What is amazing about Joker starring Joaquin Phoenix and directed by Todd Philips is that most stories today are so infinitely disturbing that they are not made today. While much of what Joker might be assumed for being too pretentious is the idea that Joker in much of any Batman telling has always never given Joker the credit for becoming the monster he is. What the movie does intend to do is paint the Wayne family as more corrupt than they intend to be. Through Bruce Waynes parents they are saints but in Alfred Peck the real name of the Joker seems as though he is misunderstood an outsider to society as he stands and works as an entertainer dancing as a clown but when his sign is stolen and he is beaten up everything that happens to Alfred seems like it is his fate to become the Killer Clown of the Batman series but it makes sure that we are in Jokers mind the entire time.
It never gives anyone else the spotlight and true Batman fans want to see whats inside the Joker. The Batman: TellTale series could be more of a inspiration while much of it is like a play off of Martin Scorseses Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy. What Joker intends is not the same as those who would paint the Clown criminal as just another crazy person. Maybe borrowing from Alan Moore the movie seems intentionally dark and wades through his mind without ever letting up. The movie is a reminder that someone is made a criminal not born one. Joaquin Phoenix is the best Joker since Heath Ledgers passing and he seems ready to win an Oscar for this performance but overall for the entirety of his career. Its not like we havent seen Joker before. There is a certain hamminess in every telling of the Joker even through Mark Hammills voice over narration but Joaquin Phoenixs ability to make any character relatable is what drives the idea that we are rooting for the Joker even when we shouldnt. On Joe Roegans Podcast Rob Zombie cites that he was always inspired by the Outsider" and Joker is an example of an outsider that we should not fear but also see as someone who was underrepresented as in the movie he is dropped from his caseworker who tells him They dont give a shit about you" and they really dont give a shit about me."
Its a problem when the world has given up on you and somehow Alfred seems to realize this all the time. What makes Joker palpable is that its willingness to be bold in the face of a cancel culture and PC outrage that this will only make the movie ten times as popular. The more angry reviews the more people will go see it. As it is deliberately slow its inviting us into the Jokers world and with each scene we see Arthur Peck become the Joker with Joaquins brilliant performance. We also see that the Outsider is what movies have not returned to and Joker capitalizes on it masterfully. What political allegories it makes today is not the topic. The prescient notion that we can all become uninvited from the system is why villains such as Joker exist. Its turning the poor and disadvantaged into villains who were not supposed to be villains in the first place. What we see is that crazy people shouldnt be hated.
They are sick and while most would not feel bad for Alfred is that we the audience must take sympathy for Alfred who is as alone as he wants attention for his comedy. Making the association that all failed artists become killers is not what the movie intends to make either. There is a dance between crazy person and artist but the movie in itself reminds us that we are not in Batmans shoes. Knowing that Joker is related to Bruce Wayne is what makes the movie easier to swallow because all of his pain is justified by the end of the movie but its all up to interpretation. His rise to leader of a revolution is not what makes Joker charismatic but a leader of the poor and disadvantaged. Its a deception to think that while Joker is the villain the movie proves that the overwhelming sense of duty to your visions is what makes the movie seem even more daring in the face of cancel culture and PC outrage. Its easier to make Joker a villain but what Todd Philips and Joaquin Phoenix have done is make Joker a mystery and not some compact villain in another Batman movie.
Sometimes a writer can make Joker too funny while never doting on the serious side of the Killer Clowns perspective. It didnt seem to be associated with DC comics and that was a sigh because the movie proved that it was not corporate sponsored drivel. Its a film that rivals any Marvel movie and did what no Marvel movie could do deal with the darkness of a character that brings you into that world but no matter the cost the movie does achieve one thing. It embraced the darkness that not even Christopher Nolan could achieve with his Dark Knight Trilogy and leaves us wondering if a film like this can survive public outcry today. It will be remembered. Definitely for the Batman fans but also those of cinema. A Masterpiece.
Louis Bruno is an author and independent journalist and his books can be found on Amazon Lulu and elsewhere books are sold. His newest book The God of Curiosity comes out in 10/11/19.
