Okay movie elevated considerably by its lead performance

Rating: 6/10 (5 November 2019)

This is "Joker", a 2019 movie and the title is really telling what/who it is about. But first things first: The director is Todd Phillips and he is also one of several writers working on the screenplay for this 2-hour movie. Phillips is still mostly known for his Hangover films probably and in general for his collaborations with Zach Galifianakis. So gently-speaking, the filmmaker's career is not exactly filled with projects that were received greatly by critics. This one here is no exception either. General movie-goers apparently really loved it, but critics not so much. A bit like Bohemian Rhapsody not too long ago. That one I really adored though, this one here not so much. Still I am a big Joaquin Phoenix fan and as such, it is impossible to give the film a thumbs-down overall. He is the movie. And I am really glad he plays the title character because otherwise I maybe would not have liked it at all. Not just because of personal preference, but also because Phoenix really is that good from beginning to end and he is in almost every scene. Not too long ago, Jared Leto played the Joker (Batman's nemesis) and there was a lot of hype surrounding his turn that quickly vanished because he really did not have too much screen time at all and stayed pale in comparison to Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn. But lets not drift away from this film here now. For Phoenix, all the hype is justified and well-deserved. I think he is still up there and a potential contender for the Oscar win this year with his nomination pretty much a safe deal and I read that it could be between him and Adam Driver and I like both for being slightly oddball, so I certainly approve. Of course with stuff like Her, The Master and my personal favorite Walk the Line under his belt, it is arguable if this one here should be the movie for which he gets a golden statuette, but I still hope he does. If we consider Daniel Day-Lewis retired now, he is probably the best actor working right now and as he is still under 50, that is quite impressive. At least in my opinion, but he is just so consistent and constantly adds depth to his characters in a way where you feel nobody else could have done it this well. He does so much with his eyes. Okay you get the message, I thought he was an amazing Joker.
Sadly I cannot say the same about the film itself really. There are good moments here and there, no denying at all, but I was still not satisfied with the script I must say. It felt to me that, most of all, they were taking the safe route basically and going the way where it would obviously be a crowd pleaser, but somehow I must say that the film felt zero daring to me. Even the interactions with the Wayne family that could easily really have been goosebump material, felt a bit shoddy and for the sake of it all. I did like, however, that the way things seemed to turn out we thought it would definitely be the Joker who kills Bruce's father in the end because of the personal connection, but it was just one of his "army" eventually and it does not matter who did it. Joker is not really getting his hands dirty at that point anymore, he has others who do so for him. Also pay attention to how everybody who means something to him early on (his mother, De Niro's character most of all) are killed by him. I must say I did wonder though how they did not try to catch him after he strangles his mother. I mean as for the colleague at his apartment, it made more sense because the time between that and the show appearance was perhaps too short. But still the cops were following him and that was accurate. There, however, Clownmania was already going on in full force you could say. Big enough though for police not to go to the studio and arrest him right away? I would say I disagree. In general, this is a film where you can never really be sure how much of it is real and how much just happens in the protagonist's head. Like his relationship with the neighbor, but that is just the obvious one where we know it is fake, even if I did not see it coming. Of course also the relationship between his mother and Mr. Wayne (okay that seemed fairly far-fetched from the beginning, I mean Joker cannot be Batman's half-brother can he?) or the medical condition he has in terms of laughing or the idea about De Niro's character early on almost acting like a father figure to him in front of the camera, which most likely was fake too because there were no references later on that it was not his first time on the show. So this is a film that will certainly play with your head continuously because the only moments you can be 100% sure they are real and actually happening are those that include a great deal of violence, such as the killing of the three young men on the subway. Or the talk show host murder. Or the killing of his mother? Or maybe is that fake too? I mean it is a big step, even if she did invent the relationship with Bruce's dad. He really really cares for her. And he won't kill the colleague who always treated him well. I thought it was a psycho trick that he left the door closed and tthe guy is too small to reach the knob/key, but no he really just forgot it and lets him go eventually. He is a psychopath yes, but with his very own unpredictable style. Of course, there are aside from that these moments with all the over-the-top laughing, most notably when he visits the comedy show and laughs each and every time everybody else stays quiet and stays quiet himself when they are laughing at the punch lines. Now that was kinda hilarious because of how awkward it felt and also very telling because we saw how he totally did not fit in with everybody else, the average people.
Okay, I think this would be pretty much all then. I mentioned some of the scenes that stayed most memorable to me. Maybe, most likely, you have different scenes that fit the description for you and that is perfectly fine because there are so many to pick from. There is hardly one that is really weak and I think the running time was accurate too and I don't say that too often about 2-hour movies that they should not have kept it a bit shorter on some occasions, so you can see it as a compliment. But like I mentioned previously already, those scenes that did stand out mostly did so because of Phoenix giving it his best and not really because of great writing. I think the dialogue writing was still a bit better than the writing of the action and what the characters were doing compared to saying, which sometimes made me forgot about the relatively weak ways in which the story was progressing. This also applies especially to the idea of everybody getting more and more crazy out there somehow. There is a fairly memorable quote from Fleck (Joker in his "human form") about that that they really could have made a lot with (also they included it in the trailer) story-wise, but the way they included the clown army for example felt really out of nowhere and it did not make too much sense to me. Okay we get it. Gotham is not at a good place to be right now, but with such a movement you just have to come up with a better explanation and elaboration and lead us there more convincingly. Okay that would be all then I liked and disliked about this film. It certainly won't make it into my top10 movies of the year and if it gets in at the Oscars for Best Picture, that is too much I think, but I wish Phoenix all the luck he can have for upcoming awards season because his turn here can really be described as greatness. There was always a lot of arguing about who's the best Joker. Nicholson? Ledger? Hamill? Romero? There is definitely a new name that can be added to the discussion now. All in all, the film gets a thumbs-up from me.