Joker Review (Contains spoilers)
After watching the new Joker movie I had to write down my thoughts on it. I will start with an overview without spoilers, and warn you before diving into the spoiler territory.
The basic overview: I liked it. It’s a slow burn movie that slowly amps up the drama and action as it goes until you’re in the thick of things and you didn’t even realize it.
This movie is not a “super hero movie”. There are no super powers, no amazing acts that couldn’t be explained, no huge fight scenes nothing like that. Just a man, and his slow decent into madness. And certainly no heroes to be found.
Parts of the movie are rather brutal, and at times the imagery is unsettling. The way Joaquin Phoenix moves his body, and laughs for no reason, just set your nerves rattling. He is absolutely the star of this movie making it the horror ride that it is, able to set your nerves on end just by being there.
Is it worth seeing in theaters? If you don’t want to be spoiled on the movie before seeing it, then yes. There are no super amazing FX shots, or grand beautiful sets to watch. On the contrary it’s visceral, dirty, and dingy throughout. But there is another part of the theater experience that might be worth it as well. Sitting in a dark theater with others around you while you watch this mans life turn into a beautiful train wreck….there’s something amazing about it.
Lastly, before the spoilers, The Joker is more thought provoking than most super hero flicks. There is no true moral, no clear path through the plot line. There are more questions at the end then answer, and it is all an amazing thing to watch, and many of us that love it want to see it again so that we can pick apart the mysteries and discover more.
Now for the spoilers.
The Film Theorist did an interesting theory about Joker based around the trailers, and how he may be suffering from schizophrenia. It’s a fantastic theory, and after seeing the movie it is even probable. At the very least he has a brain injury, and probably PTSD, among other things.
What is true about The Joker is that ….there is no way to know for sure how much of what we see on the screen actually happened, and how much of it is all in his mind. Joker is an unreliable narrator. It is absolutely possible that the whole story is a joke running inside his head.
There are parts were we are specifically shown that the story is in his mind. The relationship with his neighbor is a perfect example. But there are other places in the movie that are blends of reality and fantasy, until you aren’t entirely sure how much was the truth.
Even the part of the film showing how the people rise up to join the joker is suspect because, while it does have real world correlations, the mass violence isn’t necessarily caused by him. He may have influenced it, but it was already brewing under the surface long before he took action, and the ending where the crowds gather around him as some sort of martyr could very well be his mind twisting reality for his purposes. In fact the ending jumps from him in a crowd of people to him in the asylum, so you don’t know how he got there, or what happened.
In fact the question of reality verses fantasy starts at the very beginning of the movie, and we didn’t even know it. At the beginning of the movie he sits down with his councilor and she asks him “Do you remember why you were in the asylum?” From that point it seems as if he completes his session, takes his pills, and goes home. But what if he didn’t? What if instead of him going home the counselor was actually asking “do you remember why you are here in the asylum?” and he was replaying the events that got him there as he remembered them. Or at least as he thought he remembered them. Then it is possible the entire story from that point on is a memory, broken and twisted as they were.
But the true horror of the film isn’t the blood, or his uncanny movements, or even his killing spree. The true horror is the way society shaped him, and molded an already broken man to create a monster. The question we, as the audience, are faced with: did I cause someone to fall? Because there isn’t one big thing that causes Joker to break. No, this is death by a thousand cuts. Each little hurt, each beating, every time he is derided, ignored, or laughed at. The lies from his mother. Loosing his job. They all join together to make him what he is at the end of the film. A person who no longer cares about society since society never gave a damn about him.
Upper Echelon called it a mirror being held up to society, and he did a fantastic breakdown of Joker, and how it reflects modern society so well.
There is also everything happening in the background. A man running for mayor that calls all the dregs of society clowns. Gangs over running a city. Lack of resources for the poor. Mental health facilities being shut down. And all of the protesters in the streets screaming “death to capitalism.” They want to tear down the society that failed them, just as much as Joker did. And we can see a correlation in modern society with the various protests that have broken out over the last decade, and how they have gotten increasingly more violent.
In the very last scene we see the crowds indiscriminately destroy small businesses, ambulances, police cars, homes, and everything else they can get their hands on. It has descended into complete chaos and anarchy. And the sad part is I can’t even tell you that would never happen. Riots have happened in many cities across the world, and once the mobs become violent they no longer care who they are aimed at.
The horror in this movie may focus on Joker, but it is not limited to him.
I know that I will want to watch this movie again. There are intricate parts I want to tear apart and dissect. So many small things were involved in it that just make it resoundingly interesting. And as an author it is the masterpiece of story telling that really drew me in.
If you haven’t seen Joker yet I would highly recommend it.
