Todd Phillips just graduated to the big leagues

Rating: 10/10 (7 October 2019)

Looking at this from a business perspective...the career move that director Todd Phillips made was brilliant. It was a brilliant move but I wasn't totally certain it would make for a brilliant film - I wasn't sure if he had it in him. As he's stated in recent interviews, he hit a point where he felt he could no longer make crude comedies for an American audience, which is what he's been known for (The Hangover trilogy, Old School, etc), and I feel that completely. So where do you go from there? Considering comic book movies are one of the only types of movies that get large production budgets in 2019, he takes an iconic comic book character, takes one of the most intense and interesting A-list actors we have working, and instead of making another carbon-copy, commercialistic, and fully forgettable CGI-fest full of fart jokes and giant robots getting knocked over, he makes a movie with some actual psychological depth! What a way to work around this troubled system! One must generally adapt in order to capitalize.
As far as the film itself, I knew Phillips and Phoenix would create something entertaining, but I could not have expected the sheer masterpiece they pulled off. From every angle... the writing, the directing, the editing, the photography, the pacing - it's all impeccable and I am beyond impressed. There's not a dull moment and every single scene plays an important role in the tension-building and the unfolding of every little plot element. And, of course, the acting... this could be very well be the greatest performance of Joaquin Phoenix's career, which is a colossal statement considering his mountain of phenomenal films, and the fact that he might be my #1 of this era. Literally every shot where Phoenix is on the screen disperses an outpour of complex emotions - never just one, always a smorgasbord, like when you've eaten half an eighth of mushrooms and they've just begun kicking in, and you feel entirely overwhelmed. There were more psychological twists than I was expecting and they had me pretty stirred up as they piled atop each other.
As far as all the negative press around this movie, I find it all almost entirely off base and misdirected. Sarcastic comments like "Finally, a movie for angry white men who can't get everything they want"... as if there has never been any other films about any psychopaths, maniacs, criminals, or serial killers who also happen to be white men, which have been praised endlessly for decades? Simultaneously we have oodles of people praising shows like MINDHUNTER, with no negative press, while JOKER is getting attacked. They are both about the same thing...psychotic serial killers. That's what this is... an intricate character study about a blossoming psychopath and killer, which also happens to include a multitude of themes that can be aligned with societal obstacles we are currently facing in reality. Yes, you put yourself in the villain's shoes, and you feel fractions of the pain that villain is feeling, but the point is not to GLORIFY or CELEBRATE such darkness, but rather to wallow in it just long enough to feel disrupted then get the hell out of there and go back to your normalcy. JOKER has a lot of heart, a lot of blood pumping through it's veins, and a working brain too - it's actually the most human movie I have seen this year, with the most depth.
I could say a lot more, but I will wrap up instead. I had a smile plastered across my face for 75% of this movie, as I was constantly blown away by either some element of what I was seeing. The other 25% I was scared, sad, or excited - but I was never bored. Not for a second. Every MOMENT was stimulating, and meticulously crafted. This is actually one of the only truly masterful movies I have EVER seen based off of a comic book character - not only is it special in that sense, but it's also boosted Todd Phillips to the league of legendary filmmakers. I'm curious to see if this is a chance one-off, or if Phillips will carry on as a dramatic filmmaker, after going above and beyond with this one. 10 out of 10, in my opinion.