I’ll tell you what you get. You get what you ******* deserve.
I’ve talked a lot about this movie in various discussion threads so much that I kind of felt like I’d reviewed it already, but, no, apparently not. I don’t know that I want to even address the “this will inspire mass shooters” controversy because it felt premature to discuss it before seeing the movie, as a lot of people were doing and now that I’ve seen the movie, I think I’ve been proved right because, at the end of the day, the only way you can think this movie glorifies incels and/or mass shooters is to not see it. The main character isn’t an incel; he never performs a mass shooting (the body count, honestly, is one of the lowest of any comic book movie ever, I’d bet).
Still, the movie does tap into something that feels very real and the societal statements it is making about poverty, exploitation and the very real anger those things breed are strong ones. That said, I think the movie really is one of the very best comic book movies ever. It’s certainly up there as the best of the current DC slate, even, in my opinion, outpacing Wonder Woman a bit by virtue of having a less bombastic climax. The real exhilaration of it is in the way it expands the comic book genre; it’s completely unique in the genre in the story it’s telling, the style it’s using to tell that story and the overall pitch-black tone of the film. I saw it in IMAX and I remember thinking that it’s almost certainly the ugliest movie to be released in that format; it’s a grimy, dirty, run-down, green-and-gray wreck of a movie. But it really works in IMAX because IMAX is all about immersing the audience in a world; those worlds are typically beautiful or epic, but in this case, director Todd Phillips wants to immerse the audience in a world of oppressive despair and he pulls it off in my opinion. The direction is better than I was expecting really. This film does, in a ton of ways, really evoke early Scorsese, but Phillips adds his own flair and brings in horror elements as well. A pivotal confrontation on the subway between the main character and three yuppie thugs is a truly terrifying sequence that feels like it could come out of a horror film. In the climax of that sequence, Phillips redeems the tired trope of a troubled character staring at himself in the mirror with a bravura sequence that lets Phoenix really take center stage in a compelling way.
And, so, yeah, let’s talk about it: Joaquin Phoenix delivers one of the very best lead performances of the year in this film. And that, at the end of the day, is what really elevates this movie to masterpiece status. The script is good, actually; I didn’t have the story issues a lot of people had with the movie. I thought the story was good, the dialogue was mostly good. There were a couple of clunky beats (or should I say Beetz? I’ll show myself out) in the way certain characters were handled and certain performers underused. To clarify my little joke, just, you know, lest I be misconstrued, Beetz was good, as she always is, but the character is underserved by the script, as is Robert De Niro’s character. I kind of wanted more from all of the supporting characters. I liked the direction the movie was going in with them, like making Thomas Wayne a prick, instead of a philanthropist, but I also respect the movie’s decision to just stay totally focused on Arthur and his experience. We really see this entire movie from his perspective, so, in a way, it might not have worked to have time with De Niro’s character without Arthur present or to give his character a bigger arc. (By the way, Marc Maron, guys! Marc Maron is in this movie!). And, while I’m talking performances, let me just say that Brian Tyree Henry does it again, by coming in for about five minutes and giving one of the best performances in the movie as a weary clerk at Arkham. That guy is truly one of the best actors working today, no joke, no exaggeration. He needed an Oscar for If Beale Street Could Talk, but I’ll bet he gets one soon for something; he’s just too good. Anyway, speaking of Oscars, Phoenix is absolutely Oscar worthy and I’ll be very interested to see if he gets the attention he deserves come awards season or if the comic book nature of the film will put off the prestige crowd. But, as I was starting to say, he is the thing that really elevates this film to the high level where I place it. The direction is excellent, the script is good, but can you imagine this movie with Jared Leto? I guess Jared Leto could, but he’s certainly the only one. It’s Phoenix’s complete commitment to the character that really brings Arthur to life in a powerful way.
I’m perfectly willing to live in a world with all the terrible comic book adaptations we’ve had if that’s what it took to get us to a movie this crazy happening, to Joaquin Phoenix playing the Joker in a Scorsese influenced blockbuster that has no interest in being a pleasant experience and yet still brings in big bucks. This feels like what it is, a genuine passion project where everyone was having a good time making a very particular, and pretty risky, movie. And it paid off. I hope Hollywood takes note; there’s no reason to sacrifice artistry in the name of commerce, even artistry of a very personal and even nihilistic kind. I don’t know if Joker is the best comic book movie of all time; I’d need to revisit some of the classics of the genre before I’d make that judgment, but it’s definitely in the conversation. But what I’m going to say next is actually kind of more important than whether or not it’s the absolute best of the genre: it’s something entirely new for the genre and, for that reason, it’s profoundly exhilarating. Maybe that’s the joy of the movie that overcomes the ugly, often nasty tone of the film; maybe that’s why as dark and rough as the movie, you walk out with the one thing Arthur never has: hope. 4 stars.
tl;dr – grim, artistically executed movie is elevated by a lead performance for the ages; but there’s real exhilaration at seeing the comic book genre break genuinely new ground too. 4 stars.