Welcome to my review of the latest controversial comic book movie. Jokers directed by Todd Phillips and stars Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fl...
Welcome to my review of the latest controversial comic book movie. Jokers directed by Todd Phillips and stars Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck a man who feels disregarded by everyone around him he works as a sign twirler he points people towards deals dressed up like a clown he lives in a ratty old apartment with his sick mother he's often beaten up on the streets because of all this is world slowly begins to crumble and he finds himself being pushed towards violence there's been so much talk and discourse surrounding this movie and all of it has been a joy I've loved every minute of it all of
the takes it's been so great. The joker is my favorite comic book villain ever so I to medically I have a bit of a bias button in films past as you know whenever that character was involved in the movie Batman was also there so that was a good and evil presence now we're just focusing on this person and his origin and at first I was a little adverse to that because I love the idea of the joker not really having an origin I love him being a constant the idea that he is just always been this way and his past is so murky that he's even more terrifying Nolan understood that pretty well with his dark knight film but that's not to say that that origin is never been explored in comics before and so I opened myself up to this idea and I loved this film I think it is wonderful Joaquin Phoenix in particular is mesmerizing everything I had heard about his performance is true and yet he somehow still surprise me he is deserving of an Oscar nomination based off of the other performances that I've seen so far in 2019 the film leans very heavily into this being a character that is downtrodden and life you do feel sympathy for him because you understand just how shitty as life has been based off of this Petrillo and that could be dangerous you could fall into being a bit sappy or syrupy you know asking for too much sentimentality for this guy making you feel sorry for him constantly but Joaquin Phoenix and his performance treads that line really beautifully because even when you feel like damn I feel bad for you because your life is such ships you also see this brewing darkness behind his eyes where you you no longer feel bad for him you actually are getting scared of this guy and it is a very realistic and probable portrayal of how somebody might become somebody like the joker you understand why he decides to choose a life of crime over anything else because. This life is never really given him something else to live for and just when you thought there could be no other joker laugh or another take at this laugh Phoenix once again surprises with something that feels painful like there are times where he's laughing and then you can tell that his throat catches and he starts coughing and he holds his chest like laughing this hard is actually physically painful for him and I thought that was **** brilliant such a great idea like I'm not gonna get into the compare game because that's just pointless plus I've only seen this movie once but this is definitely able to stand side by side with what ledger did ledger is iconic and that performance will never be out done in my opinion but what Phoenix does here is wholly his arm it feels unique to him it feels like something only he could do and his work as joker is fierce and ferocious he eats the screen every single time he's in frame which thankfully is quite often it's also really well shot the cinematography the color palette beautiful gorgeous movie doesn't feel like a comic book film feels like a drama because it is a drama I wouldn't even really call this a thriller this is absolutely a character study and its inspirations are very obvious if you've seen any of Scorsese's films namely the 2 behind me king of comedy in taxi driver I mean they've cast Robert De Niro as a talk show host in this movie and I don't think that was a mistake that is one of my biggest issues with the movie it is very inspired by the blueprints of taxi driver there are key visuals in the film that feel like they are taken from taxi driver there are direct visual nods and hints to taxi driver and king of comedy there is just a little bit too much of that it's not that this film doesn't feel like it's own thing and it's not like the movie is a copy and paste or any. I think it's certainly it's on film brief to life wonderfully by what Joaquin Phoenix is doing on screen. But you can't escape the fact that it is absolutely inspired by those phones that came before it which all films are inspired by something obviously it's just that in the case of this movie it's a little more obvious one of the biggest challenges with a film like this is taking a character who is turning towards evil and having him be the protagonist how do you carry a character like this throughout the whole movie without having that good person like that man to come in and say this is wrong it self forever but I think at the same time the lack of a horrific character is what makes this film special because it makes the audience ask some hard questions questions like what role do we play in creating the joker the person who does something horrible in the world do we have a cog in that wheel are we part of that system is there a way in which we've contributed to this even though we're not the ones pulling the trigger the fact that a comic book movie is asking harsh questions like this is really great the score also is super haunting and really chilling and it's minimal to the point where it doesn't feel like it's overstaying its welcome it never feels like it's becoming more than what it should be it just feels like that great addition to some of the more creepy scenes that really help you feel that this guy is slowly becoming unhinged some people have addressed concerns that this film perhaps glorifies violence or condones violence or makes you feel sympathy for this character and makes you understand and even side with him when he does horrible things those are valid concerns and I understand those concerns the problem that I have with them is that that is the joker character the joker character looks at the world thinks it's hilariously hypocritical and. And uses violence to point that out I mean the dark knight came out in 2008 and we had that great hospital scene where the joker is looking at to face and he's like I if I tell the press that like a gang banger will get shot at nobody panics I see that one little hold may hold while they were in their minds that's the character and this is not a surprise to me that we're seeing a portrayal of the joker. I I feel like people forgot that the joker is a **** mass-murdering sociopath like that. What were they expecting he was gonna like tickle people to death also I feel like people who are concerned about the violence in this movie haven't watched movies taxi driver came out in the seventies for god sakes and that was very controversial I mean I wasn't there but I've read plenty of reviews from that era and people were very concerned about the way it depicts a Travis Bickle and that you kind of side with him and understand why he loses his **** mind this is not uncommon in films a character who goes off the deep end kills people this is something that we've examined in films and documentaries for decades there's a reason why there are so many documentaries about the zodiac killer various murders on Netflix people are fascinated by what would bring someone to this point and after the discussion I heard about the movie's level of violence I was expecting it to be a lot more graphic than it is if you were bothered by this film you would never get through martyrs. Like dats a violent movie. This film is not even as violent as dental. That's just like a fact it's just taken more seriously and so people are bothered by it the last thing I'll say about this controversy and keep in mind I've never made a single tweet about this Facebook post nothing this is the only time I've ever discussed this that's why I'm talking about this people have not seen this movie and they've been talking about this controversy for months now okay so like I've been holding it inside in regards to the main criticism does this movie condone violence is it siding with a mass murderer no I don't think it condones violence I just think it's depicting it I think we are seeing a portrayal of how someone might lose that and do horrible things and choose that it's not saying Hey this is the route to happiness it's saying carefully. Because this could be how it ends up. That's all and I think the fact they were having this discussion at all about a comic book film is really great now granted this movie isn't flawless or anything but I would rather watch a movie like this over some of the more throwaway disposable superhero films that are entertaining while you're watching them but are you really thinking about it afterwards sometimes sure sometimes there are really great ones like Thor Ragnarok or the first Iron Man vendors and game and all that **** yeah those are good movies they're fun to watch but. You know I'm actually thinking about **** after this movie is a I sat around my friends afterwards and we **** talk for like 2:00 hours about the film and that's saying something so with Joaquin Phoenix's excellent performance Todd Phillips and his sure hand behind the camera the gorgeous cinematography the great score this is a really good movie I wish it didn't follow the blueprint of taxi driver to such a T. but nevertheless I think this is the best version of a joker origin story we could have gotten in the film it doesn't follow everything about the comics and that's fine I like that it's different I like that it takes liberties all good adaptations should he should not follow the the source material to such scrutiny that there's no surprises there's no originality there's no voice and this movie has all of those I'm a give joker in a minus I was riveted by this movie from just about start to finish I think it's really really good and time will tell on its impact and whether or not it was really worth all this fuss more than likely it wasn't and in about a year or with the way time goes down about 3 months will be on to the next thing but for now this is the current film controversy and I'm very curious to see how this plays out I'm also very excited for you guys to see the movie and I hope you enjoy it so thank you very much as always for watching and if you like this you can click right here and get stuck minimized.
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