Movie Rating 4 out of 10
Family Rating Strong Violence, strong coarse language, distressing portrayal of mental health behaviour
When I watch a movie and pay good money for that opportunity, I expect to be entertained. As with all action movies I enjoy the battle between good and evil, knowing that not always will the movie end with the goodies on top. Nevertheless, there is always hope. For this and other reasons, I did not find Joker entertaining or at all a quality story.
While I have often admitted to being a Marvel fan over DC stories I still enjoy a DC movie. Heath Ledger’s role as Joker in the Dark Knight is one of my all-time favourite acting performances. Unfortunately, director Todd Phillips’ story does not match the hype it has received and neither does Joachin Pheonix’s acting. I found the movie failed to provide a back story to the Joker that provided any new perspective of his character.
For those who are not aware of the premise for the movie Joker, it provides a back story into a man known as Arthur Fleck while working as a clown who wants to be a stand-up comedian. It is clear from the start that he has a mental illness and the film takes us through scenarios that lead to him being pushed too far and it finally breaks him. He then takes on the Joker persona and gets down to the business of becoming the madman made famous in DC comics.
While Joker was not necessarily any more violent than Dark Knight there was a very important difference – an absence of good or hope. Dark Knight pitted Batman and Harvey Dent against Joker so there was evidence of sacrifice and justice, Joker has no one to balance Joker’s evil. There was bad, then worse, and right to the end there was nothing to take the edge off the madness and emptiness that surrounded Arthur Fleck as he evolved into the Joker. This absence of normality or good reminded me of the movies such as Taxi Driver and Scarface where there was also no redeeming behaviour.
As for Joachim Pheonix’s representation of Joker, I found it a muddle of other character portrayals of men who descend into madness. Being a fan of the series Gotham, I saw many similarities with the role of Oswald Cobblepot (Penguin) played by Robin Lord Taylor (who I thought did a better job). He imitated Robert De Niro’s, Tony in Taxi Driver and Rupert Pupkin in The King of Comedy and even some of the mannerisms of Heath Ledger from Dark Knight. I don’t believe he made a Joker that was unique or in any way more defined.
As I said in my opening remarks this movie did not entertain me and I found it lacking in so many ways. I get the sense that DC is feeling the pressure to match Marvel with fun movies so have decided to go for more dark stories to catch a different audience. I know I won’t be one of them.