Yeesh, it’s hard to put on a happy face for this one.
Even Arthur, played by Joaquin Phoenix, who turns into the Joker, can admit to that. In Gotham, everyone is mean to Arthur. He’s mocked for his strange nature, mental illness, and failed comedy attempts. But when he kills Gotham’s wealthy and gains notoriety for it, Arthur gets a dark new calling in life.
With all its hype and controversy, Joker doesn’t quite live up to it. The film boasts a great performance by Phoenix and is well made compared to other DC flicks, but it’s not entertaining.
In the darkness of this movie, Phoenix shines bright. The actor’s drastic weight loss is startling and his creepy laugh can give chills.
However, this movie’s more likely to give you the blues. It’s a slow-paced toilet bowl movie, where the Joker continuously spirals down. Nothing good happens to him; it’s a bad thing after bad thing. Plus, he lives in a dump city filled with rats, so I just felt upright sad after watching this.
What doesn’t help is the lack of entertainment. I was hoping for a blend of action and drama, like the Dark Knight did with the Joker. But this is 90 percent drama with nothing to chew on action wise. It’s a comic book movie so I expected a little something.
For the masses, they won’t be satisfied because Joker is hypocritical to what it was advertised to be. The trailers deceive audiences by making it look appealing to everyone, yet it can only be enjoyed for those who want to see a character study of the villain.
Plus, the overall theme presents a double-edged sword: does it give recognition to those who commit mass murders or simply give commentary on how these people get notoriety?
No matter how you cut it, Joker’s hard to smile about.
IMAGE TAKEN from PNG Arts
