Read Joshua's review of Joker.
Director Todd Phillips “Joker” centers around the iconic arch nemesis and is an original, standalone fictional story not seen before on the big screen. Phillips’ exploration of Arthur Fleck, who is indelibly portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix, is of a man struggling to find his way in Gotham’s fracturedsociety. A clown-for-hire by day, he aspires to be a stand-up comic at night…but finds the joke always seems to be on him. Caught in a cyclical existence between apathy and cruelty, Arthur makes one bad decision that brings about a chain reaction of escalating events in this gritty character study.
Joker is in theaters on October 4th, 2019.
The Joker movie was a dark and psychological thrill ride told through the eyes of Arthur Fleck (played by Joaquin Phoenix). Gotham City in the 1980's was a pretty unforgiving place to live which only contributed to the character's journey into madness. There was plenty of time in the movie for the character building moments that were at times unsettling and uncomfortable for the viewer.
The movie really presents the mistreatment of the mentally ill in a way that most people would never otherwise get to see, again from Arthur's perspective. You almost begin to sympathize with the Joker seeing what let to the madness. As Arthur descends into the fury of his mind, murder becomes his only release, and a gun his only friend.
I would compare this movie to Fight Club in the sense that you almost forget at times that much of what you're seeing on screen is made up in the main characters own mind. If you take the movie at face value, you'll be very confused up until a clarifying scene towards the end of the film. It also looks as if this film pays heavy homage to The King of Comedy. In that movie, DeNiro plays a loser comedian who kidnaps a late-night talk show host -- played by Jerry Lewis -- and blackmails the studio into giving him a spot. Here, it looks as if DeNiro is playing the Lewis role.
If you weren't a fan of Joaquin Phoenix before this movie, you surely will by the end of The Joker. Great film, I would watch this again and again!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Joshua (Contributor) is from Washington, DC. He's a big fan of checking out what's new in theaters, specifically action, comedy, and biopics. In his free time he enjoys playing music with his band, eating good food, traveling and meeting new people.Click Here to check out Joshua's Articles.