A lot of the buzz surrounding Joker is how much it (and its star Joaquin Phoenix) resembles Taxi Driver. And while that is mostly true, I couldn't help but think that this film owes a lot to Stanley Kubrick as well. It reminded me a lot of A Clockwork Orange with a bit of 2001 and The Shining sprinkled in. It's a very open-ended film and other than a few references to Gotham City and the Wayne family, you'd never know it was a comic book movie. It's a genre elevating film and one of, if not the best films I've seen this year.
The other pre-release buzz about Joker is how controversial is. How it glorifies Incel culture and will inspire countless copycat killers. This couldn't be further from the truth, and the media is doing this country a disservice with the hysteria it's drumming up. Director Todd Phillips is right when he complains of a double standard. We're in the midst of the Keanu Reeves revolution, and yet John Wick 3 was one of the most disturbing movies I've seen in quite some time. The hundreds of point-blank shootings in that film almost turned my stomach... and I'm a huge fan of action oriented movies. Meanwhile Joker is a brilliant character study of one man's dissent into madness. The violence in this film is not glorified by any means, and there are less than a handful of violent scenes in this one. I get that a horrible tragedy will forever be linked with the Batman franchise, but to say that this film is dangerous is a flat out overstatement.
There's not enough words to describe how brilliant Phoenix's performance is in this film. He fully committed to this role in a way we haven't seen in a long time. It's clear from the opening scene that Arthur Fleck is a man with some serious mental problems. His uncontrollable laugh causes him to get picked on and even beaten. He's a man down on his luck, but also one with serious delusions of grandeur. He fancies himself a standup comedian, but doesn't actually know how to tell a joke. He dreams of being on the Murray Franklin Show (hosted by Robert DeNiro's character - essentially The Tonight Show, Gotham Edition), but he's a nobody... and he'll always be a nobody.
There are many parallels to our society in this film. The rich eating the poor. Our refusal to help the down and out. Our insistence that "mental illness" is a problem without actually offering up a solution or wanting to do anything to fix the issue. This movie is a cry for help that goes unanswered.
It's also a villain's origin story, and yes, there is violence, but this is by no means a celebration of that violence. It's up to the viewer, and it's something that has stayed with me throughout the weekend. It's my opinion that a lot of the "glory" in this film was actually the Joker's interpretation of his actions. We're seeing it through his twisted eyes. I really enjoyed that there can be many readings of this film. How much of it actually happened and how much it happened inside Joker's head? The opening and closing scene in this movie gave me more questions than answers. It could have taken place entirely inside Joker's mind, or most likely, a mix of both.
Joker is not your average comic book film. It barely resembles one at all, but it feels like a breath of fresh air to the genre. Don't let the "controversy" sway you from seeing this wonderful film. I already want to go see it again.
