I really enjoyed Matt Reeves' "The Batman." I thought the action was spectacular, Pattinson is the best live-action Batman to date, the direction was terrific and overall made for a flawed but solid first outing for this new iteration of The Dark Knight. However, one of my major gripes with the film was the runtime. At just shy of 3 hours, the film definitely could've used a trim here and there, and one the things I feel could've been cut entirely is one of the final scenes in the movie. 

Once The Riddler's plan has been foiled, we find him depressed in Arkham, only to be comforted by an unseen prisoner. Anyone could easily figure out that this John Doe is The Joker, even before he giggles like a madman. From this scene, we also learned that "Eternals" actor Barry Keoghan is this universe's clown prince of crime. I remember when seeing this scene for the first time, distinctly asking, "Who cares anymore?"

I understand that The Joker is Batman's most iconic villain, and that Warner Brothers can't make any kind of Batman adaptation without him in some capacity. However, that's the problem: they've been making Batman movies since the 1940’s, and since the Adam West series, we've had over twenty plus interactions with The Joker. This wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that there's nowhere else for this character to go. The Joker has been done to death.

Not counting "Gotham," how many times have viewers seen villains like Mr. Freeze or Poison Ivy in live action? Once. Additionally, both of them were in arguably the worst Batman movie. 

Speaking on "Gotham," Cameron Monaghan essentially played three different Jokers. That’s three different Jokers in one show, do you start the see the problem here? Don't get me wrong, apart from Jared Leto, the actors who portray The Joker are incredibly talented and bring their own unique attributes to the character. The problem we now face is — as each actor takes a piece of the Jokers before them — how much of the performance is really their own?

I don't want to blame Heath Ledger, his performance in "The Dark Knight '' is truly remarkable and he stands as the best of the live-action Jokers. However, since Ledger's performance every other actor has been playing the character in a similar fashion. The Jokers nowadays aren't the maniacal madmen like Nicholson or Romero, suddenly The Joker is more of, to quote the worst Joker, "an idea." 

I'm not against doing a new interpretation; the whole reason I'm writing this piece is that I want some more diversity with this character. My problem is that the darker you try to make The Joker, the more you're missing the point. The Joker is supposed to be Batman's polar opposite. Where Batman is dark and brooding, The Joker is bright, colorful and takes constant joy in the terrible things he does. I feel that directors are trying too hard to match The Joker with Batman when the opposing ideas are what makes the characters so interesting to begin with.

I'm sure Barry Keoghan will make for a good Joker, and the 5-minute deleted scene gives me much more hope for his performance than the scene that made the final cut, but I only hope that the filmmakers finally decide to take some risks with one of Gotham's greatest villains.

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