"Joker" Review: The Beautiful, Dark, & Twisted Origin Story
With Warner Bros officially creating a new movie genre, DC Black (DC- based standalone films), who better a character to start with than with their most iconic villain himself, the Joker? With all the great actors who’ve played the villain (Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, Mark Hamil and Jared Leto) my initial thought was that it was going to be hard to fill those sinister clown shoes. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Director Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix take the comic book villain and give him a beautifully dark, twisted, gritty anti-hero reintroduction.
Taking a few pages out of Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver with character development and some references, Phillips peels back the layers of the complex character to humanize him and show how he began his path of brutal destruction. This is a period place that takes place in the early 80’s and shows the grislier and faint side of Gotham City like we’ve never seen it. It follows Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), a mentally ill misfit, who works as a clown by day and failed comedian by night. His journey to menacing criminal is perhaps all the more horrific because it’s grounded in reality.
One of the opening images is of Fleck, working as a clown, looking in the mirror while contorting his face into that creepy, iconic smile while laughing uncontrollably from his pathological laughing disorder while crying. It’s immediately followed by a portrait of the city of Gotham, and it’s not compassionate to say the least. In the first few minutes Fleck endures mental and physical abuse by everyone from his job, his therapist, civilians, his job again, and then his mother (Francis Conroy). It’s a hard watch. Throughout the movie this seems to be a trend as life itself continues to punch Fleck in the face, increasing its power at every turn. In his lighter moments, when life isn’t knocking him down, he pursues a career in comedy. His jokes are dark and twisted, writing what he believes society deems as funny, wishing to one day be on the Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro) late night show.
Something that sets this movie apart is the progression of Fleck’s character. He evolves from and awkward, gentle loner to the malicious, confident Joker. Robert De Niro and Zazzie Beetz interactions with Phoenix give more depth to the character’s development with their limited but memorable interactions as Fleck’s idol and love interest respectively. Conroy also helps identify some of the loose ends of his childhood that viewers may find interesting. Rather than being eaten by the dog eat dog world, Fleck eventually embraces it with a cynical twist that feels so natural.
This is ultimately a standalone film that we’ve never seen in the comic universe that has a sinister and refreshing twist to it. It’s well crafted, with a vintage, grunge look that captures the mood and tone being portrayed in the film. From beginning to end, Phoenix owns the character. It has remnants and a few nods to them but Phoenix pushed my perception of the character or new uncharted anti-hero territory. The only knock I have toward the movie is the slow, build but once it started you were invested. Overall the casting, the story, the development and the conclusion of this film is phenomenal and gives you the ultimate satisfaction of an origin story. I wouldn’t be surprised if this movie gets an Oscar nod.
Rating: A-
"Suicide Squad" Review
It’s no secret that DC is trying to get its footing with every film it puts out. Suicide Squad is not able to escape this dilemma, but I get the sense that they are learning and re-working with each installment in its world. The film starts strong, and ends flat, but in a film that didn’t take itself so serious :), it’s the summer movie popcorn fun that it’s supposed to be.
Picking up after Superman has died from Batman V Superman, a secret government agency decides to comprise a group of meta-humans and bad guys as a contingency against anyone who may rise up and wish to destroy the world. Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) leads the charge and seeks out some incredibly talented but villainous individuals. There’s the assassin Deadshot (Will Smith) who never misses a shot, Joker’s (Jared Leto) crazy girlfriend Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), a fire powered Diablo (Jay Hernandez), an Australian thief named Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), and a witch who goes by Enchantress (Cara Delevingne). Right off the bat we’re introduced to each character in an efficient, fun, albeit we’ve seen it before way.
After a mystery villain begins to destroy Midtown, the squad is called into action. The rules are simple, go extract a high powered official and defeat the villain at risk of death, or be killed by the nanite implants in their necks. There you have the motivation for each villain and story in a nutshell.
Writer/director David Ayer had his work cut out for him in having to introduce us to each character having not seen a solo story for them prior. The first hour of the film starts out pretty strong, introducing us to the characters, seeing them play with others, and getting them into the mission. Ayer’s tactical know how and ability to visualize action as seen in prior films like Sabotage and End Of Watch is displayed throughout the film. Yet character development gets the short end of the stick.
Smith’s Deadshot, and Robbie’s Harley Quinn are the obvious stars of the film. With the rest of the group being tag alongs almost as dispensable as the group is to the government. Smith brings the charisma we love in a character that isn’t just Will Smith being Will Smith. Robbie loses herself in her character, but unfortunately the Hollywood male gaze pins her as an object more than anything else. Viola Davis brings the ruthless, pragmaticism that we’d expect from Waller. There is a glimmer of shine that comes from Hernandez’s Diablo that I would have liked to see more of. Of course, the character most of us have been waiting to see, the Joker, weaves in and out of the film a lot more than I thought we'd see, but not quite enough to judge how good he is.
The villain in the film gets the least development of the bunch, but is probably way too powerful for the group minus one. All that said; I still enjoyed watching the film. There were moments in the film that gave me goosebumps (Deadshot leaping on the car), character flashbacks that helped you identify with the villain and see where things may have gone wrong, and the team building of the group works for this rag tag team of bad guys.
While we’re constantly reminded that the group is comprised of bad guys, it’s a one off that works to bring new characters into the DC movie universe. These characters will never have their own film, but they’re not supposed to. DC has introduced us to some of their villains, and when we see them in future films we have an idea of what they’re capable of. So while the film has a simple plot, plenty of style and character charm, it’s not supposed to cure diseases. Let’s be real, if Ayer was able to give us a rated R version of this like he’s accustomed to it would have been a better film. Given the parameters, I think it came out alright. Let the trolling begin!
Rating: B-
"Batman: The Killing Joke" Review
I won’t lie, I came to Batman: The Killing Joke late. I didn’t read it until this year when I heard buzz about the feature film. That doesn’t, however, lessen the power of the comic book’s impact on me. In fact, I’m pretty sure that it had the same impact on me that it had for folks in 1988. It’s raw, smart, and compelling. Unfortunately, the new feature film doesn’t compare to the force of nature that is the graphic novel.
The film starts out with a voice over from Barbara Gordon (Tara Strong), Commissioner Gordon’s (Ray Wise) daughter, telling us that she’s sure “this isn’t how you thought the story would start”. It isn’t, but we’ll go with it. For the next thirty minutes we see the relationship between Batgirl and Batman (Kevin Conroy) as they try to capture Paris Franz (Maury Sterling), a pompous sociopath. Perhaps this deviation from the source material was to establish Batman’s motivations for going after The Joker (Mark Hamil). Perhaps it was to set up future animated features. Whatever it was, it detracted from the overall story.
The prologue gives us a soap opera love triangle amongst Bruce (Wayne), Barbara and Paris. It paints a misogynistic image of an older man being pined after by a young love lorn coed. (Bruce and Barbara are closer in age than the film made it look like.) It’s a forbidden love story of a teacher and student that feels forced. Especially when Batgirl rips off her top (costume) and makes love with Batman high above the city.
Once the story we know takes off, it’s an entertaining film. Your mind goes between what you know from the comic book and what’s been added to fill in blanks. Hearing Mark Hamil’s voice as the Joker once again is great. It reminded me of all those days of grabbing a snack and watching “Batman: The Animated Series” after school as a kid. Hamil has fun playing the unpredictable equal of Batman, as evidenced in his delivery. Kevin Conroy lends his controlled, powerful voice to the role once more and sells Batman.
If you haven’t read the comic book, do it! It’s awesome! Ultimately, this feature film, like many movies adapted from books, can’t compete with your imagination. The mind is a powerful thing, filling in thoughts and feelings where the page’s frames doesn’t. It paints an incomparable cinematic experience! While the feature lifts some of the iconic panels found in Batman: The Killing Joke and puts them into motion, it can’t beat the original.
Rating: C