JOKER (2019) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

joker (2019) movie

Genre              |   Crime Thriller

Classification   |   M

Running time   |   120 minutes

Released         |   3 October 2019

cast

Joaquin Phoenix ... Arthur Fleck / Joker
Zazie Beetz ... Sophie Dumond
Robert De Niro ... Murray Franklin
Brett Cullen ... Thomas Wayne
​Douglas Hodge ... Alfred Pennyworth
Bill Camp

director

​Todd Phillips

writer

​Todd Phillips ... (screenplay)
Scott Silver ... (screenplay)

cinematographer

​Lawrence Sher

music

​Hildur Guðnadóttir ​

film editor

​Jeff Groth

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box office result

Worldwide               $​1,074,251,311

Australia                 $​28,509,336

North America        $​335,451,311

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movie minutiae

​Early footage shows Arthur walking by a sign for Amusement Mile, Gotham City's version of Coney Island, which features prominently in the original Killing Joke graphic novel. Joker cocreator Bill Finger was partly inspired by a sign for Steeplechase Park in the real Coney Island which featured a grotesque grinning face.

This is Zazie Beetz's second comic book movie after DEADPOOL 2 (2018).

This is Bill Camp and Douglas Hodge's first collaboration since RED SPARROW (2018), which also starred Jeremy Irons who plays Alfred in the DCEU.

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JOKER (2019) MOVIE IMAGES

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JOKER (2019) STORY SYNOPSIS

A failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and becomes a psychopathic murderer...

​Joker is an upcoming American crime film distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and based on the DC Comics character Joker. It is intended to be the first film in a series of DC-based films separate from the shared DC Extended Universe.

JOKER (2019) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 3 October 2019

Pop ​Movee Rating

JOKER is a film that will stand out in the collective cinematic memory for many, many years to come...

Yes, it’s a violent movie, but, in the lead-up to the film’s release, certain sections of the community seem to have gotten up on their hobby horse about something that they’ve yet to see and - more than likely - will probably avoid.

Yes, it’s the very graphic, but the very real acts of violence serve to punctuate the film’s plot and narrative. It’s not mindless violence and it’s contained to one man’s actions.

To put things into perspective, it’s funny how movies like AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (2018) can wipe out half the living beings in the entire Universe with a click of the fingers and it hardly registers with the self-appointed protectors of morality. However, another kind of fictional character garners far more attention for less than a handful of violent crimes that, because of their on-screen intensity, are paid a disproportionate amount of attention.

JOKER stands as a testimony to the fact that people are the problem… 

It’s not the movies.

It’s not video games.

It’s not religion.

It’s not politics.

It’s P-E-O-P-L-E.

It is astonishing to think that JOKER is the reason why anyone now, or in the future, would go out into public and commit violence.

The movie is a character study about a man whose disintegrating mental state sees him suffer an increasing level of dislocation from everyday life.

Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck is a fictional representation of but one of the many who slip through the cracks of society and emerge on the other side; changed and predisposed to breaking from the status quo that has failed him (them) so badly.

Phoenix delivers an astonishing performance. 

He will not be recognised for his work as Arthur Fleck because political correctness will temper the mainstream and convince the “followers” that JOKER is too violent, too risky or whatever ridiculous thought bubble some keyboard warrior comes up with on the day to justify their Nanny State approach to life.

Because of the same sheep mentality, JOKER won’t be recognised either; despite popular appeal.

The true test for JOKER will be the audience that show up and hand over their hard-earned cash to see what all the fuss is about.

The film’s reward will be the Box Office success it achieves in spite of all the do-gooder efforts to draw the tenuous connection between its content and whatever crimes the broader community might inflict upon one another and then - all too conveniently - blame upon JOKER for their actions.

It’s fair to say that the old excuse “I was just following orders” has never been accepted as a defence to justify an individual’s actions.

In the same way, saying “the movie’s violence made me do it” is as equally big a cop-out.

JOKER makes the point that the grand level of self-entitlement that masquerades as “I know best” is the reason why this film exists in the first place. People from all walks of life, young and old, men and women, are as equally to blame for the rotten state western civilisation finds itself at this very moment.

The reaction to this self-entitlement is unexpected.

In recent times, it’s manifested itself in different forms at home and abroad...

Brexit.

Trump winning.

Sco-Mo.

Hong Kong protesters.

Arthur Fleck is all of these, except he suffers a greater level of mental dysfunction.

To be clear though, it’s people that break him; not mental illness.

Todd Phillips, who wrote the film with Scott Silver, has made a habit of directing movies about people with mental problems; a great many of which have been masked by a greater effort to mine the comedy within the material he’s exploring…

THE HANGOVER (2009) is his most widely seen film and audiences will easily draw comparisons between the Zach Galifianakis character Alan and Arthur Fleck. Both suffer from a distorted view of the world and struggle to relate to it, and those who inhabit it, in any meaningful way. 

People are not kind and make it hard for people like Alan and Arthur to find acceptance for who they are, not what society thinks they should be.

Unlike Alan, who lures the unsuspecting trio of Phil, Stu and Doug into his psychosis, Arthur disappears willingly into his own, elaborate fantasy. It’s a fantasy where Arthur grows increasingly successful in life, off the back of escalating violent behaviour that is blurred by his perception of a burgeoning career as a comedian.

When people do wrong by him - eventually - he acts.

The film’s Second Act is especially strong, as Arthur transforms from an awkward outlier to someone who feels empowered enough to finally unleash his simmering anger upon the “entitled” who underestimate his capacity to inflict genuine violence simply because he’s dressed like a clown.

It’s not until the film’s final thirty or so minutes that the violence becomes disturbing.

In one scene, Arthur’s attack upon a former colleague is swift and brutal; but not without consideration. He leaves another colleague unharmed and thanks him for always being nice to him when they worked together.

Arthur punishes those who have no consideration for others and encourages the downtrodden to take back control, not with words but with action. Only in the final minutes of the film does he even acknowledge that his actions have sparked an open revolt among the lesser entitled of Gotham City’s inhabitants.

In a similar theme explored by Christopher Nolan’s final, 2012 Batman film THE DARK KNIGHT RISES. Tom Hardy’s Bane was framed as an ultra-violent Robin Hood, freeing Gotham’s masses from the greed of the city’s upper echelon.

Arthur Fleck is a far more authentic version of the concept and Todd Phillips’ homage to Martin Scorsese’s TAXI DRIVER (1976) and THE KING OF COMEDY (1982) New York is the perfect setting in which to stage both a cultural rebellion and a personal tragedy.

But what of the Batman?

In the Batman mythology, Joker existed before Bruce Wayne’s Batman emerged. The film stays true to the mythology in that sense, but it also throws a huge curveball…

Batman fans may have an array of reactions to a particular plot development the film throws in, but, it’s fair to ponder, why didn’t anyone think of what Philips and Silver have done in their story previously? It’s not genius, but it’s an awesome idea that drives the film’s plot and narrative to its logical, expected conclusion in a unique and clever way.

There genuine artistry on display in JOKER. That shouldn’t be lost upon anyone…

The performances are fantastic and Joaquin Phoenix escalates Joker to a new benchmark for the character’s cinematic interpretation. Where others have played Joker as a comic book caricature, Phoenix plays him as a fraught, frail human being whose mind snaps, forcing him to take  matters into his own hands.

Todd Phillips does a wonderful job of immersing the viewer in the steaming cesspool that is Gotham before Batman’s arrival. Like DeNiro’s Travis Bickle in TAXI DRIVER, the city itself is as much a contributing factor to Arthur’s disintegration. It’s a manifestation of Hell on Earth.

The violence is real, but it needs no apology.

It’s not just comic book films that should aspire to JOKER’s authenticity; all films should.

Enjoy the cinematic experience while it’s on offer. There may not be another one like it for a long time to come.

JOKER MOVIE (2019) USEFUL LINKS

Joker (2019 film) - Wikipedia
​Joker (2019) - IMDb
​Joker (2019) - Rotten Tomatoes

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