Now, I saw it the week that Phoenix won a Golden Globe Award for his portrayal of the Joker and let me tell you that in my opinion, he most definitely deserved all of the accolades! Being a huge fan of Heath Ledgers' Joker ("Why so serious?"), I was very curious as to how Phoenix would pull it off. After all, it is a role that many an a steamed actor has played from Cesaer Romero to Jack Nicholason and so on. BUT, I have to tell you how absolutely blown away I was by this movie! It concentrates on Batman's arch villain The Joker's origins. Without giving away any major spoilers for those of you who have actually not seen it yet, I will just comment on why I think that this movie is so Oscar-worthy.
First of all, you get many an "easter egg" throughout this film and any fan of the DC comics Batman and The Joker will immediately pick up on them - or at least I certainly did. This movie was so intense and so very well done, I actually watched it five times since I took it home last weekend. They throw a lot at you in terms of the character development and his tragic life that you do not know what is actually real and what is not right up until the very end of the movie - and even then you are still left wondering and speculating. The movie does a great job of giving you the back story of how a societal loner and mentally troubled man named Arthur Fleck a.k.a ."The Joker" is born. Yes, it is very dark but, trust me, it is also an extremely good story and well worth watching!
There are times during the course of this movie that you can not help but to feel sympathy for this character (director Todd Phillips does a great job of communicating this to the audience) and you are able to get a sense of what is going on in Arthur's mind and can better understand how and why he sees the world the way in which he does. The film takes you through the transformation of a born loser into the deranged psycho killer he eventually becomes.
No, this film does not touch on the story of The Joker and his former psychiatrist turned lover then villain Harley Quinn ("Birds of Prey"). but that is merely a continuation of the series anyhow and has nothing to do with this particular adaption. I would love to get into this review a lot further, but as I said I do not wish to ruin it for anyone who has not yet seen it. Even if you are not really a fan of DC comics or the whole Batman-Joker story line, this movie is mesmerizing from beginning to end.
I agree. This movie was great and deserves awards. I want to see it again myself. I used to work with the mentally ill, and I especially liked the way they showed how bureaucracy brushes them aside. No more funding. Shameful
ReplyDeleteI could not agree with you more, Mary! So true!
DeleteI've been twixt and tween whether I wanted to see it. I was just wondering about comments that this movie could give people the idea of mass murders and gratuitous gore.
ReplyDeleteHi CJ, good to hear from you - I hope all is well! Personally speaking, and after watching this movie about five times, I do not believe that this movie is actually condoning any type of murder (mass or any other kind) no matter what you may have read about it in the media, etc. To tell you the truth, anyone who truly believes that this is the point of this movie and would get that message from it, would honestly have to be looking for it in the first place. Whether or not you decide to watch it or not is of course totally up to you, but if you do then you can form your own personal opinion/view (not others, mind you) of whether or not this movie is advocating that type of behavior and making any excuses for it . And yes, I do understand that there are always going to be people out there who are a little "off" and might not be able to use their common sense as is with most things in life. Have a great day, CJ - I will be back around later today to catch up some more on your blog. :)
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