Pretentious and Grim

Rating: 6/10 (13 October 2019)

Taxi Driver probably was not trying to be like another film, and it emerged as one of the greatest films of all time. Rather than trying to be itself, Joker tries really, really hard to be Taxi Driver, which misses the point of what innovative filmmaking is. Arthur Fleck is a mentally-ill loser who lives a miserable life, and audiences get to share his misery for two hours. Much as the film strives to be like Taxi Driver, Joaquin Phoenix strives to be Travis Bickle or at least outdo Heath Ledger, which makes Phoenix's difficult performance pale by comparison. This Joker is such a loser that he seem improbable to become a worthy nemesis for Batman.