246.
Joker
10/10
This has got to be one of the most anticipated DC films since the Nolan trilogy. There was so much attention to this movie and a lot of it was very mixed. Through the circles on social media, many people were simply disregarding this movie down to the fact that they had no confidence in the director and writer Todd Phillips. No, this guy produced such things as A Star is Born and The Hangover and has directed some decent comedies but for some reason, no-one wanted to give him the chance with this one. I'm a massive DC and Batman fan and to see an origin story of Batman's greatest nemesis is high on my radar. The trailers only emphasised this need and after America got this movie first, the impressions seemed to be great ones. Joaquin Pheonix plays Arthur Fleck, who later becomes the Joker and even during the trailers, you simply knew he was going to put on a performance.
The story is truly brilliant. We see this gent Arthur, completely down on his luck and struggling. He works as a clown, advertising where he is needed and even gets attacked in his workplace.
Slowly but surely, we see pieces of this character break away until there is not much left. He lives with his slightly deluded mother, who believes that Bruce Wayne is Arthur's father, as Arthur himself is fantasising that he is on the Murray Franklin show, a well know talk show. Murray is one of the other two cast members that I recognise. Played by Robert De Niro, I had no idea he was in this movie.
As the movie progresses, Arthur gets his hands on a gun and once a few rich boys start to cause trouble on a train, he shoots them, killing them in cold blood and doesn't even bat an eyelid. He's becoming very unhinged whilst in his make-up but as strangely normal as he can be, without it. He is trying to find more work, meeting with his council worker and even trying some stand-up comedy. He's met a girl from across the hall, who at first he was stalking but finally plucked up the courage with his new demeanor, to have a chat with her. She is the third cast member that I recognise. Played by Zazie Beetz, she also plays Domino in Deadpool 2. Telling a lie, there are a few side characters that I recognise from small roles in movies and TV shows.
We see Arthur slip further and further into madness as he loses his mother, kills his one-time friend and finally getting exposed by the cops. He even starts to lead a revolt, which he had not intended. He is now a figurehead for the unprivileged against the rich. There are riots on the street but the Arthur Fleck side has finally made it onto the Murray show. His stand-up was filmed and bombed. They make fun of him on the show but because of the reaction, they actually want him to come on and find out a bit more about the man behind the video. Before this comes to fruition, we are about to see what has been going on recently. As Arthur confronts Thomas Wayne in a toilet, he finds out that his mother was crazy. He then heads to the asylum, famous in the Batman universe for harboring the major criminals, to find his mother's file. Walking home in the rain, he enters the girl's flat that we have seen him in a relationship with. This time it's very different. She recognises him but just as the guy from down the hall. We then flash through many a scene that we had seen these two together, just to see that Arthur was always alone. He leaves the flat and gets ready for his big appearance. As the show comes about, he asked to get introduced as the Joker, finally bringing about the character in front of the camera. He confronts Murray for making fun of him, confronts the rich for stepping over the little guy and ends up blowing Murray's brains over the wall in one of the most shocking moments of the movie. It really took me by surprise. From there, he is arrested but only for a brief time. The riots are now taking over after the live killing and clowns are everywhere. An ambulance crashing into the cop car holding the Joker and once the other clowns recognise who is in the back, they lift him above their heads, lay him down and wait for him to recover until he stands above them, raising his arms as the screen fades to black.
After finally getting to see this movie a second time, it can give me enough ammunition to keep typing for hours. I won't thankfully but I cannot express enough, how highly I expect everyone to attempt to see this movie. The storyline was quite genius. Watching Arthur fall apart piece by piece only meant that his alter-ego gained more confidence and flowed into his life effortlessly. I was so entertained with this taking place and wondering when he would be completely unhinged, that I have to admit I did not see the twist coming that he was never actually with the girl. Side characters were really only in place to add to the breakdown of Arthur, as his mother the liar, Thomas Wayne puts him in his place and even Murray bringing to the show. De Niro is worth a mention as a quick change from a happy show host to an assertive rich civilian and with his back and forth with Arthur, he seemed to put Joker on the backfoot, but not for long. This can lead us nicely onto Pheonix's job of playing Arthur Fleck. To know that he was left with some freedom to develop the character in his own way, go a little off-script and let loose on interpretation has really made this character something much more. The dancing scene with the gun was never meant to happen and it has turned something good truly into something great. He was going through so many emotions from a bumbling nervous wreck to turning into the Joker and becoming a confidence swelling killer.
The rest of the story was clever and got me thinking. We are introduced to Bruce Wayne, a very young Batman and as the movie ends with the clowns taking over and one clown killing the Waynes in front of Bruce in that famous alley, we are wondering whether this is Joe Cool or are we going another way? With the age difference between the Joker and Bruce Wayne, could this really be the Joker or will someone come later and take up the mantle from Arthur? We could well find out because this DC movie has really kick-started something.
The movie itself was very dark because of the storyline that it follows. We have always known Gotham as a crime-ridden city, trashed and being home to some dodgy characters and this was the case once again. The brightest scenes in the movie seem to be as Joker is taking over as a character. Arkham Asylum, which is usually the worst place in Gotham and the TV show moment were far from being shown in the dark, unlike the stand-up comedy moment and Arthur being himself at home. As for the music, this again intensifies as Arthur changes, starting with a slow instrumental but as he changes, so does the tempo. When it comes to the staircase scene and although there were plenty of complaints about the artist whose song they used, I bloody loved it.
There's part of me that really wants to see what comes next and how far they will take this character but there is also a call for it to be nothing more than a stand-alone movie. There is always a worry that a sequel could never live up to the success of the first but it's going to be the risk that the company will take now that the movie itself has made so much money. The critics of Todd Phillips will now have to crawl back under their rocks because this bad boy is one of, if not the best, movie of the year.
The story is truly brilliant. We see this gent Arthur, completely down on his luck and struggling. He works as a clown, advertising where he is needed and even gets attacked in his workplace.
Slowly but surely, we see pieces of this character break away until there is not much left. He lives with his slightly deluded mother, who believes that Bruce Wayne is Arthur's father, as Arthur himself is fantasising that he is on the Murray Franklin show, a well know talk show. Murray is one of the other two cast members that I recognise. Played by Robert De Niro, I had no idea he was in this movie.
As the movie progresses, Arthur gets his hands on a gun and once a few rich boys start to cause trouble on a train, he shoots them, killing them in cold blood and doesn't even bat an eyelid. He's becoming very unhinged whilst in his make-up but as strangely normal as he can be, without it. He is trying to find more work, meeting with his council worker and even trying some stand-up comedy. He's met a girl from across the hall, who at first he was stalking but finally plucked up the courage with his new demeanor, to have a chat with her. She is the third cast member that I recognise. Played by Zazie Beetz, she also plays Domino in Deadpool 2. Telling a lie, there are a few side characters that I recognise from small roles in movies and TV shows.
We see Arthur slip further and further into madness as he loses his mother, kills his one-time friend and finally getting exposed by the cops. He even starts to lead a revolt, which he had not intended. He is now a figurehead for the unprivileged against the rich. There are riots on the street but the Arthur Fleck side has finally made it onto the Murray show. His stand-up was filmed and bombed. They make fun of him on the show but because of the reaction, they actually want him to come on and find out a bit more about the man behind the video. Before this comes to fruition, we are about to see what has been going on recently. As Arthur confronts Thomas Wayne in a toilet, he finds out that his mother was crazy. He then heads to the asylum, famous in the Batman universe for harboring the major criminals, to find his mother's file. Walking home in the rain, he enters the girl's flat that we have seen him in a relationship with. This time it's very different. She recognises him but just as the guy from down the hall. We then flash through many a scene that we had seen these two together, just to see that Arthur was always alone. He leaves the flat and gets ready for his big appearance. As the show comes about, he asked to get introduced as the Joker, finally bringing about the character in front of the camera. He confronts Murray for making fun of him, confronts the rich for stepping over the little guy and ends up blowing Murray's brains over the wall in one of the most shocking moments of the movie. It really took me by surprise. From there, he is arrested but only for a brief time. The riots are now taking over after the live killing and clowns are everywhere. An ambulance crashing into the cop car holding the Joker and once the other clowns recognise who is in the back, they lift him above their heads, lay him down and wait for him to recover until he stands above them, raising his arms as the screen fades to black.
After finally getting to see this movie a second time, it can give me enough ammunition to keep typing for hours. I won't thankfully but I cannot express enough, how highly I expect everyone to attempt to see this movie. The storyline was quite genius. Watching Arthur fall apart piece by piece only meant that his alter-ego gained more confidence and flowed into his life effortlessly. I was so entertained with this taking place and wondering when he would be completely unhinged, that I have to admit I did not see the twist coming that he was never actually with the girl. Side characters were really only in place to add to the breakdown of Arthur, as his mother the liar, Thomas Wayne puts him in his place and even Murray bringing to the show. De Niro is worth a mention as a quick change from a happy show host to an assertive rich civilian and with his back and forth with Arthur, he seemed to put Joker on the backfoot, but not for long. This can lead us nicely onto Pheonix's job of playing Arthur Fleck. To know that he was left with some freedom to develop the character in his own way, go a little off-script and let loose on interpretation has really made this character something much more. The dancing scene with the gun was never meant to happen and it has turned something good truly into something great. He was going through so many emotions from a bumbling nervous wreck to turning into the Joker and becoming a confidence swelling killer.
The rest of the story was clever and got me thinking. We are introduced to Bruce Wayne, a very young Batman and as the movie ends with the clowns taking over and one clown killing the Waynes in front of Bruce in that famous alley, we are wondering whether this is Joe Cool or are we going another way? With the age difference between the Joker and Bruce Wayne, could this really be the Joker or will someone come later and take up the mantle from Arthur? We could well find out because this DC movie has really kick-started something.
The movie itself was very dark because of the storyline that it follows. We have always known Gotham as a crime-ridden city, trashed and being home to some dodgy characters and this was the case once again. The brightest scenes in the movie seem to be as Joker is taking over as a character. Arkham Asylum, which is usually the worst place in Gotham and the TV show moment were far from being shown in the dark, unlike the stand-up comedy moment and Arthur being himself at home. As for the music, this again intensifies as Arthur changes, starting with a slow instrumental but as he changes, so does the tempo. When it comes to the staircase scene and although there were plenty of complaints about the artist whose song they used, I bloody loved it.
There's part of me that really wants to see what comes next and how far they will take this character but there is also a call for it to be nothing more than a stand-alone movie. There is always a worry that a sequel could never live up to the success of the first but it's going to be the risk that the company will take now that the movie itself has made so much money. The critics of Todd Phillips will now have to crawl back under their rocks because this bad boy is one of, if not the best, movie of the year.
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