I was conflicted when I heard they were doing a movie on the origins of Joker. I always felt that he worked better as an enigma. Chaos theory in human form if you will. Or, as he says in the brilliant, Killing Joke: "If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice." In fact, I believe that a good number of the ideas in the movie are directly inspired by this comic, which in my opinion is in the top 5 best Batman comics ever. And then there came the backlash from people saying it was going to glorify mass murder, or that it would inspire incel culture. Or it was a horrible representation of mental illness. Or that it didn't need to be made. Well, I wanted to see for myself what it was before I commented, so here is my review. Spoilers of course for those of you that haven't seen it.
I was a little worried when I saw that the guy that directed the Hangover movies and Road Trip was going to direct this. But, he's got his influences right, as this is a straight homage to mid-to-late 70s early 80s Scorsese. Basically Taxi Driver and The King Of Comedy. Arthur even does the pointing the imaginary gun to the head like Travis Bickle. Robert De Nero stars in this just like those two movies. The movie's even set in that time period. (By the way, very nice usage of the old Warner Brother's title card for the beginning of the film that they used in the 1970s and early 80s. That's a nice touch.) Gotham is directly modeled on New York City at the end of the 70s, with the crime and graffiti on everything, and the place just looking rundown. It's a nice way to start a film showing society going to pot without using the modern day examples. New York in that time was not the gentrified, high rent place it is now. There were a lot of problems back then which strangely saw the explosion of artists coming from there. Hip Hop came out of the South Bronx, Disco was from Uptown, CBGB was a cauldron of different musical styles, and graffiti writers like Keith Haring and Basquiat were on their way to being made famous. (Sadly other graf writers like Lee Quinones, Rammellzee, Lady Pink or Iz the Wiz didn't reach the heights of Haring and Basquiat.) Still, it is within this cauldron that Joker is actually set, replacing New York with Gotham City.
What I saw in the Joker was a discussion on how society views those at the bottom. They're disposable, and basically there to be fleeced, or mocked. In one scene, (spoilers) there are three well dressed young men on the subway, obviously inebriated, bothering a young woman. When Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) starts laughing uncontrollably, which is a condition he has, they start to beat him up. While they are putting the boots to him, to protect himself he pulls a gun and shoots and kills two, and then chases the third and kills him as well. Instead of the three being remembered for the bullies they were, they are memorialized on the news as three men of good standing in society. All three worked for Thomas Wayne, who speaks of the trash that killed these shining examples from good homes.
The movie also focuses on cruelty for entertainment's sake. Robert De Niro's Murray Franklin probably comes across as a cross between Johnny Carson and Morton Downey Jr. (What a dated reference, right!?!) The consummate showman with an edge of nastiness. When Arthur bombs doing his standup, Franklin plays part of it on his show and mocks him. Heck, that's the basis for reality television, isn't it? Simon Cowell saying, "I don't mean to be rude, but.." and then being an extreme bastard. It's why we watch The Bachelor or Love Island, so we can feel better about ourselves watching others debase themselves in finding fame. In this instance, the crowd loved the bit, and Murray Franklin's folks decide to put him on the show. (By the way, Marc Maron is criminally underused in this film. He's on screen for all of 3 minutes, but should have had a lot more. Missed opportunity.)
The film also has a huge discussion about mental illness and how society treats those who suffer from it. Probably one of the truest things said in the film is when Arthur writes, "The worst part of having a mental illness is that people expect you to behave as if you don't." Society is still ill-equipped to deal with people who have mental illnesses. Look at sports stars. Soccer players in the UK are just now starting to have discussions about mental illness and how social media affects them. Danny Rose, who plays for Tottenham, talked about the mental issues he's had, and said a team approached him about coming to play for them but wanted to check that he wasn't crazy. (I think those are his words, but that's the gist.) Mental illness is finally being discussed for veterans, but there is still no solution on how to ensure they get the help they need. Jimmy Piersal wrote a book about his mental breakdown in the 1950s called "Fear Strikes Out". The book came out in 1955, and they made a movie out of it in 1957 starring Anthony Perkins. Did it make society take a look at how we treat those who suffer from mental illnesses? Of course not. Funding is inadequate, and public mental health institutions are closing due to lack of funding. Many end up homeless. In fact, in the film they cut Arthur's visits with his mental health professional, which means he now is cut off. He also has a pretend relationship in his mind with the lady down the hall who has a child. His world changes due to the realization that all his interactions with her were in fact made up, and he begins to embrace his world view. (I'm shorting this part of the story. Zazie Beets is awesome, and I love her work. But a lot to absorb in the movie, and her part fits in with the mental illness discussion.)
Finally the movie, in my opinion, discusses the gulf between the haves and the have nots. The whole discussion of the producers and everyone else. Arthur finally shows himself to be the guy who killed the three men on the subway while on the Murray Franklin show. He says basically that if it was him, they would have walked over him with no second thought. But because Thomas Wayne cries about them on TV that their deaths are meaningful and tragedies. It's an indictment of society, that praises those at the top and forgets those at the bottom. This, in my opinion, is populism, either right or left. But it turns out more in line with anarchists. So Arthur Fleck assumes the role of Joker, a name given to him by Murray Franklin while mocking him on his own show. He then kills Murray, is arrested, but then freed by the mob while they're taking him downtown. He does end up in the mental hospital (a nice touch making it Arkham) and the riots occurring around town catch Thomas and Martha Wayne leaving the movie theater after watching Zorro The Gay Blade with their son, and ducking down an alley way. Joe Chill follows after, and this scene is the birth of Batman.
The Killing Joke graphic novel basically ends with Batman begging the Joker to turn it around or one of them will end up killing the other. It's a duality, and the movie shows that the creation of the Joker (at least in this universe) ends up being the creation of his greatest nemesis as well.
Lovely English Lass didn't go with me to see the film. I knew she wouldn't like it and I didn't want to push her into it. She definitely wouldn't have liked it. Again, I'm not sure what I thought. (The inclusion of "Rock and Roll Part 2" from Gary Glitter a notorious pedophile was a bit tone deaf to be honest.) As a Joker origin, well it was fine. Personally I didn't think we needed an origin story for Joker, but we got one. Phoenix is really good in the film. I did like his portrayal and it definitely sets up the "One Bad Day" riff in the original Killing Joke comic. But did I like it?
I'm not sure. But it sure made me think a lot.
