So watched it yesterday with my brother and my oldest nephew.
I liked the last act of the movie, but the rest was meandering and middling. I like that it went with a 'show' element of telling, but it wasn't done in a subtle manner at all, everything is straightforward and upfront in the worst possible way, which is interesting considering the lack of irritating exposition dialogue. They seemed to keep a decent lid on that for the most part.
Joaquin Phoenix did a very good job, particularly with the portrayal of someone with a mental illness, but he was definitely carrying the material. A large portion of Arthur's buildup to revelation is very by-the-numbers: Lives with mother, has mental illness or instability, isolated from others, gets fired from his job(s), treated very poorly by society etc...
Though I did kind of like his private dance moments of expression, which I believe happens several times throughout the film; a channelling of his experiences into a transformation. And also maybe a preface of building into the more theatrical presence that we know The Joker to have.
Some things were a bit too predictable:
and
That aside, I thought it was a brave move to try and have a film where there is little dialogue that seeks to make much of a point, instead opting for us to see what happens to Arthur and those around him in a fairly natural and unfolding way. There isn't any heavy philosophy or moments of clarity aimed at the audience. It's just a ride where the villain is meant to be the system and the rich & powerful who uphold those systems, with people like Arthur being passive victims, driven to their actions by pressures that are ever mounting and far out of their control to influence, in an increasingly uncaring world. We do not have to agree with or admire his actions, but you would have to be extremely dishonest to declare that we aren't meant to empathise with The Joker. Although I know I couldn't survive his life in this movie unscathed, I do know people who possibly could and this is where a character has to draw you in enough that you can see their perspective, because playing the game of who has it worse, or who could deal with worse, is never one with a winner at the end. Unfortunately Arthur Fleck didn't quite do that for me.
This is where there is an interesting contrast with The Joker of the Dark Knight. In the Dark Knight, The Joker is an anonymous vehicle to demonstrate the chaotic helplessness of our most base instincts when placed under extreme pressures and our need for control, this is deliberately in opposition to the tightly-wound control of Batman's ideology, which has rules, or at least just one. Limbic system fight or flight vs the executive functioning of the frontal lobes, that is a constant fight within human beings. And in fact, like with this film, The Joker ultimately triumphs (being momentarily stymied by the boat detonation scene) and we have to resort to a comforting lie in order to cope with the fallout from that victory. But it's a phyrrhic and bitterweet victory, because some people proved they could at least inhabit the impression of a choice (no matter how causally stuck they might be) and not give in to those pressures. The Dark Knight's Joker was channelling the, now infamous, comic version of "one bad day" and in this case, trying to make large groups of people reveal their worst excesses and nature through a shared bad day of experience.
With Fleck's Joker, we are along for the ride and we get to see HIS bad day, perhaps the original bad day in his mind. It just falls a bit flat for me because I'm not entirely sure what I got out of watching it, there are better films for nihilism.
I'd almost say it would have worked better if it wasn't about The Joker and just a person reaching their last straw. But films like Falling Down and Taxi Driver have already done that and better in some areas too.
I agree with [MENTION=11809]Hive[/MENTION] and [MENTION=30038]The Cat[/MENTION] that this could easily just be a one-off character who inspires or demonstrates how someone like The Joker could come to be. If this were to be continued as the actual Joker I share the same thoughts on the incongruency of his age in relation to Bruce Wayne and his lack of charisma, intelligence, scheming and characteristics that would make him a challenge for Batman. Maybe that's not important though.
In any case, it was interesting to see a version of The Joker that was vulnerable rather than making others vulnerable, who was socially offputting, but also socially maladapted and decidedly uncharismatic. It would be interesting if they could even make that character transition into a more recognisible Joker, without essentially rewriting him beyond all recognition.
I think I may get more from this movie on repeated watchings, but I ultimately found it a bit lacking in that it didn't draw me in at any point, nor did I get that tingle at the back of my mind when something truly makes me think or realise something. It didn't say anything I hadn't heard before, or it didn't do so in a way that captured my attention.
Maybe that's just my issue and the way I approached the film, but who cares? Judging by audience reactions the film will have the last laugh anyhow.
