Movie Review: JOKER - Put on a Happy Face

When the Joker movie came out last October, I had a lot of friends asking me what I thought about it, leading them to be surprised when I told them I hadn't seen it yet. I just hadn't made it a priority. To be honest though, I wasn't a fan of this movie being made. Even though it was intended to be one-off film not connected to the DC Extended Universe, I thought it was a disservice to Jared Leto, who had played the character in 2016's "Suicide Squad." I'm of the camp that feel Leto didn't get a real chance to prove himself, especially when so much of his performance was left on the cutting room floor. Said camp is the minority though as it's appearing more and more unlikely that Leto will return to the role. My opinion on Leto's Joker aside, the trailers for this Joker film and the snippets of Joaquin Phoenix's portrayal showed a lot of promise. Now that I have finally seen the film, I found it to be quite the reinterpretation.

The film is weird mix of being inspired by the comics while also creating something unique. From the comic influences, I noticed quite a lot from "The Killing Joke" and a little bit from "The Dark Knight Returns" for the talk show scene. At the same time though, director and writer Todd Phillips does a brilliant job at creating the character of Arthur Fleck, the world around him, and his journey into madness. The trailers gave me the feel that maybe they were making a Joker movie where he's an anti-hero standing up to a corrupt system that's pushed him over the edge and inspiring others. While the film does make you sympathetic to him, he may be our protagonist, but he is no hero. Hell, there are no real heroes in this movie. It's just people and Arthur makes it clear that all he wants is attention, which does fit with what people usually expect from the Joker.

Between the writing and cinematography, the film does a great job at creating a world that feels as realistic as ours, while also bringing a surreal feel to it. While part of it has to do with recreating an early 1980's landscape, there's also the fact that most of the film is from Arthur's point of view. He's not right in the head and after a certain point in the film, you'll begin to question what, if anything, actually happened as we saw it or if it was just in Arthur's head. It'll be something you'd probably think about during repeat viewings. Also, there are a lot of well done shots in the movie. Some of it is due to the lighting, the camera staying on Arthur for an extended period of time (making you wonder what he's thinking in that moment), as well as symbolism that helps create parallels between scenes as we follow Arthur's journey.

Then you have the man himself, Joaquin Phoenix. Like Heath Ledger and Jared Leto before him, Phoenix put himself through the wringer in preparation for the role. The fact that he got so skinny for the role is proof. For the multiple scenes he's shirtless in the film, the level of concern actually rose for me the more I stared at him; part of me thought "jeez, get this guy a burger." There's also a level of unpredictability in his performance; you're not sure what he's going to do and it can keep you on edge. From the behind the scenes featurette I saw, there was a lot of improvisation from Phoenix, which works in hand in hand with the unpredictable nature of the Joker's character. This lead to his first dancing scene which would become a major part of the film and works with Arthur's need to perform, as well as multiple takes of his talk show introduction. Finally there's the laugh. The trailers alone showed he had it down, but the reason for his laugh in the film is clever. Something else I noticed is that the moments he's laughing are when he has the most emotion and inflection in his voice, as if those are the moments where he feels truly alive.
As for where I'd rank Phoenix among the other Joker actors, it's kind of tough. Nicholson, Ledger, and Leto have all brought their own flair to the villainous Joker, with the former two being able to play off their respective Batman. In that regard, Ledger is still the clown prince of crime above all others. Phoenix's interpretation is so different that he's really in his own league while still bringing the insanity and scariness that we've seen before and expect from the character.

Overall, "Joker" is a unique and disturbing character study. Its' atmosphere, lack of a standard "good vs. evil" conflict, and reinterpretation of a franchise that's already had so many help it stand out in what seems to be a never-ending sea of comic books films (not that that's a bad thing).