Yet Another 'Joker' Review

I just got back from seeing Joker. And, you know what the world needs? Another Joker review. There just has not been enough talk about this movie yet, so it's a good thing you are reading this. You need my opinion on it. Heck, why not? Everyone else and their dog has written about it and feels that you need their opinion on it, even if they HAVEN'T even seen it themselves. Why not throw my hat into the ring here?

So, what do I think of Joker? Glad you asked. I loved it. I thought it was terrific. It was beautiful. A work of art. A brutal tour de force. Stunning. No, seriously, I loved it. And I've been racking my brains to think of how to write this review in the most narcissistic way so that I can sound as annoyingly intelligent as possible.

I thought maybe I would talk about how this is an excellent demonstration of the madness that can sometimes come with mental illness. How it's a great movie about a man on the edge being pushed further and further down the spiral until his life becomes a chaotic mess. Of course, all of his support systems disappear as funding to the character's much-needed mental health care are pulled, leaving him to his own defenses, fighting against his own demons. In that way, it is a scathing dig at the health care situation in the United States.

I could talk about how poverty, lack of hope, lack of direction, and lack of means can bring a man to his knees, as well as the society around him. On screen we see the ingredients being put together to create anything from terrorists to gang members to cult leaders to crazy clowns who thrive on violence as ways to deal with pain and anguish. It's like putting a mirror up to our broken society, where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, creating a dangerous tension that inevitably explodes like a volcano.

I could talk about it being a metaphor for the political climate we find ourselves in right now. It's a time of upheaval and uncertainty, with the rise of extreme voices that promise to save the scared and downtrodden from all that is wrong with the world. Holding up a broken, insane clown as a role model for a revolution is kind of, what, like, Trumponian or something? Is Joker a populist, speaking to a disenfranchised segment of the population who are full of anger and hate?

A lot has been made out of the fact that the Joker is an angry white dude, and I could talk about that: How the bruised ego of a white male leads to ultra-violence is white privilege, white fragility, and toxic masculinity to the extreme? Joker represents all that is wrong with whiteness, or something like that... apparently. I don't know, people seem to see his gender and skin colour as problematic here. Is it? I don't know.

But, in the end, what we have here is a movie. That's it. An escape for a couple of hours, as you munch on popcorn and sit back and be entertained. It doesn't need to be hyper-analyzed. There is no reason to fear this movie. It's not a catalyst for anarchy. It's not inspiring incels to go out and slaughter people as too many in the media seem to wish it was doing. In fact, there seemed to be an anti-climactic disappointment by some that people weren't snapping after seeing the movie and copying the on-screen savagery. Really, the movie isn't something that needs to be discussed at all, even though there have been seemingly thousands of opinion pieces on the thing. Joker just needs to be watched. Just go and enjoy it. It's an interesting flick featuring some amazing acting, writing, directing, and camera work. You don't need to overthink this thing. It's just a cool movie, man.