Joker is an important film. A very important film. Here in America, it was released during perhaps one of the most important times in our storied history, and if it were up to me and the rest of the comic book community, it would win best picture. For reasons too dumb to comprehend, however, it probably won’t.
This will be spoiler free, so feel free to read on if you haven’t seen the film yet!
Too Woke for Woke Culture
Late this past August, Joker (directed by Todd Phillips) made its premier at the Venice Film Festival and received an eight minute standing ovation (rightfully so). After writing an article 6 months ago detailing why I thought Joker would end up winning best picture, I was starting to feel vindicated. “Is this the year it happens?” I started to wonder. “Is this the year a comic book film finally get recognized by the Academy for best picture of the year?”. Eight minutes of pure recognition is a lot...even for best picture. An eight minute standing ovation is more that you give a film just for being really good. Eight minutes of recognition is something you give a film for being a masterpiece...and that’s exactly what we got. Why then, are the western film critics so down on the film? If the film is so good, why is the critic tomato score so low? From so-called “renowned” outlets such as NPR and Slate calling it “dull” and “boring”, to mega-popular media personality Alex Jones calling it a Chineese Communist-funded brainwashing experiment, the media reactions to this glorious film have been mostly negative.
Why?
...well there are many reasons. However, in order to understand these reasons, you must understand the incredibly crazy time we are currently living in here in America, and the fact that not only has our media become extremely lazy and deceitful...but they have also become increasingly unintelligent (or so it may seem).
Joker is a political film, with a political message. It doesn’t try to hide this. In fact, it makes every attempt to shove it in our faces. Not only does the film make every attempt to start a dialogue about our crazy modern culture, but the director Todd Phillips himself has stated that the entire motivation for making this film stemmed from his loathing of what we call “Woke Culture” here in America. The despicable mob of people who pride themselves on “inclusivity” and “political correctness”, even though they commonly contradict these very concepts with their hate-filled violent public protests. Todd clearly made this film about them, their ideologies, and what the potential ramifications of their actions could be if we decide to keep going down this path here in America.
No wonder the “woke” critics hate it. It exposes them for the frauds they really are.
Joker is a Really Good Film
Joker is an extremely intelligent film, but it doesn’t take an incredibly intelligent person to understand it. It’s complex, dark, and thought-provoking. It really makes you think about the time we live in right now...regardless of whether you have decided to align yourself with a particular political ideology. Joker takes the ugliness of our current political environment, and pulls a gorgeously-crafted clown-shaped mask over it to show us just how bad it’s really gotten. It deals with tough subjects, like the current state of mental health, gun violence, the responsibilities we have as a society, and the parts we all play in something as horrific as the horrific public displays of violence that have become so commonplace over the past decade.
This is actually the craziest part about the incredible outrage surrounding this film. The fact that most of the dialogues this film attempts to start are actually left wing talking points (if you wanted to categorize them at all). Things like mental health, gun violence, and public scrutiny are all things that “woke culture” absolutely love to bring up...but the big difference between how this film discusses these issues, and how “woke culture” talks about them is the fact that this film doesn’t sugar coat anything. It brings up the cold hard truths behind these issues, and rather than pointing the finger at any one specific group of people or group of ideologies...it points the finger at all of us. No one is left out. We as a society have brought about this hate-filled violence we see so often today, and no one is innocent. This alone would be enough to get the “woke” critics to pan it...because even if a film intelligently brings up the issues that need to be discussed, it must be brought up in a way that pushes their agenda or else they must heed the wrath of the internet. If there is one thing the “woke” mob hates the most...it’s taking responsibility for any kind of civil discourse they might awaken.
Political talking points aside, Joker is actually an incredibly well-crafted film. The cinematography is gorgeous. The writing is complex, deep, and well thought out. The acting is as good as I’ve ever seen (more on that later). From top to bottom this film is absolutely ingenious, and the fact it can mix all of that together with a morally complex and relevant political statement is something very rarely seen in modern film-making. In the age of “theme park” blockbuster films such as The Avengers and Hobbs & Shaw, something as grounded and complex as Joker is as refreshing as a glass of H20 would be to a man dying of thirst in the desert. We as a society needed this film right now. We needed it socially, culturally, and spiritually...regardless of how you feel about it, and regardless of whether you actually liked it or not. Going even further...if the success of this film can start a cultural artistic movement that sees grounded films such as this being made and released on a regular basis...perhaps there is indeed still hope for western society.
...and that, perhaps, is the biggest reason why this film is so incredibly important.
But enough about the “woke” NPC’s. Let’s talk about Joaquin Phoenix.
As Funny as it May Seem…
When you craft a film about a character as beloved and controversial as the Joker, not only do you put your filmmaking career at risk (we all know how fatal the wrath of the comic book community can be), but you place the immediate fate of the film studio and the lead actor in your hands as well. With Warner Bros. on the ropes after their past failed attempts at comic book adaptations, a bad film about the origins of the Joker would have surely put them under for good...at least when it comes to making comic book films. With (arguably) a better slate of characters than even Marvel has at their disposal, this would have surely been tragic. Think of all the characters we have yet to see on film, and characters such as Superman whose stories have yet to be told in totality! We as fans would be missing out.
The weight of this incredible burden was distributed between exactly two people: Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix.
Because even if Todd Phillips had crafted a masterpiece, it would still amount to nothing if Joaquin didn’t perform up to the standard. With this particular film, their fates were very much intertwined. Thankfully, not only did Joaquin do just that...he exceeded expectations by a mile. If you had told me a year ago that Joaquin Phoenix would deliver a performance equal to that of Heath Ledger’s performance in The Dark Knight, I would have literally laughed in your face.
Man was I wrong.
While I don’t think anyone could surpass what Heath did in The Dark Knight, Joaquin sure came close with his performance in Joker. Hats off to the writing and direction for giving Joaquin what he needed to succeed, but even bigger props goes to Joaquin for delivering in a big way. Like Heath, it was the little things that made Joaquin’s Joker so good. The way his face grimaces in pain when he laughs. His voice. The way he shuffles down the street. The pure emotion on his face. Everything about his performance was absolutely incredible, and I don’t want to give too much away...but damn the way he rocks that purple suit and makeup would make even the most hardcore comic book fan shiver.
People are getting a LOT of flack online for sympathising with Phoenix’s character in this film, because after all, he is a mentally ill man who dresses up as a clown and has murderous intentions. However, this notion only stems from people who can’t separate film from reality, and can’t see that the reason people love Arthur Fleck isn’t because they side with a blood-thirsty madman...it’s because they have fallen in love with Joaquin’s incredible acting. There is one scene in particular where Joaquin’s character Arthur finds out something extremely important to his already murky past...and this scene almost made me want to cry because of the way Joaquin sells it. In fact, now that I think about it...there are MULTIPLE scenes in this film that make me want to cry. This is what happens when masterful creative storytelling, incredible visual photography, and breathtaking acting all come together into one beautiful end product...and believe it or not, the last one is the hardest to achieve and the rarest to come by.
Bravo Joaquin. This film would be nothing without you.
Madness Is Like Gravity
One of the best things about this film is the immense respect it has for the source material and the lore of the comics. This was one of my biggest concerns going into the film, but not to worry...as a comic book fan, I left the theater incredibly satisfied with how they treated the character in relation to the lore and source material.
It’s no secret that young Bruce Wayne makes an appearance in this film. It was first widely speculated when the first trailer was released and we saw the eerie images of Arthur Fleck sticking his dirty fingers into that poor child’s mouth, and this was later confirmed when the casting was released. I want to be clear here though. The Wayne family does indeed appear in this film. If you have seen the trailers, I don’t think this is too big of a spoiler. However, this does NOT take focus away from the plot or the main character, Arthur Fleck. The city of Gotham, the lore of the comics, and the brutal realism that Todd Phillips has decided to weave into the fabric of the former two is balanced with absolute mastery. Future directors choosing to helm realistic takes on the DC cinematic universe, should definitely take note.
Now like most people, I was initially very concerned for this movie when it was first announced by Warner Bros. My level of concern was heightened exponentially when I found out that the story that Warner Bros. intended to tell was an origin story of the Joker. Now I don’t mind alternate takes on some of my favorite comic book characters. In fact, I welcome it. I absolutely love the elseworlds stories that randomly sprout out of DC comics from time to time like Superman: Red Son and even The Killing Joke (which was considered cannon at first, but was later labeled otherwise). These alternate takes are often some of my favorites!
….but the Joker is a different animal. The Joker is one of those characters that you simply don’t mess with lore-wise. One of the reasons the Joker works as well as he does in the first place is because his backstory is shrouded in so much mystery. The reason the Joker is so scary is because...like his history...his decisions seem to be completely random and his motivations are nowhere to be seen. These are also many of the same reasons the fans love him so much. To mess with that takes literal balls of steel...so hats off to Todd Phillips for having the cajones to even pitch this film to WB, but to pull off an actual serious origin for the Joker, and still pay homage to the source material and the lore that the fans adore so much is nothing short of a miracle.
Again...this film is special. It’s important. Not just culturally, but thematically and artistically as well. This movie proves that quite literally anything is possible within the genre of comic book films.
All It Takes Is a Little Push
So yes...this film is incredible. If you haven’t seen it yet, and were still debating on whether to go out today, or wait until it’s available at your local Redbox (do those even exist anymore?), I would strongly advise you to go see it. There are no incredible battle scenes. There is no Mjolnier-wielding Captain America. There is no large groups of people running into chaos (actually I take that one back). This is just a story about a dude. It’s a character study on a very unfortunate man who could very easily be plucked out of the fantasy world that Todd Phillips has crafted and placed into the gritty and gruesome world we call home very easily. But unlike most slow-moving character studies, this is one you simply must experience in theaters. The haunting score, the brutality of some of the sequences, and the overall emotions conjured by seeing this poor man go through what he goes through is something I will never forget, and if a simple film about a simple dude can make me want to go spend another $10 just to try and replicate that cinematic experience...you already know it was money well spent.
So plug your ears…cover your eyes...and don’t read into anything the media is saying about this glorious film, and go experience it for yourself. The best way to experience this film is raw and unfiltered.
It’s often the best way to experience anything in life.
Did you like or hate Joker? Please feel free to tell me why in the comments below. I look forward to our interaction.
Until then….
-SAF