Director: Todd Phillips
Distributor: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Duration: 122 minutes
Joker (Blu-ray) – Movie Review
The Joker might just be the most famous villain in the whole DC universe, as he is seen as Batman’s fiercest rival. In the live-action DC features, we have seen the villain being played by many notable actors, such as Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger, who sadly passed away in his prime. Other actors also tried to bring the character to life, such as Jared Leto. While this was once again a different impression of DC’s villain, many felt Leto could not live up to the standard. This time, we see the Joker as a normal man, who is slowly fed up with the world around him, and most importantly, with how everyone treats him. Sticklers of the DC lore will probably spot many mistakes and will not like the fact that this movie is tied in with the DC series, but if you can put those sentiments aside for two hours and just see the movie for what it is, then you’ll have yourself a masterpiece to watch.
We are taken to an unspecified point in time, to what we presume is Gotham City, as the Wayne family is of great importance in this decaying city. Soon after we meet Arthur (Joaquin Phoenix), who works for a firm that is set out to entertain people at parties or to draw attention to shops. Arthur is doing the latter, promoting a store that is having a sale. When he is being pestered by thuggish teenagers, who steal his sign, he is determined to get it back. Sadly, this ends with him getting a beating. The situation even escalates to his boss deducting the cost of the sign from his paycheck, as he thinks Arthur has stolen it. To the outside Arthur is a peculiar case, as he is awkward, maniacally laughs when in uncomfortable situations and has to take a lot of pills in order to feel somewhat better. He wants nothing more than to spread laughter across the world, but for some reason, everything in his life is a mess and, as expected with the topic of this movie, everything gets even worse. That being said, he soon finds himself fighting back, even if it means that he’ll have to hurt people.
The flow of this movie is nothing like a typical DC movie. Sure, the grim atmosphere is present, but the action and the events that unfold are very different. The movie is very gritty and will hit a few sensitive spots if you have ever been mistreated in your life. The movie is a slow piece of cinema, and even though some events can be foreseen way before they happen, you still feel everything that happens onscreen. You’ll get sufficient information about who Arthur is, what his ‘flaws’ are, and what his greatest strengths are. He is then thrown in a situation where people only see his flaws, and he is getting punished for being different. The flow is perfect for a drama such as this, even with the few gritty and gruesome scenes present. We use the word gruesome to sketch the events, not necessarily for the graphicness of the scenes.
Even though we see several different faces pass the revue in this movie, it’s all about Joaquin Phoenix. We were stunned and simply amazed by how Joaquin portrays the somewhat broken character of Arthur. Even with the overall slim story value, Phoenix manages to steal the show, he sets the proper atmosphere and he brings home the gold when the credits start rolling. When looking back at his performance, we can only utter a silent but very clear ‘oh my god’. It feels as if the man had to go through the mud and many of the character’s hardships to properly convey what is going on. We were thoroughly impressed with his acting capabilities.
When purchasing the Blu-ray version of Joker, you’ll get roughly half an hour’s worth of special features. Despite three of these features are only a few minutes in length, they all revolve around the production of the movie and how everything came to life. You’ll hear the creative minds behind the movie state that this movie is actually more of an ‘alternate universe’ approach to the origin story of the Joker, which is quite interesting. Other snippets involve Joaquin Phoenix’s acting skills and that he tried many different approaches to properly paint Arthur’s situation, condition, and personality.
Conclusion
It’s hard to grade Joker, as it brings up many different emotions. After letting the movie sink in for more than a few minutes, it left us speechless. We reckon this movie had the same effect on many people, and that many people could also relate to being treated like garbage on a day-to-day basis. We don’t approve of many of the things Arthur does in the movie, but we can’t help but sympathize with the character, as well as feel what he is going through. We reckon those who know a life of hardship will experience a very emotional rollercoaster when watching this film, but even people who have known periods of hardship, even only for a short while, will certainly understand the purpose of this film. Even though there are a few graphic scenes present in the movie, we suggest watching Joker to see what effect it can have when treating your fellow man as if they are nothing.
Joker (Blu-ray) - Movie Review,
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