JOKER

I have always like Batman, when it came to DC I figure he was by far the best. One of the biggest things he has going for him though is a memorable rogues gallery. Let's be honest some are just bad ones and have been shelved over the years but some are some of the most iconic villains in comics and 1 tops them all. The most iconic of all is the Joker. I dunno I have always been drawn to him, a few times (With years in between) I have been him for Halloween. I have started an origin story, ya I know it supposed to be a mystery but it is still fun to write. Maybe the only fan fic. I have ever tried. But why is he such an icon? I am gonna get into that and review the new Joker movie.

Without an origin who doesn't want to identify with the Joker? He literally does whatever he wants, without any worries about what will happen. Have you worked in retail? Customer service? Been screamed at for no reason but had to take it? Wouldn't you love to scream back, lash out? (Maybe not in the Joker homicidal way) But wouldn't you love it?? I think deep down everyone can someone identify with a person who does whatever he wants and answers to no one. Plus screw Daredevil, Joker is the man without fear. When sprayed with fear toxin nothing happened he simply attacked Scarecrow. Fearless, carefree, sounds great except for the whole homicidal maniac thing.

He is also an icon in the DC universe. If something really bad needs done, like Superman needs driven insane to set up Injustice.... Get Mr. J to do it. The worst things to ever happen to the Bat family are done by Joker. Hell this movie even makes him responsible for Bruce becoming Bats. (I don't like that BTW. I mean its cool but we will get there) So yes he is an icon, there is a reason he got an origin story movie before any other villain in comic history.......

I want to touch on the controversy with this movie before I get to the real review. The fact is there shouldn’t be any! There is no excessive violence, nudity, gore or anything like that. You watch any action movie and I am willing to bet the main character kills more people than Arthur does in this entire movie. There is no nudity and the gore is on a very low level. So why are people offend by it? Are people really walking out like I keep hearing? I remember when guys like John Hinckley Jr and Mark David Chapman were considered nut balls for lashing out after seeing something and then acting irrationally afterwards. Now we are worried movies will make people act crazy??? I don’t think so, people might use it as a scapegoat but no a movie won’t make people crazy. So let’s just drop that. Is it cause it hits too close to home? Some of his lines are bang on. It is getting crazier out there! People are becoming cold and worse. Is that it? Are people realizing the world is going to hell but they don’t want to face facts and this movie makes them do it? Sure Christmas is coming up so for a month people will become friendly and donate to charity. They will try and make the world a better place for a month BUT then it will go back to the gritty shitty world we live in. I honestly believe that is it, it forces people to look inwards. The irony is if the Joker was a real person he would LOVE the chaos this movie has caused. (Even though I don’t think it has yet….)

This is going to be disjointed, just an fyi. As the review pops in my head I type it. We meet Arthur and right off the bat it is clear he struggles. His sign gets stolen, he gets a beat down in the street. It is kind of pathetic and that is what they are aiming for. His beat down and the bitchy woman on the bus are great examples of a shitty world. Then they do a great job jumping into his broken mind, with his pills. With his inability to understand Sophie pulling the trigger on herself in the elevator. But the scene with Murray Franklin is perfect. He imagines acceptance, I am not sure I think most people realized it was a dream before it became clear. Arthur is a troubled young man wanting to be accepted. They do actually do a great job teasing up to Thomas Wayne. You can pretty much assume there is some sort of past that is going to come to play. I have to say I am not sure I like this version of Thomas. I get it, writing him as kind of a big business ass is great and fresh look BUT like somethings, I think original canon should be used. We like and mourn more for Thomas cause he is a good guy. His example leads Bruce to be Batman. I mean when you write him as a douche you are actually opening it up for Bruce to go down a darker path. Be a villain, just my thoughts.

Getting the gun, you have to know trouble is coming. I do need to ask though, why did he give it to him? That to me is sloppy writing. These guys don’t like Arthur, he creeps them out so it plain old doesn’t make sense to arm him. Arthur shooting a hole in his house made me laugh out loud. It actually is like giving a toy to a child who doesn’t understand it. It falling out in the hospital, meh. The thing is Arthur is supposed to be pathetic not stupid and that was just stupid. So of course he gets fired, makes sense. Again I will admit I laughed when he “punched” out. Then he murders those 3 guys. Here is where I thought the twist would come. I had hoped we would see the Joker a lot more in this film and this is were I thought we would see it. Even though I didn’t get my wish there, I loved this scene. It was dark, gritty and started at least showing the spark of the Joker.

I have an issue with Sophie, other than the second you find out she was only around Arthur in his imagination she does nothing for the movie. Honestly you could have the exact same movie without her. Same with the porn he has glued into his note books. I don’t get it to be honest. I can see this as fodder for people saying this movie is for incels. And the creepy leaving her apartment not knowing what happened, I don’t get it. She doesn’t bring anything to the movie so why have her?

Let’s talk a bit more about the Waynes. Like I said I prefer for movies at least we stick with a decent Thomas Wayne. You wanna explore douche-y Thomas, do it in comics. But we can’t change the movie so lets deal with it. Penny was she with Thomas? I get it, we find out he is adopted and Thomas isn’t his dad but was it me or was that kind of in the air?? Were they together? Thomas has the resources to have her committed and erase or change history. Before he punches Arthur, Tom knows who she is. Alfred also seems to know her. So clearly she has some deeper history. Or that is what I would think. I hate the ambiguity of what is true and what isn’t…. Is he a Wayne? Either way something is fishy here. I do have to think Penny did have abusive boyfriends. That helps explain a bit about Arthur. I have to say I quite enjoy the scene when Arthur is choking Alfred but stops because it frightens Bruce. What I don’t like is the huge age gap. It literally makes Arthur not the Joker. He would be too old.

Also very much enjoyed the comedy club scene. A nice shout out to John Wayne Gacy with the name Pogo. This scene should have been a dead give away he was losing it. Sophie wasn’t there and that seemed pretty clear to me. This scene is actually almost the climax. It is his bombing here that sets everything else up. Pretty sure he would not have went on a murder spree had he not seen his hero mock him.

I would have liked seeing Gordon or Bollock as the cops. Just a thought. This last little bit is going to get really jumbly, so hold on here. So Arthur snaps. Kills Penny, sure okay he is hurt and as he said didn’t feel bad for doing bad things so he kills her. But for some reason he gets invited to do the TV show? That literally makes no sense except like he stated simply so they could mock him. He practices killing himself and climbs into a fridge?? Neither of those really make much sense to me. Then he murders Randal. It is really only the 5^th murder, so the body count here isn’t high at all. Not sure why people are so uptight and protesting…. Loved the scene where he scares Gary, just as I think the Joker would but then lets him go free. Then off to the show.

The cops chasing him onto the subway was entertaining. When we first saw this teaser a year ago I had hoped this was early in the movie and we would see a lot of the Joker but really we don’t see him until now. The change is insane. Arthur is gone, we don’t see the fits of laughter. The insecurity. We don’t see the awkwardness or overall dumb and pathetic air Arthur had about him. We see the Joker, I dunno how many times I have said it already but I wish we had seen this sooner. Like yes we get it, he was pathetic and had issues. He snapped! So why could he not have snapped oh 45 minutes earlier? I am not sure if the mask over the face paint was a nod to Heath but I liked it. The chaos, the cop getting shot, this is all dark and so good for a Joker movie. Then he gets on stage, this here was a masterfully done scene. Everything up to shooting Murray in the head was well planned and said. I was let down there wasn’t more. Next thing we know the city is on fire and he is in a cop car headed to jail. How did that happen? And it didn’t shock me someone freeing him. The bloody smile, epic. Then again another time jump that maybe could have been filled in with some Joker (Since it is the movie about him) and he is in Arkham? SO ya what went on here?? How did we end up here?

SO now we are at the end. DID it all happen? Arthur is locked away. So was it all in his head or did it happen? Then again somehow (offscreen) we assume he kills the doctor because he has blood soaked feet. I like this movie, I don’t like unanswered questions. Is he a Wayne, did it actually happen? Is he really the Joker because the timeline won’t work. Sometimes this is great and you leave the theatre going that was cool and you discuss what happened. However with an origin I don’t think that should be the case. You should be leaving, understanding what went on. Not trying to figure it out. Is that actually part of the art? It is the Joker, he has said he doesn’t even know where he came from so is this film actually that deep that it is playing on that? Don’t get me wrong, I loved it. He nailed the Joker IMO when he became the Joker. It is dark and gritty. Likely one of my fav DCEU movies. But is it even canon, I heard not.  Which really is too bad. This would be a great person for Bat Patterson to go against. Just like Heath, he has no special powers but I am sure he could easily have the Bat going. He could easily be a precursor to Heath. Although it was stated Heath was unknown so that doesn’t really work. He isn’t a precursor to that awful Leto…. Ya I get it. He was a good Mr. J as a second fiddle to Harley. I am just pretty sure Batman couldn’t take that Joker seriously.