Warner Bros. and DC Comics step outside the box and made a solo film outside their already established shared cinematic universe. And it focused on a villain instead of a hero. Joker shows the origin of Batman’s most famous adversary. Following 2 already impeccable film performances of the character, how does Joaquin Phoenix hold up? Listen to Cinematic Brotastic to find out.
One thing was very clear in this movie, Joaquin Phoenix’s performance was the driving force behind the whole film. He gave a very real portrayal of someone afflicted with possible mental health issues that unfortunately resulted in a life of murder. One of the defying character flaws in Arther Fleck, played by Phoenix, is his mixed emotions in the literal sense. Fear, sadness, and nervousness or embarrassment, are expressed through laughter, which ultimately alienates Arther from everyone else. This is where Phoenix’s performance really shines. His ability to convey contradicting emotions such as sadness and fear through laughter is something that we Brothers Brotastic are truly amazed by. We may not have the acting chops of the greats, but we have acting experience, and the thought of trying to achieve what Phoenix was able to achieve seems impossible. Phoenix has set the bar high for awards season.
The basic plot of the film at times felt predictable, but that wasn’t necessarily a problem. Once again, it was Phoenix’s performance that had you guessing. What was he going to do in this scene? That scene? It was the individual scenes that were unpredictable, so even though you knew the film was building to a big moment, how it got there was what was truly enjoyable. This being a stand alone film meant that it had no other films to build to, which allowed it a lot of breathing room. That knowledge also helped in knowing that this movie could go in any direction, and that was refreshing.
This film’s depiction of Gotham City was one of the better iterations of its predecessors, TV universes included. It made the city the horrible place that Batman needs to save it from, but not so horrible that any sane person would just leave the city. It made sense why people were still living there.
This film would easily work without any association to DC Comics, but the connection is just icing on top of the cake.
Andrew gives this film 1.5 tickets; It’s good and well worth a viewing, but can be depressing.
Philip gives this film 2 tickets; This film warrants a 2nd viewing to see it again through a new lens.
Until next time, we’ll see you at the movies.
And Don’t forget to check you ticket stubs.
