Before
I go into this movie, I feel it is necessary to address the weird
elephant-sized problem in the room about society and its nearly
comical ignorance of violence and the media that portrays it. For
those who really want to know: movies, videogames, books and any
other type of entertainment media do NOT inspire the already mentally
ill of our society to rise up in arms and harm other people. Society
and its perceived lack of interest in helping those who might do such
things, plus an unhealthy dose of a need for infamy or merely
misplaced hatred are to blame. NOT media. Got it? No? Okay. Watch The
Joker and maybe it will help...
Yes,
for those who have lived in a cave for the last three months and have
heard nothing about all the critical accolades or lavish praise of
Joaquin Phoenix's performance, The Joker is a brilliant character
piece on arguably the most mysterious character in all of comics. The
setting is ominous, Arthur (Phoenix) is relatable as a put-upon
nobody with an uncaring society slowly tightening the noose around
his neck and the message (society is emasculating and alienating and
can cause a violent response from those it deems unworthy of
attention) is so on-the-nose in terms of not only The Joker as a
character but the modern world as a whole that it almost feels like
Director Todd Philips binge watched Fight Club fifty times while
writing the script and actually got the point of that particular
movie (the whole THIS IS A BAD THING argument that wasn't in that
movie). Kudos for finally making a valid argument that doesn't
revolve around abs.
Unfortunately,
while most of the movie wears its message proudly on its sleeve
(Joker is a reflection of a violent, uncaring society), the movie
takes a sudden shift in tone in the third act where, for reasons that
boggle my mind, suddenly society is made a reflection of The Joker.
While it eventually rights itself in the form of the cop-out of an
unreliable narrator (because our narrator is insane), this entire
segment of the movie felt forced and written by a completely
different set of screenwriters. You had me at “when the world
burns, it only has itself to blame”, movie. You didn't need to jump
into unfamiliar territory out of some misplaced fear that viewers
might be bothered by the notion that (gasp) we might all shoulder
some of the blame for the violence we see every day.
As for
watching it, yes, go do that. Not only is this thing practically an
Oscar reel for Phoenix but it does something that even The Dark
Knight never managed: make The Joker a sympathetic character despite
the knowledge of the monster he becomes. I'd be lying if I said I
didn't root for poor Arthur to stand up for himself even though I
knew people would die in the process. The movie made me root for a
psychopathic killer. Good job, movie?
Todd
Philips (The Hangover) tries something very different with The Joker,
a dark, brooding take on a clown who just wants people to laugh at
the absurdity of life and, when that doesn't work, decides to laugh
for them. When Gotham, in a budget crisis, slashes public services,
part-time clown Arthur Fleck (Phoenix) loses access not only to
much-needed therapy but also the myriad of pills he requires to keep
a toll hold on his growing mental illness. This, combined with the
stress of caring for his elderly mother and the growing
disenchantment of his place in an uncaring and cruel society, prompts
a violent reaction that will eventually lead to the creation of that
one dude who wears a cheap purple suit and tells bad jokes.
Seriously, why can't Batman have an origin story this good?
My
score: 8/10. Seriously, why did Fight Club inspire so many stupid,
real-life Fight Clubs? You do realize emasculated and alienated
people performing acts of violence against an uncaring society in the
form of blowing up several buildings is a BAD thing, right? Does it
really only take having the main characters watching the world burn
to a Pixies song to make us forget that what happened in the movie
was actually a terrorist attack?
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