Joker

I saw Joker yesterday.

Let me begin with a warning that this is a dark, heavy and violent movie. I would not file with other super-hero movies. Rather I would file it with movies like Taxi Driver and Clockwork Orange.



So, don't expect to like this movie if you liked Wonder Woman and Spider Man. Your decision should see it should depend almost not at all on knowing about or keeping up with the Batman story line.

Many comparisons could be made to Taxi Driver. It may not be a coincidence that Robert De Niro plays a major roll in the movie. We also see the same kind of high and grin that Alex got from violence in Clockwork Orange on the face of Arthur/Joker.

Joker tells the story of a very mentally disturbed aspiring stand-up comedian as he faces being victimized by street thugs, his medication being cut off and getting fired from his job as a clown. In a spontaneous act of self defense, he kills three people, and gradually realizes he enjoyed it. I won't take it any further than that.

My review? I thought it was outstanding. This will probably be the movie Joaquin Phoenix is remembered for, much as Heather Ledger was for playing the same character. Everyone in the movie rose to the occasion. It all comes together perfectly. I am not saying everybody will like it. In fact, I think this is the kind of movie most people will either hate or love. Some may take issue with portraying a murderer in a sympathetic light and provoking class envy, but I don't.

I welcome all comments, especially by those who actually saw the movie.

Another movie I'll never see. Way too
many well written and thought out
negative reviews. Everybody says
Phoenix did a great job, then go on
to write paragraphs about how the
rest was really really bad. Many say
it's exploiting mental illness and
that's enough for me to never
go near it.

What a difficult movie to see. It was I think the saddest movie I ever saw, but I feel it was important as well. I don't even really think they can work this new take on the Joker into the Batman world as Batman clearly has never heard of the Joker before he appears in the movies. Anyway I think they just used the Joker character to critique the reality of our world today and how important it is to care for the materially poor and those who struggle with mental illness.

Quote: FrGamble

Anyway I think they just used the Joker character to critique the reality of our world today and how important it is to care for the materially poor and those who struggle with mental illness.

Amen to that!

I didn't like the movie. The character is not likeable in any way. It is basically just a sad movie with sad characters with almost no connection to the audience. Other than the joker there is no character development, no interesting sub plots. To me it's an "Emporer has no clothes" type movie. I think it's bad, but people are afraid to say it....

Quote: SOOPOO

I didn't like the movie. The character is not likeable in any way. It is basically just a sad movie with sad characters with almost no connection to the audience. Other than the joker there is no character development, no interesting sub plots. To me it's an "Emporer has no clothes" type movie. I think it's bad, but people are afraid to say it....

I agree.

It’s a very pointless movie. And I don’t like this take on the Joker. The Joker is an anarchist criminal mastermind, not some mentally ill schmuck.

Quote: SOOPOO

I think it's bad, but people are afraid to say it....

Maybe afraid here, not on the
movie forums. A ton of people
say it's the worst movie they've
seen in 20 years.

I got sucked in the other night.
I always read reviews, that's
what they're for. So you know
what you're getting and can
save time by weeding out the
junk. Time Trap, looked it up,
read too fast, it was late, and
watched it. Absolutely awful.
No story, no acting, no
production budget. I went back
and read again and it's one of the
worst movies ever made.

You have to be careful with reviews.
Often people who hate a movie
will write a glowing review to
suck others in like they got sucked
in. Only trust negative reviews,
nobody will go to the trouble
of writing 4 detailed paragraphs
of bad things about a good movie.

I decided to see what Google delivers on the question: "Movies without plots."

One I was familiar with, "The Breakfast Club". Sort of has a plot. But not much of one I guess.

All the complaints made here about Joker could be made about Taxi Driver and I've never heard a negative comment about that movie.

Quote: Wizard

All the complaints made here about Joker could be made about Taxi Driver and I've never heard a negative comment about that movie.

Richard Schickel (TIME Magazine August 30, 2009) states that "[Scorsese] seems to need scripts with well-designed humor and performers with the spirit of Ellen Burstyn to compensate for what seems to be a fundamentally depressed view of life and the belief that sobriety is the equivalent of seriousness."

Stephanie Zacharek (TIME Magazine August 31, 2019) states that "Phillips may want us to think he's giving us a movie all about the emptiness of our culture, but really, he's just offering a prime example of it."

So TIME Magazine gave a negative review of both movies.

Rotten Tomatoes critics for Taxi Driver: Fresh (82) | Rotten (2)
Rotten Tomatoes critics for The Joker: Fresh (333) | Rotten (156)