Joker

***Joker*** is a 2019 American psychological thriller film directed by Todd Phillips, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Scott Silver. The film, based on DC Comics characters, stars Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker and provides a possible origin story for the character. Set in 1981, it follows Arthur Fleck, a failed clown and aspiring stand-up comedian whose descent into insanity and nihilism inspires a violent countercultural revolution against the wealthy in a decaying Gotham City. Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Glenn Fleshler, Bill Camp, Shea Whigham and Marc Maron appear in supporting roles. Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, Joker was produced by Warner Bros. Pictures and DC Films in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, Bron Creative and Joint Effort.

## Why And How Arthur Became The Joker

1. It's a great take on mental illness and bullying and how it affects the victim in a suspenseful way fitting for a psychological thriller.
2. The movie draws inspiration from classic films with similar themes such as *The King of Comedy* and *Taxi Driver*.
	* Robert De Niro's casting in the movie as talk show host Murray Franklin is fitting, given his role in *The King of Comedy* and Phoenix's role as the Joker is almost a mirror reflection of De Niro's role as Travis Bickle in *Taxi Driver*.
3. Unlike other recent DC films that tried too hard to be dark and edgy, Joker manages to be dark and serious by doing it correctly and the dark tone of the film actually helps narrative.
4. Joaquin Phoenix does an amazing job playing the Joker. His performance is extremely flawless and beautiful. While Heath Ledger did a great job with the Joker in *The Dark Knight*, Phoenix's performance is as great as the former, if perhaps even better. Just like Ledger, he also earned a Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of the character.
5. Arthur Fleck's a very compelling character, as he goes through a ton of difficult stuff in his life, like bullying and such. He also has a ton of character development as he transforms into the Joker. His struggles also make the viewer want to be thrown into his world so that they can experience how he was treated.
	* The film also works with Arthur's mental illness as it sometimes makes it harder for the viewer to know whether the events he's experiencing are real or not.
	* The narrative also accurately portrays how Arthur's mental health progressively worsens through the film, as he begins the movie as a sympathetic tragic person who continuously becomes more violent until he becomes a truly terrible person and a killer.
	* While Arthur's conditions make him a sympathetic victim, his actions are still criminal and the movie does appropriately paint him as a villain.
6. The famous scene where Joker dances down West 167 Street's step stairs to the tune of "Rock and Roll Part 2" before he gets chased by the cops is amazing and made said stairs a touristic attraction shortly after its release.
7. The movie spreads a strong message on hatred, unfair class systems, the dangers of long-term suppression of emotions, abuse towards the mentally ill and many other issues with how Arthur is treated by society and his ever-degrading mental state. It also talks about how cruel people can be to others.
	* This serves as one the movie's greatest themes; you realise how right he is, because when you look hard, the world really is an incredibly cruel and unfair place, making it easier to sympathize with Arthur, and/or, relate to him more. This treatment is well summarized by these two quotes: "*Oh, why is everybody so upset about these guys? If it was me dying on the sidewalk, you'd walk right over me! I pass you every day and you don't notice but these guys, what, because Thomas Wayne went and cried about on TV?*" and "*Everybody just yells and screams at each other: nobody's civil anymore! Nobody thinks what it's like to be the other guy!*".
8. The scene where the Joker is on Murray Franklin's talk show and goes on a lengthy rant about how society abandoned him and treated him like trash before pulling out a gun and blowing a hole through Franklin's head is absolutely disturbing, yet exciting to watch.
9. While the violent moments are infrequent when they do happen, they're intense enough and cool to make the viewer feel shocked or awkward with the psychological implications behind the violence.
10. At the end of the film, we get to see Bruce Wayne's parents getting gunned down by one of the Joker's fans, allowing us to see a glimpse of Bruce Wayne before he became Batman.
11. The movie also has some funny moments without overshadowing the dark tone, such as when the Joker cracks an incredibly inappropriate joke on Murray Franklin's talk show about a woman's son being run over and killed by a drunk driver.
12. Despite the film is supposed to be dark, there were some heartwarming moments too like when Arthur cheering up the kid on the bus.
13. It uses the old Warner Bros. "Big W" logo from the 1980s at the beginning, fitting with the time period this movie is set in.
14. It's a very different take on a comic-based movie, presenting it less as an action blockbuster and more of a character study, and it's refreshing to see.
15. Hildur Guðnadóttir's musical score is awesome, particularly when Arthur dances in the bathroom, giving a haunting, sinister theme to the dance.
16. Director Todd Phillips captures the charm of his films, but instead of comedy, its a crime thriller.
17. The cinematography is *perfect* and stunning, which it ends up being nominated at 92nd Academy Awards for Best Cinematography, which makes the movie a pleasure to watch.

## Bad Qualities

1. Although the movie's tackling of mental illness is profound, there are some inaccuracies. Some examples include:
	* The pseudobulbar affect, a medical condition that causes people to laugh uncontrollably, is a physical disorder rather than a mental disorder.
	* Given his severe declining mental condition towards the end of the movie, Arthur shouldn't have been able to outsmart the detectives. He shouldn't be able to interact with the interviewers after donning the full Joker outfit.
2. Despite being the Joker's future archenemy as Batman, Bruce Wayne barely has anything to do in the film and just has one single line, while having two scenes such as meeting Arthur in the Wayne manor, and leaving the movie theater with his parents from a riot caused by the Joker.
3. Some commenters say that Brett Cullen and Carrie Louise Putrello are too old to play Bruce Wayne's parents, making them look like his grandparents.

## Reception

### Critical and audience response

*Joker* was polarized by critics, but received widespread acclaim from audiences. Although Phoenix's performance, the direction, editing, musical score and the cinematography were heavily praised, the dark tone, portrayal of mental illnesses and graphic violence divided opinion and generated concerns of inspiring real-world violence; the movie theater where the 2012 Aurora, Colorado mass shooting occurred during a screening of *The Dark Knight Rises* refused to show it out of respect for the victims. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a "fresh" approval rating of 68% based on 544 reviews, with an average rating of 7.22/10. The verified audience approval rating is at 88%, with an average rating of 4.44/5 from over 66,000 ratings. The site's critical consensus reads: "*Joker* gives its infamous central character a chillingly plausible origin story that serves as a brilliant showcase for its star – and a dark evolution for comics-inspired cinema." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 59 out of 100 based on 60 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". The average user score is much higher, with a score of 9.1/10 from over 6000 ratings. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it an overall positive score of 84% (with an average 4 out of 5 stars) and a 60% "definite recommend." According to IMDb and Letterboxd, the film collected score of 8.4/10 and 3.9/5 ratings.

### Box office

*Joker* became a major box office success and set records for an October release. It was the first ever R-rated film to gross more than $1 billion worldwide and became the sixth-highest grossing film of 2019 (managing to outgross *mh:awfulmovies:Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker* by over $105,000).

### Awards

*Joker* has been nominated for, and won, multiple awards, including the Golden Lion at the 76th Venice International Film Festival. It was also nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, which it lost to *Parasite*, though it did end up winning Best Actor for Joaquin Phoenix and Best Original Score.

### Sequel

The film was intended to be a standalone film with no sequels, although Warner Bros. intended for it to launch DC Black, a line of DC Comics-based films unrelated to the DCEU with darker, more experimental material. On November 20, 2019, The Hollywood Reporter announced that a sequel was in development, with Phillips, Silver, and Phoenix expected to reprise their duties; however, Deadline Hollywood reported the same day that The Hollywood Reporter's story was false and that negotiations had not even begun. Phillips responded to the reports by saying that he had discussed a sequel with Warner Bros. and it remained a possibility, but it was not in development. Phillips also confirmed that the upcoming film *The Batman* would not be set in the same continuity as Joker. During an interview with Variety at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, Phillips expressed interest in a spin-off focusing on Batman, saying, "It's a beautiful Gotham. What I would like to see someone tackle is what Batman looks like from that Gotham. I'm not saying I'm going to do that. What was interesting to me about the inclusion of Batman in our movie was, 'What kind of Batman does that Gotham make?' That's all I meant by that." On May 5, 2021, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that a *Joker* sequel was planned. By May 27, director Todd Phillips had reportedly signed on to write a sequel. It is confirmed that the sequel will be musical movie. The sequel title is *Joker: Folie à Deux*.

## Trivia

* A 4Chan prank started a month before the movie was released, it was about the movie encouraging gamers to go start shooting after watching the movie, which let to many journalists report it warning others from the movie, it even made the Aurora, Colorado theater refuse to show the movie in there to avoid another shooting.
* Martin Scorsese originally was about to produce the film, but backed out as that.
* This was the first film to debut the new Village Roadshow Pictures logo, although the logo is still at the end.

Template:Village Roadshow Pictures

## External Links

* Template:IMDb
* Template:Rotten Tomatoes
* Template:Metacritic
* Template:Letterboxd