Twisted & Brilliant

Rating: 9/10 (7 October 2019)

The Movie takes place in a 1980's Gotham City where it's depicted as a city with wealth disparity extreme violence and lack of empathy, the movie stars Joaquin Felix playing a deranged, mentally ill and suicidal character named Arthur Fleck, who lives in poverty with his mother, and working minimum wage jobs in comedy as a party clown, as the movie progresses, life becomes even more miserable as he gets mugged, beat up, humiliated, shown no care or empathy for his mental condition, and having his medical support shut down, and with each event he's growing restless and grows closer to snapping, which he eventually does, killing 3 rich wall street brokers after getting assaulted by them, which inspires a city wide outbreak where the joker is depicted as a hero for killing the rich, which is really this movie's weakest point, as the plot and motive for the poor hating the rich is very superficial, and only works in the case of Arthur, who has a genuine but mistaken hatred for Thomas Wayne (Yes, him) for not helping his mother financially after working for him for 20 or so years, who he decides to confront, first by visiting his home which inevitably fails, and then by sneaking through a crowd of demonstrators wearing Clown masks, into a theater featuring a high end screening of a Charlie Chaplin movie of all people, attended by the wealthiest people in Gotham, including Thomas Wayne, which Arthur successfully confronts in a bathroom, and tells him that his mother was mentally ill and delusional, and reveals that Arthur was adopted, not wanting to accept the reality he had just been dealt, he heads into Gotham's mental hospital and discovers it's all really true, he decides that it's time to fully snap into the Joker persona, he starts by killing his mother, and then, Live on TV, he Shoots Murray, The late night talk show host played by Robert De Niro, who he always watched as a kid, in what could be described as the most shocking scene of murder in a movie, because of it's subtle and abrupt nature, as he's taken into police custody after the event with seemingly no resistance, he escapes by the help of the people who he inspired to riot, he stands up, and draws a smile on his face using his own blood, "yes, he is the Joker", is what that scene would say, if a scene could speak, the final scene is classic joker, shown escaping from Arkham Asylum after killing his therapist, with that trade mark smile.
A few side notes:
the movie pays some respect to comic books, and only the people who read the original stories, would appreciate some scenes, but it's really very subtle as to not leave others clueless, some of those include:
-Arkahm Mental Hospital Scene: where Arthur discovers the truth about his mother.
-Bruce Wayne as a child, along with young Alfred, the Wayne Family's Butler, in the scene where Arthur tries and fails to confront Thomas.
-The Famous Murder of Thomas & Martha Wayne: in a dark alley as young Bruce watches, a thug shoots his parents which happened as part of the riot, which was ok at best, but could've been utilized better, however the classic snap of Martha Wayne's pearl necklace, was quite the homage to comic books.
-Arkham Asylum for the criminally insane: the culminating scene of the movie, Showing Joker escaping Arkham, foreshadowing an endless battle with Batman still to come.
The Movie's sounds were also superb, the lack of sound effects or any instruments, in really intense, moments is very brave, because that means, that there can not be any motivation to feel a certain way, except by what you see, in addition, the sound track "That's Life" was a really good choice for the movie, a sick and twisted character such as the Joker, benefits from it, in the wrong way, which in this movie's case, is the right way.
Verdict:
Joaquin Felix's performance, is Superb, especially, in the beginning, where he is just playing a mentally ill character, which is really difficult to portray, and you can honestly sympathize with, to a character that is exactly the right kind of deranged for a joker character, and you can honestly not sympathize with, the performance is just brilliant, this is truly the most crazy, twisted Joker portrayed on a screen ever, Original, yet paying respect to comic book roots, simply what a Joker movie should be, do yourself a favor and go see it.
9/10 "Twisted & Brilliant"