Big deal

Rating: Null/10 (3 October 2019)

Don't trust good reviews. I'm not as impressed. Bad reviews are coming out. Like a critic said: this film doesn't have much to say and says it loudly. Not writing a big spiel; just a couple of points. The Gotham, Arkham world isn't fresh; same old recycled stuff. Seen the TV series 'Gotham'? It's like a bigger budget version of that focusing on Joker compacted into a movie. The film's cinematic and atmospheric. But I preferred Joker's back story in Batman (1989). But this Joker film's too realistic: I don't want a superhero movie (or in this case a super villain movie) set in such a realistic world. Put simply: a guy named Arthur (Joaquin Phoenix) has problems; he lives with his mom; he works as a clown; he's fired and gradually becomes Joker leading a social movement of disgruntled mob-mentality citizens dressed as clowns seeking to overthrow Gotham's elite. In the end there's a riot; the mob-mentality disgruntled citizens of Gotham are dressed as clowns. Wow. As if a TV show would invite a loser like Arthur to be a guest; TV host Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro) makes fun of Joker who at this point's a loser named Arthur trying comedy at a stand up club; a videotaped clip's played and ridiculed on the Murray Franklin TV show: it was that bad. Then Arthur's invited to be a guest on the show; guys like Arthur aren't invited to be guests on David Letterman style TV shows; celebrities are, not mentally ill guys like Arthur. The film's atmosphere and impact. But it lacks substance. I would've liked this as a Batman movie; the epic scale would make for an awesome Batman v Joker. There'll probably be a sequel; hopefully it'll be with Batman kicking ass; Joker isn't interesting enough to justify an entire movie spent on him. A review of Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) pointed out Han Solo's back story isn't interesting. Same here. And it's not like we haven't seen Joker before; Batman (1989) managed to do Joker's story without it taking up the whole movie.