A day at the movies: Joker

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We've seen plenty of superhero films before, but it's pretty rare that we see films solely about super villains. And this Halloween season, DC decided to unleash a film about their most popular villain, The Joker. Hoo boy, this is the one movie that has been dominating headlines ever since the first trailer debuted, and mostly it was for all the wrong reasons. People were going on and on about how this movie was going to embolden incels and cause mass shootings. Well having seen the film, I can happily report that there have been no shootings in my area or anywhere in the country for that matter. But what about the film itself? Is this truly a worthy origin story for the Clown Prince of Crime? Or is it a complete and utter joke? Lets find out.

The Good

 Where do I begin? First off there's the cinematography.  Gotham has always been known as a dark and dreary city and the movie perfectly captures that. Somehow the film manages to make a city full of grime look absolutely gorgeous, from the graffiti on the walls, to the trash bags swamping the sidewalks. The film really shows firsthand how awful of a place Gotham is to live and yet you just can't help be amazed by it.

But I believe what really sells this movie are just the performances. Hoo boy, every actor in this movie brings their A game to this as each character ranges from tragic, to terrifying, to downright despicable. The standout is of course Joaquin Phoenix in the titular role. Usually Joker is portrayed as an absolute monster with little to no redeeming qualities, but Phoenix's iteration of the character goes in a quite different direction. Unlike previous versions, who kill indiscriminately, this Joker noticeably only goes after people who have actually wronged him. This is by far the most sympathetic Joker to on screen to date as you really feel for him as the world constantly beats down on him until he finally snaps but at the same time, the film makes it clear that while he's had it rough the stuff he does is ultimately wrong at the end of the day. Not to mention that Phoenix perfectly balances being both funny and terrifying, which is exactly what the Joker should be.

Finally, the writing for this movie is on point. While I love the Marvel films, it feels really refreshing to see a comic book movie that is character driven. The writing offers an interesting study on how society treats the mentally ill and as I stated before, while the movie does let you know that the stuff Joker does is wrong, it really takes it's time to show that while other versions of the character are proactive, this Joker is truly a product of his environment. Not to mention that the film does a masterful job of keeping you on your toes, have you questioning what's real and having you wonder what's gonna happen next. Which is everything a good script should do.

The Bad

 Now while this movie does a lot of things right there are some gripes I have with it. The main one being all the ties to Batman. Yeah, yeah, I know, the movie is about a Batman character and all, but I really feel like the movie is at it's strongest when it's doing it's own thing. Because when the movie starts alluding to stuff that we know is from the comics, I felt that the film is going all like "Hey! Remember this? It's that stuff you like from the comics! Isn't that cool?" And when that stuff was showcased I just felt like saying "Oh God just get on with it!"

Furthermore there is this one scene that made me audibly groan. I won't spoil anything, but lets just say that if you have superficial knowledge on Batman's origin story, you probably already know what I'm talking about. But thankfully, the good definitely outweighs the bad on this one.

Final Thoughts

 With stellar writing, creepy yet beautiful cinematography and phenomenal performances, Joker is definitely the most strongest comic book movie this year and is one hell of way to close out the 2010s decade of comic book films as a whole. If you haven't seen it yet please do. It's a wild ride you definitely won't regret.

9/10

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