Wesley Snipes as Simon Phoenix is really the closest thing we'd ever gotten to the comic book Joker. Only Mark Hamill's DCAU Joker (imo) has come closer.
The jokes, the ruthlessness, the unpredictability, the maniacal laughter, the coolness.
This nikka is The Joker that we've always wanted to see go up against Batman.
Jack Nicholson was cool, but his Joker was over the top and damn near cartoony. You didn't realize how much he was overacting until he basically did the same character is The Departed.
Heath Ledger's Joker was good, he had people ahook, but he didn't have that sense of humor like The Joker should. nikka seemed like he was depressed. I could easily see him as part of the Trench Coat Mafia. Plus it felt like he was doing a version of Mankind/Raven as The Joker.
Now Simon Phoenix.
He was everything the Joker should be.
to Wesley for showing how it should be done.