Honestly, it has problems

Rating: 7/10 (31 December 2019)

I sat down to see this on opening day in the AMC 16 in Denver Co. To my right was a quiet guy by himself and on my left were two uber nerds. I'm a nerd, I could dictate verbatim the publishing background for the Jason Todd death and eventual return in the batman comics. These were uber nerds, like decked out in Batman paraphernalia and looked like the comic guy on the simpsons.
Right about the time the first real violence in the film happens the guy to the right of me starts giggling loudly, this wasn't a funny part. The guys to the left clap a little. The guy on the right giggles off and on for 10 minutes and it suddenly popped in my head "am I gonna die today?" you know because I suddenly remembered I live in colorado, a mere 20 minutes away from the last big massacre at a batman film. Theyd made a big deal in all the prerelease press that this movie would be problematic. It was hype which I figured, but still..I do live in colorado. We all lived through the movie and there was some uncertain clapping at the end. I think half the audience wanted a batman movie and the other half wanted an eye opening controversial drama and honestly, nobody got what they wanted. There were cops at all the exits when I walked out though.
It was a decent movie. Joaquin Phoenix is amazing, as always, and drives the movie to the finish line. Its got a touch of discussion on people today, as ever, "being mean", but largely thats it. I think people who act as though its earth shattering, like its this amazing character study and thought piece of the american psyche have clearly not seen enough movies. It literally is just a palette swap of Taxi Driver and King Of Comedy with JP trading places with Robert De Niro. Not just those two but themes like this have been done many times before. American Beauty and the US of Leland come to mind.
So I think its bias to reward this movie for being "shocking". I'm not by any means anti-"violence in films". I'm just saying this wasn't particularly original. Additionally its got a whole heap of narrative issues. If you get annoyed by plot holes and untrustworthy narrators, this is really not for you. If you wanted a batman movie. Nope its not fun, it is a pure drama after all. I genuinely wish it was "great". It was close. I think with a little better writing it could have been, but largely it rides on its controversial violence and JP's intensity. It now being a few months behind me I cant clearly picture a single scene beyond the few intentionally shocking scenes.