JOKER MOVIE (2019) FULL REVIEW

**SPOILER ALERT*** This is kind of long and there are some spoilers. I've tried to do it in a way that only gives context and did not give away all the surprises but if you don't want em anyway, don't read this.

When I saw the trailer for this movie, I was nervous, scared and almost disappointed. Warner Bros has been showing the fans over the years that they are not interested in giving us a great cinematic universe when it comes to the DC Universe. They, are interested solely in how much they can make off of the movies. They should be. I just think that if Disney and Marvel have proven anything, it's that you can make goo-gobs of money and ALSO maintain the comic book integrity of the characters and storylines we nerds all know and love. Apparently Warner Bros hasn't gotten the memo (they've been having problems with their TPS reports lol). I can't totally trash them because the Christopher Nolan Batman series are the stuff of legend and the Tim Burton movies Batman and Batman Returns will always be classics that are watchable regardless of the time that's passed but fam.... Everything outside of Batman was meh for a long time. I'll give you Christopher Reeves Superman 1 through 3 (we'll pretend 4 didn't happen) but let's keep it a buck, DC movies outside of these have been an after thought up until recently. Every single time there's a glimmer of hope, they make sure to do something dumb to ruin it. I could go on about this because it feels like a never ending issue with the WB but I'm not going to. I just want to point out that Marvel laid the blue print to a successful cohesive cinematic universe and DC has been the guy tryna recreate the same building with cheaper supplies and short cuts. Should we really have gotten a Justice League movie when only 2 of those characters had a solo movie? I don't even count Batman vs Superman and you know why if you were awake for it all. Wonder Woman was a good action movie although the story was just ok but Cyborg, The Flash, Batman and Aqua Man were all brand new major characters we knew nothing about (cinematic universe wise) and so it just seemed like the movie was more thrown together. I don't think the Justice League movie was terrible, I just think we could've gotten a way better one if they'd gone through the process correctly. All this to say that the fans have no reason to trust that WB will give us what we deserve. I've already highlighted that the Batverse is the best thing about the DCU to this point and being that Batman is my favorite super hero, I'm trying to be as unbiased as possible. There was nothing in the trailer for this movie that said that it would be as good as it is. Also, because we have almost no idea what they're doing with the DCU in terms of direction, I wasn't very excited at first to see it but I'm a die-hard comic fan so I was going good or bad. Turns out my trepidation was in vein because Joker was the best movie I've seen this year. You read that correctly. Joker is the best movie that's been released in 2019 and I say that having watched Avengers: Endgame like 7 times. Obviously, it technically doesn't count as a superhero type of flick and honestly you can't compare it to an Avengers or Spiderman because it's a different genre of movie altogether. My statement is that, it is scene for scene the best movie I have sat through this year. A little controversial perhaps but let me explain. I am really big on having proper context and details so this being an origin story is right up my alley. There have been different stories told of how the Joker became the Joker and although this wasn't exactly the comic book version of how it happened, it was excellent. This was about more than the Joker. It was a tale of the inconvenient truths of mental illness. It's really tough to even know where to start with this. I should've been making notes throughout because it was so layered but here it is... It's the 1980s. The real name of the eventual Joker is Arthur Fleck. The beginning of the movie shows that he ihas a job as a clown for hire through an agency that finds work doing various gigs like children hospitals etc. He current gig is standing outside of a store that is going out of business. Arthur is going his job and seems to enjoy it. A group of kids passing him steal his going out of business sign and take off running into an alley where they destroy the sign against Arthur's face and jump him. Then we see Arthur talking about his week with a social worker. The social worker's face and tone with which she speaks is that of someone who is more "doing their job" than attempting to help people. Anyone who's ever worked in social services understands this as "burn out" and that's exactly what she (the social worker) is. Arthur asks her if she's seen "how bad it's getting out there" and she acknowledges that she does and promptly cuts him off to ask if he's brought the journal with him that he's supposed to have at his sessions. Arthur gives it to her and explains that he's been using it as a joke book because he's going to be attempting stand up comedy. The worker opens the book and it's filled with terrible hand writing, disturbing pictures, naked women and concerning content. The camera focuses in on the words, "I hope that my death makes more sense than my life." I was able to also see some of the slightly out if words had to do with Arthur saying that he walks among people everyday but feels like no one sees him. He asks the worker if she can have the Dr to up his med dosage. The worker explans that he is already in 7 medications. Arthur responds that he knows but that he just doesn't want to feel so bad all the time. Arthur also suffers from a "condition" that causes him to laugh uncontrollably I'm situations that are inappropriate for it which is due to a brain injury. Arthur lacks some basic social skills and therefore he is awkward and is clearly trying to fit in or do the things he thinks people are supposed to do in certain situations. He really does try to do the best that he can but can't seem to keep the people that do interact with him from thinking that he's weird except for his mother. I'm not going to call the movie scene by scene but I also can't make the statement that it's the best movie of 2019 without context lol. Arthur picks up his prescriptions from the drug store and then goes home. We see him put the medicine away and then prepare dinner for his mother who appears to be very sick. She asks if he's checked the mail and he says there was nothing. We find out through their conversation that his mother used to work for Thomas Wayne (aka Batman's Dad!!) and has been writing him letters to see if there is a possibility that he can help them in their current situation. They're obviously poor and in need of some assistance. Arthur can't figure out why his mother thinks that Thomas Wayne would help them and his mother insists that Wayne employees past and present are considered family. Arthur doesn't really buy it and thinks it's a waste of time but his mother makes sure to check the mail everyday to see if Thomas Wayne has responded. A couple of Arthur's co-workers heard that he got beat up and one guy gave him a gun with some bullets. Arthur was hesitant because they weren't supposed to have guns but the co-worker insisted that he take it so he did. He gets called in to talk to his boss and is questioned about what happened to him at the previous gig. Arthur explains but his boss does not believe him so he winds up losing money because the sign that was taken from him was destroyed and he can't replace it. Arthur goes to his next clown gig and the gun falls out of his pants while he's dancing for sick kids at a hospital. His boss fires him although Arthur tries to claim the gun was a prop (lie). Arthur is sad because he loved his job. He rides the train home and 3 drunk guys enter the car he's in and start bothering a woman. She gives Arthur a "help me" look but he doesn't and instead begins laughing uncontrollably. The woman gets away but the drunk men turn their attention to Arthur. They attempt to take his things and beat him up but while on the ground Arthur takes out his gun and kills the 3 of them. Arthur goes to comedy clubs to take notes and work on his act. While writing the camera goes to his notebook and he's written, "The hardest part of having a mental illness is that people want you to act like you don't." Arthur is hurting. He's struggling to hold himself together and really isn't even wanting or asking for acceptance. He just wants to be acknowledged and is tired of being ignored. The next time we see Arthur, he is visiting his social worker trying to explain to her that he's gone his whole life wondering if he was real because no one seemed to notice him but that people are starting to notice and that he is real. He's heard about the guys who were killed on the news and it's almost like he's just found out he was real because there was fallout to his actions. The social worker isn't listening to what he's saying and he gets annoyed and tells her that all she does is ask the same questions every week but doesn't listen to a word he says. She then informs him that their funding is being cut and that this will be their last meeting. Arthur asks is he going to be seeing that will prescribe his meds until he realizes he won't be getting meds anymore. Funding has been cut across the board. So now we experience a man already struggling with his mental health and the way he understood the world, go completely off his meds through no fault of his own. I was going to throw out some really big spoilers bit I just can't do it. I only want to say enough to get you to see the movie and believe me, it's worth the 2 hours. The best part of the film was that the story was truly told from a different perspective than we've always had as fans. The story of the Joker has always been told from Bruce Wayne's point of view. This movie did everything they could to show us the other side. I've been into Batman for as long as I can remember and I never thought about the Joker in the way he was depicted in this movie. It's from the vantage point of the little guy. We've always heard that Gotham was such a bad city and needed help but now we have context as to why. A prime example is the way we got to see Thomas Wayne. Just about EVERY other time we've seen him or heard reference be made to him it was always positive. We were told that he was this benevolent philanthropist that wanted to save Gotham and that he was so big hearted and cared more about his fellow man than most and that Bruce Wayne grew up and became Batman following his father's ideals (In his own way of course). However, this story shows Thomas Wayne to be a rich jerk not unlike many wealthy people we've seen or heard about. From the way he spoke about the people of the city to the way he treated Arthur when they eventually met, he was no angel. Like, not at all. He was mean and under handed. No example made this more evident than (SKIP PAST THIS IF YOU DONT WANT A MAJOR SPOILER) ...when he fathered Arthur and had a fake adoption certificate created to distance himself from him and his mother. He didn't even send them off with money and the "have a good life" package. Just a billionaire level cover up. Then shunned Arthur and punched him in the face for his troubles and told him that his mother was crazy. Arthur found that his mother wasn't lying about her relationship with Thomas Wayne after she died. Again, I'm not going to say much else to spoli anything because that isn't my intention. Even after all I've said, there is much more to see. Including the events leading up to Bruce Wayne's parent's deaths (it's great!) Joaquin Phoenix deserves an Oscar for his performance in this film. The movie itself is Oscar worthy (in my opinion) but his performance really drives this movie and I seriously believe that no one else could have given this performance. Even if you're not into comic or hero movies, this is (for like the 4th time lol) a great movie about a person dealing with mental illness and the way they are treated and looked at in our society. It's a shame how real and how non exaggerated this is from real life. One thing DC comics has always been able to do is depict the darkness of real life situations and this is another if not the best example of that. Mental illness does not look the same for everybody. You can't tell what's going on inside of a person based on their face. We can't assume that people are ok all the time because of what we see. We also have to acknowledge that we have largely become desensitized to mental illness and think of it as something that "isn't our problem" until we are faced with it head on. Sure, we don't want to react badly when people display behaviors but it also isn't very humane to just completely ignore people either. It's a hard line to walk because how do we ever know what side we should be on at any given moment. I don't have the solutions but I do have a real life concern and want to do better. I remember one time, one of the residents at the group home I worked at, at the time was having a conversation with my supervisor and at the end of it he asked my supervisor if he could touch his shoulder. My supervisor allowed him to and then asked him why he did it and the man responded, "I wanted to make sure that you were real." Just sad...this guy considered by most of the people in his life to be "crazy" was just trying to get a grip on reality. We go home and just say it's such a shame and glad it's not us but the reality is that mental illness doesn't go away because we're not looking and I think that the Joker movie was brilliant in highlighting that this man wanted to be acknowledged by a society that chose not to see him. Must see movie. This is the movie that the Joker deserved. I've heard that it isn't a movie they are going to build on but if you watch it, you'll see why I'd say that a lie from the studio lol or at least I'm being confidently optimistic). My rating is a 5 out of 5 neck bones 🍗🍗🍗🍗🍗. Go see it and let's talk about it!!!