Joker (2019) Review - Not your average comic book movie

- Written by James Walters

Even bad guys have to come from somewhere! [Warner Bros., DC Comics ©, Image Source: Looper, bosslogic]

Despite, or perhaps in spite, of the controversy surrounding this film, Joker is still a comic book movie but it is unlike any comic book movie that has some before it. Tackling one of the most iconic characters in pop culture, Joaquin Phoenix delivers a truly outstanding and memorable performance that will have you unsettled and invested for its 2 hour run time.

We’re introduced to our protagonist (or antagonist) Arthur Fleck while he’s working as a clown-for-hire in the infamous Gotham City. Before the opening title credits, we are witness to him being robbed and beaten up with nary a passer-by giving any kind of assistance. Already we get a sense of the kind of person he is and the environment that he comes from as this is just the start of Arthur’s troubles across the movies runtime. Obviously this review will remain as spoiler-free as possible. It’s become a common phrase in today’s movie industry, this truly is a film that you have to see unspoiled in order to get fully immersed into what you see.

Director Todd Phillips, who also directed the Hangover trilogy, really brings the viewers into the world of Joker right from the onset and keeps us there despite our unease in some of the later scenes. At certain points across the length of the film, the camera will stay with a shot just that bit longer than we are accustomed to and we truly feel a sense of unease every second we linger on moments through Arthur’s story. Everything has a gritty sense of realism to it and, for a film rated 15, they throw out their fair share of F bombs and violence throughout.

Telling a story about the Joker as a character would have felt alien without any violence really. But what’s on show isn’t excessive in the way many have been lead to believe in the run up to the film’s release. I couldn’t say how long it took into the film for Arthur’s first kill to take place but after that point it’s very spaced out. It isn’t a case where people are dropping left, right and centre. Those going into the film expecting this level of violence or intense action sequences will be left unfulfilled by what they’ve been accustomed to with comic book movies, but as mentioned before this isn’t like other comic book movies. The overarching narrative isn’t one of heroism and overcoming adversity, it’s simply a story of one man’s spiral into madness due to his own conditions and the environment he is exposed to.

We must address the elephant in the room surrounding the controversy of this film. For those who didn’t know, it almost essentially started when Joaquin Phoenix was asked during the press tour whether or not her thought people might look at Joker as inspiration for violence in real life. Understandably shook by the question he walked out the interview, only to return later on at the behest of the producers. From this, many have looked at the film through this lens that Joker may be promoting violence in real life. While it isn’t for me to say what people may take away from this film and its depictions of violence, in my honest opinion I don’t agree with this idea that it promotes it at all.

As a viewer we are asked to sympathise with Arthur to a degree, this is true of most stories throughout media history to identify or at least connect with our protagonist in some way, but right from the start we are shown and can see that Arthur suffers various mental disorders. The most prevalent of which is his laughing which acts similar to Tourette; Arthur will laugh uncontrollably for several minutes whenever he is upset of angry. While we’re not asked to sympathize with him or forgive his killings, we are shown throughout the film what it is that has taken him to this dark place and follow his decent into the character of the Joker. Again, it isn’t for me to say that no one out there will be effected by the level of violence on screen but I can say that this film doesn’t promote it during its run time.

To summarise this review, Joker as a movie is unlike any other comic book movie of its kind and one that only works because of the character it’s based off of. The camera work and direction from Todd Phillips is both engaging an uncomfortable in the best ways, forcing us to see everything in Arthur’s life that even he doesn’t want to. Joaquin Phoenix delivers his own interpretation of the character unlike what we’ve seen before, easily as stand out in his own regard, and it works incredibly well to give us a look at the clown prince of crime that we know we aren’t supposed to idolize or aspire to be, but whom we can see along every step why he becomes what he does. After the film had ended, the first words me and my partner said were “That was hard to watch” and “If anyone deserves an Oscar, it’s him”.