Joker Movie Review

People often say that comic book movies are kiddish, too unrealistic and not for adults. Well, my friend, if you are one of them who had such an opinion, I have the movie just for you, and that is Joker.

Joker isn't your typical drama that unfolds exactly as you would expect. This is a movie that has some truly phenomenal acting, a very personal and interesting story about a character whose origins we know very little about, and excellent screenplay and direction.


(Source: IMDb https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7286456/)

What makes this movie great is that you never know what to expect next. You are really engrossed and your eyes glued to the screen, thanks to some good cinematography, and mesmerizing BGM (thanks to Hildur Guðnadóttir, who has previously done Chernobyl (2019) and Arrival (2016), so you know where she's coming from), and great directing overall. Each and every scene felt raw, original, intriguing and unique. Every single scene and every aspect of the story were being shown to you in a different manner here, thus making you very excited to see how it is going to go. You never feel bored for even a single second, which is surprising considering that the movie does not have much action in it.

The biggest challenge this movie has pulled off, which many haven't been able to, is to focus completely on a disturbed character who is clearly turning towards evil and make him into a protagonist, where you feel a little dirty that you root for him, despite him performing such evil acts. The transformation from Arthur Fleck, a up and coming stand-up comedian with some troubles to the Joker, an egotistical megalomaniac, the agent of chaos, was done very smoothly, both from character standpoint and acting. The movie makes you ask some puzzling questions about mental illness, the society we live in, and our attitude towards others, that were interesting to ponder upon.

Let me reiterate this again. Joaquin Phoenix's acting is amazing! The movie relied entirely on his performance, and may not have been this good, if not for him. He has clearly poured his heart and soul into the movie, and you can see the level of effort and dedication he has put in towards playing Joker. He steals each and every scene he's in, as he is able to bring out the many emotions he goes through as Arthur. You are able to clearly resonate why he became the way he does. Credit to all this goes to Phoenix, who has done an excellent job, and he definitely deserves an Oscar for this.

The last 20 minutes of the film completely elevated the film to such great extents, that I legit got goosebumps! Without giving away any spoilers, there is a scene towards the end of the film at a traffic signal, and my God, that whole scene almost made me tear up. It was just a beautiful moment, and I would re-watch the last 20 minutes a 1000 times.

Although this is a movie that exists separately outside the whole "DC Cinematic Universe" and other comic book movies, and despite being an origin story, I still feel that people would appreciate Joker much more if they have been exposed to the character before, most preferably through Heath Ledger's portrayal in the movie "The Dark Knight". One would then better appreciate certain character traits that the Joker has, for example, the "laugh". Phoenix brings to life the iconic Joker laugh to perfection. I love the fact that they had a pretty solid story around it, and it was incorporated very well into the movie.

Kudos to DC for taking the bold decision to take a separate movie on a character almost everyone loves and is curious about, and the decision to keep it rated A, thus being able to tell the dark, gritty story without any restraints. DC, you have finally cracked the code to make a "dark" movie and its storytelling in the right way. You finally did it, my friend...Please retain Todd Philips and Joaquin Phoenix for future projects, I cannot wait to see more stuff like this.

In summary, I loved every single second of this movie, and I genuinely can't think of any faults or nitpicks. Not for one second do you feel that this is a comic book movie. It is an Oscar-worthy drama that unfolds beautifully like opening a gift you so lovingly received.

Joker gets a perfect 10/10 for me.