Alright! Today I'm reviewing the 2019 super sensation Joker, which is about Batman's archnemesis, who, in this Elseworld, is a struggling man in a crime-ridden Gotham during the 1980s who's pushed and pushed until he's broken to the point where he can never be broken again. Starring Joaquin Phoenix as the supervillain, Joker was an unexpected smash hit, grossing a billion dollar, becoming the first R-rated movie to ever do so, winning Best Actor, and is due for a sequel later this year.
The best thing about Joker was Joaquin Phoenix. Dude won Best Actor for a reason - the dramatic weight loss, the studiously and carefully studied laughing disability, the jerky and refined dance movements, the off-kilter vocal patterns, and the eventual arc are all fantastically done. The movie wouldn't be much without him, but they struck casting gold and the entire thing is transformed into an experience.
I also give all the love to the production elements of the film - it's a beautifully made movie, color-graded in a sublime way and scored beautifully. The visuals are top-notch and the costume design even more so; creating a new look can be difficult, and some might say it's impossible, but Mark Bridges does it with ease, creating an instantly iconic outfit for the Joker that Phoenix looks fantastic in. The makeup design is also splendid, and the outfit was impossible to escape back in the Halloween of '19. The music in the film is also fantastic, a mixtape of Cream and Sinatra that plays at pivotal moments in the film and perfectly sets the gloomy, nihilistic tone. It's an R-rated movie, although it's probably two edits away from making PG-13, with only a few f-bombs and two graphically violent scenes throughout. It's not for everyone, but it's also not wholly gratuitous.
That's really where my praise of Joker ends - while it's a fantastic showcase for Phoenix's acting, and the "How about another question, Murray?" scene singlehandedly deserves the Best Picture nomination, it's not really a Joker movie. At no point does he get dunked in a vat of acid, throw hands with Batman, ruffle the Penguin's feathers, or even tell a truly funny joke. It's just a sad, sad movie about a mentally diseased man who begins to express himself by murdering rich suits, eventually inspiring a movement around class and wealth inequality.
While it's a fitting theme for a Joker movie, and heaven knows we need superhero movies that look like real movies and don't end in sky beams, Joker is so far disconnected from the genre and the character that it feels disingenuous to call it a Joker film at all. It's an A24 film wearing superhero skin, and while the acting and direction are great, it's a hard and sad watch and thus very hard to recommend. I'm very excited for the sequel, Folie à Deux, now with Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn and a musical twist, but I'm not going to rewatch Joker for a long, long time.
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