Is This Movie for Real?!

Rating: 9/10 (4 October 2019)

When I left the movie theater in 2008 after watching the "Dark Knight," I asked myself "can comic book movies be like this?" Jump to 2019, after leaving the theater from the screening of "Joker," I asked myself again "can comic book movies be like this?" Joker is Todd Phillips' magnum opus that is groundbreaking in its approach to the medium of comic book movies, and is a realistically unsettling look at how society can affect a person to become a heinous criminal. Joaquin Phoenix gives a tour de force performance - every tick, giggle, and movement seemed calculated while he was playing Arthur Fleck and when he inevitably turns into the Joker. In the movie Fleck is introduced as having a condition that makes him laugh uncontrollably, and sometimes when he laughed too hard, Phoenix would grab his chest in pain. As a viewer you can empathize with this individual who is marginalized by society, but at the same Phoenix's multi-layered performance hinted at a darker mind full of malice. Joker is definitely a villain, but Phoenix's performance made him a layered villain.
I know this movie will do well simply because of America's fascination of true crime documentaries and shows. After leaving the theater, my friend who is also a true crime enthusiast let me know that if she hears, reads, or watches something about a shooter/killer in the news or show, she tries to dig deeper into that person's life, social media, etc. to look for clues as to why that person became such a horrible person. This movie really plays to the audience that loves true crime the most, as Phillips documents one person's turn from regular (but troubled) hard working man, to mass serial killer. It isn't a movie for everybody, but if you understand this movie is from the perspective of the villain, and it is a tragic tale of one man's inevitable fall into madness, then this movie becomes so much more.