It is difficult to assess a film starring Joaquin Phoenix. From his roles In Gladiator to Walk the Line to The Master to Her to You Were Never Really Here to Joker, he turns every solid film into a masterpiece. He is one of the greatest actors ever. His posture, range of delivery, facial expressions, mannerisms—it’s all out of this world. The best part is that he remains very strict about his chosen films. His role must be incredibly complex and difficult. The film must be novel. And he never sells out.
Joker is a film galvanized by a unique set of ideas, executed by one of the best actors of all time, assisted by a decent ensemble (including the legendary Robert De Niro), and edited by a mediocre crew. It touched upon some of the interesting topics that created the Joker out of Arthur Fleck—lack of mental health resources, loss of counseling, defunding, unaffordable medication, political apathy, social isolation, bullying—but without developing any single one in a fruitful way. The script fails to maintain the realism needed to justify the ludicrous moments (how many crimes can you commit in public before someone calls 911?). The color grading, like the cinematography, feels overly saturated. The set and costume designs are okay. And for a film directed by a comedy director and featuring several comedian characters, you’d think the dialogue would be more fresh. But it wasn’t bad either.
Overall, I recommend Joker. Although not similar to The Dark Knight, it did interestingly manifest the plight (or, perhaps, rise) of the character who was so expertly played by Heath Ledger. Some scenes were very memorable and fun. There were also flashes of unpredictable capriciousness that kept me on the edge (e.g. when Arthur’s coworkers appear at his apartment). It makes interesting points about what could turn a normal citizen into a monster—and, possibly, how to prevent it. Finally, Joaquin’s role alone merits a “must-see” status (unless you aren’t okay with an occasional gruesome murder). He will definitely win the Oscar for Best Lead Actor. Joker will win Best Score too, but it probably won’t win any others.
Rating: 7.5/10
nice
hate to seem creepy, I can’t figure out if you’re gay too or straight (I’m guessing straight but hey u never know) but I wanna say u seem like a cute guy, I like your taste a lot, you’re clearly brilliant. I’d love to chat more if you’re interested
I am not a candidate for your type, but I appreciate your compliments.
Great write up!
Appreciate it. Hope you enjoy/enjoyed the film!
I liked your review! Except for this statement: “The script fails to maintain the realism needed to justify the ludicrous moments (how many crimes can you commit in public before someone calls 911?)”.
In a city like Gotham, it would be very believable. Check out what’s happening these days in Latin America (Chile, specially, but also Venezuela, Bolivia & Ecuador). In some countries there isn’t even a 911, and the police might be supporting the rioters and criminals.
When there’s extreme inequality, this kind of things happens. It has happened many times throughout history. The historical novel The Good Earth (placed in China, if I recall) comes to mind, because the people riot the houses of the wealthy.
Thanks! And superb points. You’re so right on how we need to keep in mind the context of the setting, particularly Gotham, and I should’ve elaborated on my point (was just weary to spoil anything). I totally agree with what you’re saying about how the police and other public departments were tied up dealing with wide scale riots and all. What specifically bothered me about the realism was when Arthur gruesomely murdered his coworker in front of another—in a manner that is idiosyncratic and well-documented enough to suggest a credible account—while also implying that he killed his mom (which they’d also heard about), and that he was still able to sit in his apartment for hours after he let his coworker go, which was also hours after he strangled his mom as the only person who paid her a visit—and yet the hospital didn’t figure it out either. This is a stark contrast to when his mom was taken to the hospital and dozens of ambulances, fire trucks, cop cars, etc. all showed up. So if all of those resources were available to her then, as a live person who just needed to go to the hospital, but they weren’t there to arrest a mad serial killer who had already killed 5 people (with the evidence of all 3 cases pointing to him) and had galvanized the very riots that were taking over the city, that’s a major script contradiction that kept me from being immersed in the rest of the film. I’m studying for midterms so my mind is scattered, but I hope this makes sense.
You make an excellent point regarding the incongruences of the police. I hadn’t notice that before, thank you for pointing it out.
As too were your points about the ramifications the police and society had to deal with despite the continued isolated cases, so guess we both learned from each other! Cheers
So true about Phoenix
G.O.A.T.
Thanks for the like and the follow, Luke! Really enjoyed your review also – are you also looking to critique film professionally?
No prob, Matthew! Love exploring other blogs, seeing what’s out there. And thank you—that’s the nicest thing I’ve heard all week! I’ve contemplated being a film/music critic, but I don’t think I can rack up the views I’d need. But you never know until you try, right?
Turns out that Joaquin improvised some scenes in one take so I had to add that somewhere:
“While some scenes were very planned out, like when he’s in the phonebooth or walking up the stairs, others had no plan at all,” Sher said. “When he climbed in the refrigerator, we had no idea he was going to do that. We set up two camera positions, and Joaquin just thought about what he would do if he was a massive insomniac. Again, we lit it so he could go anywhere, and the first and only time he did it, we were mesmerized. I remember thinking, ‘What is he doing? Did he just crawl in the fridge?’ It was as fun and weird for us to watch it, too.”
Phillips has already revealed that the infamous bathroom scene, in which Arthur begins to dance while coping with his first acts of murder, was improvised on the day of filming. The original scene was supposed to find Arthur talking to himself in the bathroom mirror in disbelief over his actions, but Phillips and Phoenix scrapped it in favor of having Arthur process his violent act through dance. Sher said the dance itself was improvised on the spot. The moment Arthur accidentally fires a gun in his mother’s apartment was also improvised.
“Joaquin created that whole dance and, after the success of that scene, we started creating more moments like that,” Sher said. “Like when he’s playing with the gun and fires it into the wall. All we knew was that he’d fire the gun into the wall at some point, but we never planned when or knew that he’d stand and have that conversation with himself and begin dancing. We just had two cameras in there and let it happen, which became a major part of how we did a lot of things.”
Thank you for your kind words. I am trying to get back to writing too. I had stopped for a long time. I think your review is more eloquent.
Well I’m still a student and everything so I have a bit more recent practice even if it wasn’t in the medium of blogging. Besides, at least it’s a subjective matter!
Welcome back, and you couldn’t have picked a more interesting movie to come back for. I do wonder about Phoenix’s Oscar chances. I just have this fear that Oscar voters will hesitate, on principal, to hand out a second Oscar to someone for playing the same comic book character.
Thank you! And yes, great points! I also have fears that the Academy contrarians might go for Adam Driver (since they tend to do that with acclaimed December releases), but I’m hoping that even if the merit of his performances as Joker isn’t quite enough for some, that they will at least give him the nod because of how long overdue it is for him to win the award. Haha guess we can only wait and see, right?
Great review of a great movie. =)
Thanks man! What were your favorite parts?
I think mine was when he smeared the blood on his face on top of the car to become full-blown Joker
For me it was more the overall vibe. The fact that society made him who he is. The darkness of it.
Yeah I dig that. Def a great reminder that society won’t function if people can’t afford their meds and other resources. There are people here in Texas with schizophrenia who go to jail on purpose just bc that’s the only place they can get their psychotropic meds
Horrific
Lowkey @me when Arthur’s doc was like “Arthur, you’re on 7 medications” 🤪
Great review
Thanks man!
So glad to see you back on WP, Luke! I always enjoyed your movie reviews 🙂 Cheers from Germany
Glad you’re back on here too, Evelyn! Thanks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAGVQLHvwOY
Here is the final trailer, as well.