Joker || Movie Review

Put On A Happy Face

But you won't get it...

Yes, yes, I know it's been half a year since the movie released and there is no need of me to write this review as it seems everyone else but I had watched this film when it hit the theaters.

There was a lot of controversy around the film and I never bothered to see the film because of the superhero film fatigue I'm having since 2017. But as a standalone movie with Joaquin Phoenix in the lead, I had hoped it will be a good movie and it is a decent film. Some doubts were there as I haven't watched any of Todd Phillips's works yet.  I finally watched the movie today and let's talk about it.

What I Liked?

• The Plot & The Direction

Let's bring in another controversy, I'm a misogynist too.

When the early set photos were leaked I was sure that it will be a darker and more serious take on the character which already is very violent. Another thing that I had thought was that the critically acclaimed 'The Killing Joke' will be used as a skeleton to plan the story. While the prior is true the latter turned out to be not the case here.

Todd Phillips as a director and scriptwriter has done a good job of making the script different from any of the comic book origin stories of Joker. Well, Joker doesn't have a definitive origin story and there are multiple origins stories from his perspective but you can't take his word for it. The most canonical version of his origin can be found in Alan Moore's 'The Killing Joke'. 

All too human

In 'The Killing Joke' Joker becomes The Joker because of the way he is treated. The Joker in that story is a struggling working-class man,  has a wife, is broke and you actually sympathize with him. Todd Phillps takes the same route when creating his Joker. His Joker (Arthur) is a poor guy suffering from a medical condition, has no father and takes care of his mother just like us and is trying to become a stand-up comedian. This guy has no friends or girlfriend. This guy has no social life just like all of us. People think he's a freak. His medical condition makes his life miserable. We constantly see him getting bullied and beaten up. And one day he just snaps. All of this makes Joker so relatable to us and that's what heated the controversy so much.

How many of you were on the verge of crying here?

This is not a superhero film rather it's a drama. Anyone can watch it as an origin story of a thief, a serial killer or just a suicidal person. This movie tries to show how a person really snaps. Arthur tries his best to mix into the crowd but gets rejected in every sphere of his life. His childhood abuse, careless upbringing, class struggle and the burden of responsibilities imposed by himself and others bring him to the breaking point. It's not the inner being it's the surrounding world that creates a Joker/ The Joker. The story feels relatable and given the circumstances, this can happen with any of us. 

• The Acting

Joaquin Phoenix as usual always has done a spectacular job. This is HIS Joker. I will not go into the comparison with any other Joker for each Joker is a different one and by far this is my favorite live-action rendition of the character. 

Is this even an act?

The movie tries its best to balance itself to the center while the viewer is constantly sympathizing with a victim of the society and downright supporting the violent acts of a criminal. 

The calmness in this scene talks a lot about the world.

This all works because of the way Phoenix lives this character. I was emotionally hurt and was being tortured while Arthur was constantly getting beaten up or rejected by the world. But I also enjoyed him killing those people. Am I a violent entity? Who knows. It's all about the perspective here. JP's laugh in this movie is haunting. The coughing is again mentally torturing. This Joker is like a ballerina. His posture, his dance, the way he walks or the way he tries to put up a show is serene even when the world is in chaos.

The dialogues are as powerful as Joaquin's acting and both work very well.

Joaquin has been a great actor since M. Night's Signs and has finally won an Oscar for his performance.

I'm here so that you can hate someone.

Rebert De Niro as Mr. Murrey works well within the movie. Nice to see him after a long time. 

Other actors had very limited roles and they did it pretty well.

• The Cinematography

This is like a beautiful painting.

The movie is shot brilliantly. 

While movies try to be as dark as possible when trying to be 'serious' Joker is actually very bright and colorful. That's my favorite part of its cinematography. The lighting in various places helped a lot to make the screen vivid and more alive.

Is this Oscars?

The way the camera captures micro-expressions of JP is done fantastically. These close up shots are great.

• The Score

The background music helps time to time to shift the changes in Arthur's character. Whenever That's Life plays you feel the gloom within the Gotham City. 

Rock and Roll, baby!

The staircase dance with the Red Suit is done superbly with the inclusion of 'Rock and Roll' while 'Send in the Clowns' broke my heart.

What I (sort of) Didn't Like?

While I loved the movie there were some choices that were made with the source material. The inclusion of Bruce Wayne in a few scenes was unnecessary. The movie kind of works on its own without the DC tag but I also liked what they did with these choices so I'm kind of confused. 

So there is nothing that I didn't like in the movie. 

Final Verdict

I know it's very late to tell you guys to watch it but still if you haven't watched Joker yet then please go and watch it. There is a good social commentary within the movie which will make you think for hours over what you just watched and how our actions can affect the lives of others. 

It's a great movie and my favorite rendition of the character till date. 

So fellow lockdown members, do watch Joker. Joker is streaming on Amazon Prime.