"Joker" Movie Review

By: James Southworth
Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

One of the most profitable movie genres in this day and age is, obviously, comic book films. Never has there been a time been so profitable to make movies about superheroes. They are part of our casual pop culture conversation now as much as the Star Wars films or Disney princess films are. This isn't a good thing to everyone. Many are quick to say that the superhero genre is over saturated thanks to the many, many films made by Marvel and DC over the past couple years. Maybe, in some ways, these people are right. When I first heard about an origin film on the Joker being made, I was very skeptical. It seemed to me like an inherently flawed idea: after all, the point of this iconic Batman villain is that he's not supposed to have a true origin. That's why the Joker of "The Dark Knight" works so very well; none of the stories he told about how he became the Joker were reliable. That's what makes the Joker scary; we don't know him at all really. But, as more information came out about this movie, I became more intrigued, especially when the unbelievably talented Joaquin Phoenix was announced to play the titular villain. "Joker" centers around Arthur Fleck, a failing comedian with a mental deficiency that makes him laugh uncontrollably in uncomfortable situations. Fleck feels like he will never be understood or liked by anyone, until one situation puts him face to face with an alter-ego, and a life of crime and chaos.

The trailers for this film made me really excited, and thankfully, the movie doesn't disappoint. In fact, I liked it even more than I was expecting to. Even though I do generally like comic book movies to a  certain degree, there's still no denying that they are starting to be a little similar to one another. "Joker" feels like an entirely different beast. This is a comic book film in some ways, but in most it is actually a beautifully made tragedy. The movie almost feels Shakespearian in some senses, as the tragedy here is inevitable yet still saddening all the same. This movie really works at its best thematically when it studies how society treats people with mental health. As I mentioned in the beginning of my review, Arthur is a person who has mental illness, and the movie shows how ill equipped Gotham City is to deal with people like him. Even though this movie takes place in a fictional world, director Todd Phillips clearly intends for this to hold a mirror to our world and how we deal, or rather don't deal, with very prevalent mental issues. This movie, unlike some other films based on comic books out there, really has something to say beyond just providing us with a cool origin story. Sure, it is interesting to see an interpretation of how the Joker may have come to be. But that doesn't seem to be as important to this movie. Instead, the movie really wants to study a protagonist who is deeply flawed and who could've been helped, but instead is turned away at every corner. I appreciate when the film shows this idea in subtle ways (there are times when this message is shown a little too over-the-top, more on that later). The ruminations on mental health here are really what make this movie its own distinct entity, and make it worth watching.

Let's really talk about what makes this movie work: Joaquin Phoenix himself, of course. Wow, what a performance he gives us here. I've been a pretty big fan of Phoenix's, and this may well be his best work to date. That's really saying something when you look at his impressive back catalog. Phoenix makes Arthur fully realized to almost an uncomfortable degree. Fleck doesn't feel like a caricature, even when he does inevitably become the Joker. In every moment, you can see this character's deep pain and heartache that spurs on every action that he does. Phoenix does well at handling the transition from sympathetic anti-hero to absolute villain. We do feel for Fleck in his struggles with mental health, but there is a point when Phillips means for us to condemn him. This movie almost turns into a horror flick at points in the way it depicts the Joker. Honestly, the movie leaning into horror at some points is really effective. It wasn't something I was expecting here, but Phoenix's deliberately unsettling performance really brings it home in a raw way. Perhaps my favorite moments from Phoenix come in the dancing scenes of the film. These scenes do not feel like filler; rather, they almost speak for themselves in the way that Arthur moves. The movie shows us how Fleck feels, rather than just explicitly telling us. There are many other aspects of the movie that work as well. The incorporation of the Wayne's feels effective rather than forced, and thankfully they don't take away from the central purpose of the movie. Visually, this movie is quite stunning from beginning to end. There are a lot of great visual moments that are clear callbacks to other iterations of the Joker or other Batman movies. Once again, these aspects do not distract from the movie; they instead are sincere homages to me. Finally, the movie's ending is really effective. There was something about it that deeply disturbed me and left me with cold chills.

To talk about "Joker" is to talk about the controversies that went on with it. And there were many. One of the most primary was that this was dubbed as a "movie for incels". Incels, for those who don't know, are people who feel that they have been wronged by everyone in the world, and because of that, are justified in holding despicable views, particularly against minorities. Typically, incels are also very misogynistic. I don't really agree with "Joker" being a "movie for incels" by any means. However, I can understand that there are people who feel uncomfortable that this movie might unintentionally encourage dangerous behavior. Nevertheless, I think this movie condemns Arthur Fleck when he becomes the Joker rather than praising his actions. There is one scene of the movie that bothered me (SPOILERS): when Arthur is on a late night show, he talks about how society has ostracized him, and maybe if they hadn't, he wouldn't have had to kill so many people (END SPOILERS). Now, this seems like a bad way for Phillips to try and bring sympathy to a bad person. I don't think that Phillips believes what Joker is saying in this moment, but still, I could see other people parroting this theme with the purpose of taking it out of context of the scene it was placed in. I think that this line from Arthur is a little too on-the-nose anyway.

Now that I've acknowledged the controversies and see where people are coming from, I still personally really enjoyed "Joker". Is it a masterpiece? I'm not quite sure I can say that, but this is still an excellent film. The thematic arc of mental health is pretty powerful throughout the majority of it, and Joaquin Phoenix's performance of the Joker is pretty much flawless. It comes about as close to Heath Ledger's pitch perfect turn as one could get, which is a worthy compliment in itself. I definitely recommend you see this movie for yourself; it's certainly one of my favorite films of the year!