My Review of Joker (2019)

Written by Todd Phillips & Scott Silver
Directed by Todd Phillips

Arthur Fleck: "For my whole life, I didn't know if I even really existed. But I do, and people are starting to notice."

Has there been a film in recent memory that has really stoked this much controversy over nothing? For months, it seems that certain segments of the media have had some of the most hysterical, overreaction takes on this movie and to be honest, it's given this whole thing more power than they intended.

Now I'm going to break this down in simple terms. This isn't a movie for incels or one that encourages violent behaviour but neither is it a movie that's as deep or as profound as it would like to be. It certainly tries as but much as co-writer and director Todd Phillips insists otherwise, this is a comic book movie through and through, albeit a rather dark and grim one but given the subject matter in question, that's hardly an issue for me.

It's 1981 and Gotham is on the brink of poverty. Mentally ill Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is struggling in every aspect of his life. His comedy career is a non starter and mostly sees him as an object of ridicule while his delusional and emotionally abusive mother, Penny (Frances Conroy) obsesses over billionaire Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullen) and would be love interest Sophie Dumond (Zazie Beetz) is more terrified than charmed by Arthur.

This is a movie with a macabre sense of humour and an overall bleakness that doesn't let up from start to finish. It's largely anchored by a masterful performance from Phoenix, who encapsulates this more grounded take on a classic villain but make no mistake here, Arthur is a villain and this is a villain origin story from start to finish.

Yes, Arthur is beaten down (figuratively and literally), lied to, rejected, humiliated but he snaps long before then when he kills those businessmen in the subway station and then his mother out of anger when he learns the real truth about his heritage really showed that it didn't take that much for him to snap altogether.

The movie teased the idea of doing something really controversial by making Arthur and Bruce Wayne half brothers, but ultimately balks at the end as we get a more damning insight into Penny's delusions and to be honest, she's one of the few victims of Arthur's who I felt no sympathy for, especially as Arthur learns about her past.

I did however feel sympathetic for talk show host Murray Franklin (Robert DeNiro) getting gunned down on live television as well as the unsettling (but off screen) fate for poor Sophie. Not to mention that Arthur's inadvertent call to arms resulting in a certain boy's destiny being changed forever.

However the last couple of minutes of the movie did make me wonder how much of what we saw actually happened. Arthur's a very unreliable narrator throughout the movie but the last few minutes even more so. The end scene, I can't decide whether it was a satisfying or a frustrating way to end this whole thing but the moment he really became the Joker was an obvious highlight from the whole thing.

- Despite Phillips insistence of not being a comic book fan, there did seem like there was some shades of The Killing Joke and The Dark Knight in this movie. DeNiro's role is a clear nod to The King Of Comedy as well.
- There's rumours of this movie being the start of a DC Black Label movie franchise and despite it's success, they'd be unwise to do another villain origin story.
- There's some rather obvious music choices in this movie (the use of Smile for example) but the best music is from composer, Hildur Guðnadóttir who absolutely deserves to get the chance to compose another DC movie.
- Chronology: 1981 in Gotham City.

Joker is an oddity of a movie. I knew I wasn't going to be madly in love with it when I went to see it but I also knew that I wasn't going to loathe it either. The script itself feels a tad self-indulgent and it's largely Phoenix's performance that anchors the whole thing as no-one else is really given the chance to shine. It is however an engaging movie but one that needs to remain a one-off in it's own little world for it's own sake.

Rating: 7 out of 10