From adults fighting their fears to Gotham City's Prince of Crime, 2019 really is a great year for clowns. Joker has been one of the most controversial films of this entire year and one whose discourse I will be damn glad to stop being a part of. But since this film is out now in theaters, what better time to get this over with as its impact is undoubtedly in full swing. Joker, despite its unnecessary and baseless accusations of inciting violence, is actually an incredibly interesting story of one man's descent into madness. Todd Phillips is by no means a notable filmmaker: in fact, his writing/directing contributions to this film are its absolute weakest parts. Many recent comments Phillips has made have really cemented my opinions on him as well but putting aside him and the ugly way that the media has been contributing to this movie's controversy and you've got a story that's as powerfully elevating as it is a near carbon copy of its inspirations.
Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) has always been disregarded by society, a misunderstood loner who feels like he always gets the worst of things. As he struggles with Pseudobulbar affect, a condition that causes uncontrollable and involuntary laughing and has a particularly bad string of days, he eventually gives in to his primal urges and embraces his psychotic side. Inspired by and modeled after a few Scorsese classics such as The King of Comedy and Taxi Driver, this standalone supervillain origin story is mildly interesting on its own as a character study of one man being pushed to his limits. Despite it practically stealing much of its plot from the aforementioned films, I really do not think that Joker warrants the discourse that it's created at all. If this film's script were any amount of original or more thought-provoking then maybe, but Phillip's script is solely an exercise in putting the rage of a 15-year old into the struggles of one the most iconic comic book characters. This was undoubtedly one of the weakest-written scripts for such an interesting character with endless possibilities to explore. The character of the Joker is supposed to represent pure anarchy and everything that glass-half-empty kind of people find wrong with our culture. This iteration, however, focuses on self-pity and how mental illness can apparently lead to mass violence, which was incredibly frustrating. The biggest issue, however, is that there was not nearly enough substantial or engaging writing to make any of these points valid. We're not really supposed to root for the bad guy, but your job as a screenwriter is to make the audience understand where they are coming from. Phillips completely missed the mark with this, but if that is what his immature mind was going for, however, then he definitely succeeded.
Phillips really had no idea what he was trying to say with this film and the paper-thin writing only confirms that. What I did enjoy, however, were many of the creative choices made to tell this story. While I easily predicted the many nods to the DC universe and slight touches on Batman's origin story, I really enjoyed how gritty and standalone this film felt. This was the best portrayal of what a grimy yet authentic version of Gotham City might actually be like. Joker definitely feels like a complete movie on its own without having to rely on sequels or spinoffs and the third act absolutely slaps. I wish the entire film could have been like the last twenty minutes or so, which would have led to making the story overall much more captivating. The use of violence in this film is actually very dispersed as well and I'm actually surprised by this part of the writing. Joker by no means caused me any will to enact violence upon anyone but it does still struggle with making Arthur seem like a villain until he decides to embody this chaotic evil. When Arthur's violence does arise, however, it hits very hard and those moments were underscored by such an intense performance from our lead.
The absolute saving graces of this film are the performance from Joaquin Phoenix and all of its technical pieces. Phoenix takes Phillips' underwhelming storytelling and completely elevates it beyond what I expected. This film would not even be passable without the sheer talent of Phoenix and he definitely gives this character more life than is honestly deserved. Everything from the legendary laugh to his carefully chaotic delivery was as entrancing to watch as it was executed. Phoenix has always been a phenomenal actor and I'm really glad that he was the one to carry this entire story. The other supporting performances were decent as well, such as Zazie Beetz as Arthur's love interest and a criminally underused Robert de Niro. Lawrence Sher's cinematography and Hildur Guðnadóttir's orchestral score were also critical in making this movie extremely impactful. If nothing else, there is no denying that Joker is a gorgeous and mesmerizing film due to the flourishing camerawork and the unsettling creepiness of the music. And despite a wildly inappropriate and misused needle drop of Gary Glitter during the pivotal transformation scene on the stairs, the score completely envelops this world and made me uncomfortable in the most effective ways.
No matter the amount of toxicity flowing through its veins, I'll stand by my statement that Todd Phillips' Joker is a solid film. Whether you as an audience member get more from the aesthetics and performance or relating to the titular antagonist, I just really, really hope it's not the latter. If Phillips had any idea what he was trying to say with this movie, I might have been a bit more engaged. However, a film that is as insufferably divisive as this is, without a doubt, a perfect representation of the intolerable insanity happening within the broken mind of Arthur Fleck.
My Rating: ★★★
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