SPOILERS AHEAD
Alright, so just a couple nights ago I went and saw Joker. (I tried to upload this video multiple times already over the last couple days, but keep having Dtube issues, so let's see if it works this time) I went into the movie without any real expectations, though of course knowing that it had just broken the record for highest grossing R-rated movie. What I had heard from people put Joaquin's performance as Joker as better than Leto's, but not as good as Ledger's.
Queue trailers: a couple of interesting looking things I hadn't heard of yet. Queue movie: basically 40 minutes of Joaquin Phoenix laughing hysterically, plus awkward silence before, after, and in the middle of each laughing fit. There were multiple times where this was happening, and I thought about getting up and just walking out of the theater.
When it finally ended, my first thought was actually "Wow, I want to get on the internet and talk about how bad this movie was." So here we are! I already talked about a good bit in the video, and as I said I've re-written this multiple times already because my text got lost when Dtube error'd me.
Basically, here are the main points of the movie:
- Like I just said, about 1/3 of the movie is just Joaquin Phoenix laughing.
- There was almost 0 comedy value to the movie, the funniest parts were due to their extreme ridiculousness/awkwardness (the guy dancing and singing on the subway as they're getting ready to beat Arthur up, his appearance at the comedy club, etc)
- The moral of the story was basically "The system is violent, so the only way to win is to be even more violent."
- It very much wasn't a movie about the Joker, as his character (appearance or personality) only appeared in the last 5-10 minutes of the film
- It did a pretty good job showing the rollercoaster life of someone with severe mental illness, and how the world around him pushed him towards violence... and then makes his ever-increasing violence not only the highlight of his life, but somehow this unifying force for the entire city. They basically made one of those "Based on a true story" movies about a serial killer, but made the killer not only the protagonist in a general sense, but clearly the hero of the city.
I really don't understand what people saw in this movie, it seems pretty devoid of entertainment, morals, or much of what films generally offer. Somehow this blew past every other R-rated movie to become #1... but I can't think of a single way in which this was anywhere near as good as either of the Deadpool movies. (Deadpool 2 was the top spot until Friday)
Thoughts on the movie?
If you enjoyed this, you may enjoy some of these highlights of my blog:
"Greatest Hits/Table of Contents" of my first 2 years on Steemit