Joker
5 out of 5
Jeremy Wood
It’s been three days since I saw Joker, and I’m still processing what I saw. The first thought that came to mind as I walked out of the screening was, “You should just be kind to each and every person you bump into — because you don’t know what they’re carrying, and you never know if your interaction with them will be what causes them to break.”
I don’t say that to try to alarm people about this movie, or to join in the chorus of people decrying the film as some attempt to glorify a violent person, or cause people to identify positively with the main character — who in the end is evil. Not at all. Movies are just that — movies. Most are stories meant to entertain, or take you away from real life for just a little while. How we interpret them, or what we do with those stories is up to us.
This film gives you an intimate glimpse into one man’s tragic life, and how that life can so easily boil over and burn those around him — in a very realistic, tangible way. In other words, you watch what the character goes through, and though you are saddened and horrified by where it goes, you can see why it ends up where it does. You can almost understand it…You wince with him, you hurt for him and you just want someone to be good to him. You really want things to turn around for Arthur, but because you know what the movie is about, and who it is about — you also know where it’s going. That knowledge fills you with a sense of dread as the story unfolds…And you can’t take your eyes off of it.
The title for this film could have easily been, “The Making of a Psychopath.” Just take out the the Waynes, underlying Batman themes, remove the “Joker” imaging, and it would be a movie about a person who has issues, and goes mad when society turns its back on him. Never. Not for one second, did I feel like I was watching something based on a comic book. Director Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix have destroyed the mold in which all other comics based films were made in — even The Dark Knight trilogy. Those films were hailed for their turn toward darkness and grit — but you never felt like you were watching something that could really happen. Joker feels very real, and I suppose to some extent — minus the clown makeup — the scenario has already happened in our society on many occasions. However, instead of idolizing Phoenix’s character as some have suggested, the movie feels like a commentary on the society that could create such a villain — not a love note to the villain.
Whereas Heath Ledger’s Joker was awesome, and still is perhaps the best screen version of the character — based solely on the comics based material — his Joker never felt like he could legitimately exist in our world. Someone like Ledger’s portrayal just seems…I don’t know — like a comic book character. Evil — sure — but still fictional. Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker on the other hand, feels like someone we have perhaps already watched news stories on. Someone who could very well exist in our society. How long that person could exist is another question — but his portrayal is that of a real person — not a comic book character.
There are times when the film drags a bit, and you find yourself wanting it to speed up and get to the “Joker” parts — but this movie is perhaps best in that it really is an origin story. Other origin stories often start with the character already in their element to a degree, they just have to come to terms with it. Joker is a 121-minute making of a character, who doesn’t embrace or become the character / villain until the last 20 minutes or so of the film. We see and learn in stark detail every little thing that makes him what he becomes. And even when he becomes that character — unlike Ledger’s Joker who knows exactly who he is — Phoenix’s Joker is detached from reality and perhaps isn’t even aware of what he has become. He’s just finally happy.
The film making is brilliant, and the direction that Phillips wanted to go — and warned everyone about — is on full display. If you are a person who grew up reading comic books, and only like these kinds of films when they stick to the source material — you need to let that go before entering the theater. Just watch it for what it is — a really good movie, with an academy award winning type of performance from one of the finest actors in the business — Joaquin Phoenix. To me, he is one of the few actors I can watch — who can make me forget who he is, as well as other characters he has played. I only see him as the character he is on the screen. He fully immerses himself in this role — as he has for so many others. It’s as if he swallowed the script and somehow became Arthur Fleck. To watch the arc he takes on with this story really is watching a master performance — both physically and emotionally.
This movie was simply one of the best movies I’ve seen this year, or ever for that matter. The longer I’ve had to think about it, and the more I’ve considered what it does, the more I like it. There will be debates on who the best Joker actor has been as people come out of the theaters. To me, it’s easy…If you want the comics version of the Joker — it’s Heath Ledger. If you want the most realistic, best overall character with more than just a crazy laugh and a tendency toward violence — it’s Joaquin Phoenix by a mile. Joker is a new kind of comic book movie. One in which the lines between comic books pages and the real world become very blurred. It’s not CGI, explosions and clear portrayals of good guys and bad guys. This is a character study into a man’s descent to violence and insanity — all done in a way that will perhaps cause you to look at our world and consider how we should treat all those in it a bit differently.
Joker is now playing and is Rated R for strong bloody violence, disturbing behavior, language and brief sexual images.
