Spoiler Free

Some of my favourite films have been about people who are on their journey to insanity. Furthermore, the Dark Knight is my favourite super hero film, mainly thanks to Heath Ledger’s incredible performance. Therefore my hopes were high going into Joker. I believed that the divisive film had bad reviews from the pretentious snobs or the “woke snowflakes” who can’t stand any sort of violence that deviates from their hand holding dancing in circle perception of the world. When I came out of the film, three questions went across my mind: Am I pretentious? (Probably) Am I a snowflake? (Possibly) Was the film just not that great? (Yes).

Joker follows the story of Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) as he descends from madness in to slightly more madness. Its the origin story of the Joker, what more do we expect? It’s dark, gritty and violent. However, I found the violence got the balance right and while those of a sensitive disposition would not like it, it never felt overly difficult to watch.

The whole film is a one man show about how Fleck is mistreated by society and his response. Phoenix puts in a good performance all laughing and all dancing, very much taking the method acting route. However, as good as he is, a part of you remembers that he isn’t your joker, the Joker Heath Ledger. His route into madness was at times unpredictable and was at his strongest when he had the stage to himself.

While Phoenix brings in a good performance, his material isn’t great. For a film about losing touch with a chaotic horrible world, it was all rather predictable. By the time some shock twists were revealed, you knew they were happening for at least 5 minutes before. Pacing issues were abundant. The first hour or so were slow and by the end, I was ready to leave the theatre as the pay-off never quite matched the slog. I think this was because Fleck’s character is already low when we meet him, he doesn’t have much further to go. The director lumped a lot of things together. If the film focused more on his relationship with Thomas Wayne as a catalyst for events, they really could’ve built up a world in much more depth as he questions himself and what’s around him.

While Joker attempted to be deep, it didn’t really come through. Everything seemed almost superficial. It was trying to make the audience feel smart instead of being smart. The themes of politics and hardship and isolation in a hostile world weren’t drip fed through. They were thrown at you and you couldn’t miss them.

My biggest issue with Joker was that knowing his story makes him predictable. The not knowing is what makes him such a fearsome adversary in The Dark Knight. Not knowing means you don’t know how far he’ll go. But by the end, Joker turns from this enigma into this slightly predictable villain.

I will give the film some credit. The film was well made with good lighting and set pieces. The atmospheric choices gave the audience a feel of Joker’s mind.

Summary

Looking deep, but not really deep, Joker will be one of those films which is remembered for its controversy. While I didn’t feel it to be especially outrageous, timing issues and predictable reveals stopped me enjoying this film as I hoped I would. Phoenix gives a good performance, but doesn’t leave a mark on Ledger. [Grade: C-]