic and yet still wants to save them, right wrongs, etc…He has a heart but is so repressed and scared of his own feelings and those around him he both shuts down and lashes out
Haley in this role was just as brilliant as Ledger was as the Joker, but for completely different reasons. Haley was gut wrenching, sympathetic, callous, intense, sympathetic all at once and more. Always conflicting. Always so very Rorschach.
So I repeat, to compare the two characters and actors in these roles is ridiculous.
Comment by Houdini Splicer — March 13, 2009 @ 9:52 am
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Comment by Paul Burns from Aussie Aussie Aussie... — March 15, 2009 @ 2:13 am
I thought that Ledgers portrayal of The Joker was the best live-action Joker rendition to date. He took the best from Nicholsons antics (the lip smacking and heavy breathing/pauses, calmness) and combined them with the sheer whacky lunacy that Hamill brought to the character in the Animated series (the maniacal laughter is evident of that). A very inspired performance and very well done (Oscars deserving).
On the other hand, Haleys protrayal of Rorschach was a far more memorable job. The breadth of emotions (or lackthereof depending on the scene) were intense. His acting abilities combined with the refined and polished character from the Graphic Novel tip things in Haleys favor. The movie stuck very closely to the source material in many respects (about 80% id say) and didn’t have crappy Hollywood screenwriters.
Both performances were astounding, but, personally speaking, I liked the Rorscach character better.
Comment by Anal_Avenger — March 15, 2009 @ 3:01 pm
As far as acting portrayals. I have to go with the Joker. Don’t get me wrong, I actually like Rorschach a million times more than I’ll ever like the Joker, but I have to say Heath Ledger’s Joker was a truly inspired piece of acting.
Rorschach only existed in the Watchmen comic, so you absolutely already knew what he was going to be like on screen.
The Joker, however, has been through so many different incarnations and permutations from being a goofy trickster in the 70’s, to jack nicholson’s revenge oriented mob leader, to mark hammill’s ‘do it cause it’s fun to kill people and blow them up’ Joker, and Alan Moore’s ‘do the most horrendous thing possible to prove a point’ version, that I’ve spent my entire life with the character without knowing who he actually is. But Heath Ledger managed to distill the character down to his conceptually idealized components and build a portrayal around them that seems the most sensible and truthful interpretation.
Yeah, I think Rorschach would kick The Joker’s @$$ in a fight, but as far as acting goes: Heath Ledger wins hands down.
Comment by sean from chicago — March 17, 2009 @ 6:49 am
Heath was truly amazing as the Joker. I was stunned by his performance and of the two I think he edges out Jackie slightly. I think Rorschach is a stronger and more fascinating character, and it is important to try to keep the actors and characters separate. JEH’s performance was phenomenal, but in my opinion he had more to work with playing Rorschach. Rorschach is a character that really compels me to find out more.
I really hopes Jackie Earle Haley gets the recognition he deserves for this role, and I really hope he gets to play Rorschach again in a prequel story. I need more Rorschach.
Comment by Danismore from NY — March 17, 2009 @ 7:22 pm
Okay, I have to agree with many of the comments. Heath Ledger shouldn’t be compared!
My take on this:
Christopher Nolan is a better director than Zach Synder. Case: Nolan gave us the gut wrenching feeling of menace and death without showing blood. Synder, in order to produce the SAME EFFECT, need to dump blood on his audience. I am FAR MORE impressed with the realistic Dark Knight (because little of it was CGI) than the overly computerized Watchmen.
Thoughts?
Comment by Blake — March 18, 2009 @ 3:40 pm
I have to agree with most that you can’t compare the actors, as they both did an astounding job, but it’s also unfair to assume thing about the skills of a director because of how they go about making people feel certain things. And I’ll admit, I’ve never read Watchmen (I’ve seen one whole panel from it), I’ve only sort of read Batman, but from what I can tell, the Batman comics stray away from being overly violent, while the Watchmen series was over-the-top gore. The directors are just trying to keep the movies true to the comics. They are probably going to try more to impress those that are already fans of whatever series than to impress those with no clue about it.
The movies went about things completely differently anyway. Watchmen had a bunch of flashbacks, while The Dark Knight had none. The Dark Knight mainly focuses on Bruce/Batman while Watchmen had a bunch of main characters. So really in my opinion it’s hard to compare the two films.
To twist what someone else said above around, Rorschach has been done once, while there have been many different Jokers. In a way that worked to Ledger’s advantage, since he had more creative freedom to do as he pleased with the character. But Haley had one version to work with, one mold that he had to fit.
While I’m a huge Joker fan, always have been always will be, my vote on character goes to Rorschach for being more badass. It was close though, but actually knowing for a fact what Rorschach past was gave him a bit of an advantage in my mind. It did, however, make the Joker more mysterious. And the characters are both different in many ways, so I could never choose one basiced solely on acting.
But really, to each their own, since nobody’s going to agree 100%.
Comment by Geeke — March 31, 2009 @ 5:48 pm
I am a fan of watchmen but i didn’t read the comic book i just watched the movie because of Rorshach man believe mi when he died i cried !!!
Comment by georg9706 from Bulgaria — April 8, 2009 @ 12:06 pm