Joker: (mostly) spoiler free impressions

Joker is shaping up to be the most controversial film of 2019. Well, I’ve seen it for you and I can tell you that, without a doubt, this movie is unabashedly… a perfectly enjoyable movie. You should go see it.

Yeah, as one would expect, the mainstream media has been completely dishonest about this film. Joker is not an “incel” movie, nor is it some bizarre call to action for angry white males. There was no armed security at the screening I attended on Wednesday, and I didn’t see anybody walk out of the threatre. There also isn’t a lot of violence in the film until about the last half hour, and Joker never really kills any random strangers. It’s just the usual rage bait and fear mongering the mass media loves to spew out for clicks and ratings. Okay with that out of the way…

What Joker actually is, is a solid character study that explores the origin of the most iconic villain in comics and cinema. It also deals with themes of classism and the current mental health epidemic, by diving deep into Gotham’s underbelly and taking the cover off its poor and down on their luck citizens.

This is the first “serious” film Todd Phillips has directed. In a lot of ways, I think that shows. It’s not quite the masterpiece that some are calling it. The first half of the film is largely a slow burn, with a lot of fake outs you can see coming miles away. I conquer with the Red Letter Media guys, who called this film “baby’s first Taxi Driver”. It’s clear that Joker was heavily inspired by Martin Scorsese’s landmark film. So much so that I’d almost, kinda, sort of, call it a remake. Or at least a reimagining. However, bits of Phillips’ previous work do leak in on occasion. Plot threads frequently pop up but seem to fizzle out, are never really explained, or are never addressed again. The script also presents a bit of a cliched and simplified version of the descent into madness trope that many films have covered beforehand. It seems like they’re just checking boxes for how you’re supposed to portray a character like this. So we’re not really seeing nothing new here.

Where the film shines brightest is Joaquin Phoenix’s portrayal of the titular character. His twisted facial expressions and manic ticks makes Arthur Fleck’s transition, from meek and awkward loner to crazed anarchist, believable, while also humanizing the character.

However, to make things clear, the Joker is not portrayed as a hero in this film. It’s made quite clear in the third act that Arthur’s only motivation is to cause chaos for his own amusement. Which is his middle finger to a society that cares little for anyone or anything. There’s a great scene (SPOILERS) where he’s on a Johnny Carson-esque talk show. Joker admits to his crimes on live television, and states that he didn’t do it for any political reasons, or any reason in particular. It’s a masterfully tense and uncomfortable bit of acting backed up by Robert De Nero’s great portrayal of TV host Murray Franklin. Phoenix though steals the show, and proves that he’s perhaps one of the finest actors in Hollywood right now.

For those wondering, again (SPOILERS), how this ties into the Batman franchise, yes, the Waynes and a young Bruce are in the film. I actually really liked how they tied in the rise of Joker to Batman’s own origin story, from a different perspective. It shows that the Waynes are not quite the hero’s of Gotham that they make themselves out to be. Again tying back to the classism theme, which also explains why Joker seems to have so many loyal henchmen. I can see how this Joker could easily become the same person as Heath Ledger’s from Dark Knight.

Joker is neither one of the best, nor one of the worst films ever made. However, it’s easily one of the finest comic book films to ever hit the silver screen. It’s refreshing to see Warner Brothers take a risk on these lower budget character studies for a change, rather than trying to replicate the Marvel formula. Scorsese himself has said that movies today are just glorified theme park rides, which I agree with. Hopefully this will encourage Hollywood to take a step back and focus on making more movies like this. Which is inevitable given how much Joker has been raking in at the box office, despite the negative press. I also believe that Phoenix deserves an Oscar for his performance. An award which is long overdue.

Seriously, go see it.

Image from The Joker, owned by Warner Bros. Used under fair use