- RELEASED: 2019
- RUNTIME: 122 mins
- WRITTEN BY: Scott Silver, Todd Phillips
- DIRECTED BY: Todd Phillips
- STARRING: Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Shea Whigham, Bill Camp
Watched 04 Oct, 2019
Honestly I’m really upset that I decided it was worth the anxiety to see this movie because it really wasn’t. Although it has a great lead performance from Joaquin Phoenix and it’s very good on a technical level with noteworthy cinematography, production design and music, I can’t help but agree with this movie’s critics. It simply has no purpose. It’s dark, violent, and of course in 2019 I just have to use the word GRITTY! But the problem is, it’s all of these things, just for the sake of being all of these things and it just becomes a mess trying to be unique and set itself out from the rest of the comic book bunch. And besides that, it has a really problematic message regarding incels and people with mental illness. I’m ok with a little bit of moral ambiguity but this just isn’t handled properly and by the time I left the theater I just felt disgusted. The Joker isn’t even supposed to be this psychotic. Even Heath Ledger’s Joker is deranged but he’s still enjoyable and entertaining. There just isn’t anything to enjoy or appreciate about this movie’s story and I will be so pissed if it gets nominated for Best Picture because movies like The Dark Knight are ten million times better but they don’t get recognition. People who thought Once Upon A Time In Hollywood was insensitive and problematic should really start talking about this movie.
Rewatched Feb 15, 2020
So I only rewatched this cause it was my punishment for losing an Oscar predictions game and yeah it ain’t any better than it was 4 months ago. This movie is like if two freshman film students who liked The Joker wrote their first screenplay. A disgustingly pretentious, shallow, contrived, surface level movie, that thinks it’s being brilliant and artsy but really has no idea what it’s trying to say. Nothing in this movie feels at all real! Go to any city subway at midnight and I bet you a million dollars you’d never find three drunk Wall Street wannabes (who know all the lyrics to “Send In The Clown” and can actually sing) beating up a deranged clown. And don’t even get me started about his monologue at the end. Thanks for just shitting out of your mouth what you want me to hear instead of just letting me as an audience member figure it out on my own. I don’t want to be treated like a baby when I watch a movie! Yes, the cinematography and the score are both great. And yes, Joaquin Phoenix is decent but I’ve seen many other psychos portrayed on screen and this one just does not stand out amongst Jack Nicholson in The Shining or Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. Listen, all I can say is Todd Phillips and Bong Joon-Ho both spoon-fed me real good last year. Too bad I’d rather feed myself. This movie is fucking shit.