This is a movie I had no interest in seeing. I was worried having an entire film about Joker will kinda ruin the character.. But the fact the film is rated R does imply I'm probably wrong.
But after I saw Chris Stuckmann's spoiler review. There is a interesting thing he spoke about, which I myself wanna throw in my own 2 cents about.
Before this film was even released. There were 2 things that people were worried about. Sympathizing with Joker. And the violence on screen.
Firstly, Chris says this isn't even the most violent film he's seen. He actually states Deadpool is more violent than this movie. But everyone said it's fine because Deadpool makes jokes about it.. "just like Joker".
The other is.. From what he also says. We don't sympathize with Joker.. Well, we do, but it doesn't excuse what he does.. It just explains "why" he'll do these things.. And besides, this is Joker, people are acting shocked that Joker is doing fucked up shit. It's fucking Joker. He's the same man who allowed someone to rip off Joker's face.. And tricked childrun into eating poison.. Both "just for kicks"..
People have been blaming the media for violence for decades.. Just because Joker enjoys killing (which in itself is nothing new), suddenly this movie is "dangerious" and "harmful to society".
The only plus about this, is it does make me want to watch the movie. If Troy (my cousin) still wants to see it, I'll probably go with him.. Or see it on my own, I don't know.. Be hard, as it's not something I'll take mom too, and I can't drive..
So, yeah.. Not really mad. Just annoyed that this is happening again.. But if anyone sees the movie, please tell me if it's good. I do love the Joker as a character.. He's so interesting..
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PART 2: (the actual review)
Well I talked about the issues about things non-related to the film itself. And now I finally saw the actual movie itself.. Not gonna lie, it was fucking awesome.. So lets see if I can make a good review of it. I'm no WindWaker430, but I do my best..
So I saw this film with my sister and her boyfriend (PS: She’s younger by at least a year).
So lets start with the first thing.. The laugh.. This movie takes a very unexpected approach. It addresses the infamish joker laugh as a ongoing condition, rather than the usual evil laugh cliche. It's something Arthur Fleck cannot control. There's always a certain tragedy to it. And sometimes it seems more like he's crying.. As first shown after he was beaten up over his stolen sign,which anyone who's seen the trailer would of saw coming, though not that they than beat him up. In facr, this is a one of those refreshing times of the trailer not spoiling everything.
For the record, I looked this up. And yes, it's a real thing.. They call it PBA. Pseudobulbar Affect:
It's not just laughter.. It also brings crying..
This does make us sympathize with Fleck.. But just as I predicted, it doesn't justify any of his terrible crimes. Just explains them.. A character even says this.. That it's no excuse for killing people.
I suppose I can somewhat see part of why this film got infamish, the truth is this verison of Joker does feel like a real person. He shows many characterists of real life serial killers..
Speaking of, lets talk about the violent.. No, not that it's inspiring it.. Have you "seen" a John Wick film?.. But there's a interesting difference between movies like John Wick, and movies like this and Black Mass or Taxi Driver.. The violence doesn't feel "fun".. It's sudden, disturbing, and often uncomfortable..
Everyone in this version of Gotham is so corrupt anyway, the whole movie has this weird grey zone. Feels like a awful place regardless of Joker. It's so depressing to look at.. Kinda like in GTA 4.
Frankly, I find the more concerning thing about this film, is the fact it's disturbingly accurate to the clown terrors from several years ago. I never had any encounters with it myself, but my friend Jason Kember said he did.. Plus all the youtube videos about it.. There should be more talks about that. Not the stupid "movies create killers" bullfuckingshit again.
So that's my review I guess... Definetly a better Joker origin than KILLING JOKE. More believable.
And as Chris Stuckmann said he likes the idea that Arthur found the fact Bruce will grow up to be Batman because of Joker to be hilarious. As it does add into Joker's complicated love/hate relationship to Batman.. And Phoenix is right up there with Heath Ledger and Mark Hamill.. (and the less said about Ledo the better).
10/10 from me..
Last thing I'll mention is my thought of Franklin Murray's death.. I was very mixed about this one.. Yes, mocking Arthur on your show and “then” bringing him on was a real dick move.. But jesus, I don’t think the dude deserved to have his fucking head blown off on natural television.. But I heard a lot of people say the opposite.. So leave a comment..
