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Welcome back everyone. It's Charlie. This is gonna be my joker movie review a new beginning for DC films and for the character itself
I'll talk about where he fits into the pantheon of
Joker's talking about Heath Ledger all the way back to the classic versions of the character and where the movie fits in with a grander
Design for what Warner Brothers is doing with their DC films
We're doing a giveaway for movie tickets
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So the Joker movie is all about the character Arthur Fleck a relatively normal person suffering from some mental and physical
Conditions whose life slowly starts to unravel after he's attacked by a group of kids on the street
He slowly descends through the movie as darker and darker feelings come out of him
He doesn't get the help that he needs until he becomes the character that you know from the comics as the Joker
Previously when I heard that they were doing a Joker origin story movie like this
I was very skeptical because in the comics the Joker is famous for never having a definitive origin story
Most people view Batman The Killing Joke the closest thing you could give to an origin story to a character like that
but part of the magic of him as a villain and he is probably
DC's biggest comic book villain is that he's very vague about his past and that makes him more mysterious and even
Scarier and I feel like Christopher Nolan really understood that when he did Heath Ledger's version of the Joker the way he wrote that character
Each time he introduces himself to another group of people to terrorize them
He does a very different version of his origin story. You want to know how I got these scars?
Joaquin Phoenix's character Arthur Fleck in this world of Gotham in the movie is very different from Nolan's versions though so you can only loosely
Compare them Heath Ledger. Obviously probably one of the most iconic versions of the Joker ever
His performance was amazing
but I feel like Joaquin Phoenix's version of the Joker and his
performance stands right up there with eath Ledger's
So even if you don't like the Joker movie quite as much as you like say The Dark Knight
I feel like Joaquin Phoenix will be nominated for an Oscar for his performance
The movie itself is fantastic, but you kind of have to know what you're getting when you go into it
And obviously Heath Ledger Dark Knight very different type of movie than the Joker movie The Dark Knight
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She is more of a big action film The Joker movie is more of a deep character study with some action in it isn't completely
Actionless, but it doesn't feel anything like Batman movies that you've seen before and that's another one of the biggest differences
Is that every time you've seen a version of the Joker before they've had a Batman there to sort of balance out his morality
So you have all these terrible things that the Joker might be doing like Heath Ledger going around town blowing everything up
But you have Christian Bale's Batman
To step in and say this is why what you're doing is wrong no matter what's happened to you
No matter what your ideology. Is he provides you with a very concrete
Perspective on what's bad and what's good?
Whereas one of the more unsettling aspects of the Joker movie is that it doesn't have any of that
It just has bad to worse because this Arthur Fleck character you're kind of meant to sympathize with them and there's a lot of talk
Around the movie people giving hot takes about how that's a bad thing
Cannot wait for all those hot takes to go away
but one of the more difficult things that the movie asks of us, the viewers is what our role is and his sort of
Descent into madness in his origin story as the Joker. How much are we as society?
Responsible for creating people like this. What role do we play in it?
you really don't get that from any of Christopher Nolan's or any of the previous versions of the Batman this town needs an enema you
even talk about Jack Nicholson's character
Most of the other previous iterations of the Joker are fairly conscious of what they're doing at all times
They know what they're doing is wrong. They're out for revenge
Whereas the picture they paint with Joaquin Phoenix's Joker character is that he's just seeking to get help for all of his problems in not
Finding it from any of the people around him or the systems within Gotham City
So a big part of the commentary of the film is the way that society treats the mentally ill his laugh was great two
Very distinct from the other iconic versions of the Joker's lap
It's the first thing you think about when you think about the Joker his lap though is part of who he is
It's almost like it physically hurts him to laugh so hard he starts coughing sometimes mid lap as if he can't stop
Lapping most of the other versions of the Joker laughs because they want to freak you out
It's more of an automatic response with his character
Everyone's been talking about all the comparisons to Travis Bickle a taxi driver in Scorsese's King of Comedy
There are some criticisms that the movie is almost too much of a blueprint of a Scorsese film
There is so much Travis Bickle and Joaquin Phoenix's
performance in his character in his
origin
Even some of the shots in the film are mirrors of taxi driver scenes like when he's playing with the gun when he's slowly sort
Of working on his Joker makeup. I don't necessarily think that that's a bad thing
But if you're not a big fan of Scorsese, or if you haven't seen those films
You won't quite get the references. So it might not be quite as meaningful
but a lot of people come away from the movie thinking that this is basically just
Taxi driver if it had been done as a comic-book movie. Those are all fantastic films
So if you're gonna borrow from something borrow from the best, the music is fantastic. The cinematography is amazing
Like I said deep character study you spend most of the movie following around Joaquin Phoenix's character as he's slowly
Pushed to violence at every turn as things start to unravel for him
Most of the other criticisms against the film have to do with the way it portrays violence
There's been a lot of hot takes like I said and I think it's okay to ask questions like that
But if you've ever seen any kind of movie and if you understand that this movie is about the Joker
I really don't think that it's an issue
I think that a lot of the people that are criticizing the film for its
violence just don't know who the Joker is or it's been too long since the Dark Knight came out and they've completely forgot who the
Joker character is or they don't read comics
Comparing to other rated-r movies like Deadpool this movie is less violent than the Deadpool movie
The difference is is that this movie is just so much more serious in the way it treats all these moments
So you're just hitting the thais by Joaquin Phoenix's performance. There's been a lot of talk about his behind-the-scenes antics on set
It's all part of him. Just being this totally amazing. Totally weird person that comes up with some of the most fantastic
Performances you've seen seriously some of his best movies are some of his weirdest characters
There was a deleted scene
They posted recently of his character slowly coming to the Joker
Identity as he's writing a letter to Murray gold the character this play by Robert DeNiro Travis Bickle himself
So there was no mistake that he cast
Robert DeNiro in this movie that is inspired by a lot of Robert De Niro's earlier films
It's interesting that you say that because Todd sent me some out an outtake reel and we cut it down a bit
But well, let's take a look at that and tell us what was happening here
Trying find something real
Sorry, it's not did you see her after dancer fashion? How was that?
In reality he's not that crazy all the time, but that's just him in the moment
I was very happy to see that Robert De Niro did not phone his performance in because at this point in his career
He's got so much money and so many accolades that he could just do whatever he wants
He could completely phone in everything
He does from now on but his character is a bit of a spin on his previous king of comedy movie
He plays a talk-show host like Johnny Carson and a show that Joaquin Phoenix's Joker character idolizes in watches
Just like during Batman The Killing Joke. The character is an aspiring comedian
so Robert De Niro's talk show is something that he
Idolizes and feels like he could achieve some of the recognition that he's been wanting so badly from everyone
Talking about some of the other more important characters frances conroy plays his mother
she's
integral to his origin story and
what drives him to eventually become the Joker the way she comes off in the trailers is totally creepy and totally weird is
Exactly the way she is during the film and that's exactly the way the film needs her to be
So her performance was amazing
Za z beets was also great as the woman that he has a brief relationship with or tries to have a brief
Relationship with the movie does play some really interesting mind games with her character in The Joker character because you're taking his perspective
So you're seeing the world through his eyes and because of his condition. Sometimes you're getting false narrations
So you'll see things one way earlier in the film and then later the truth will be revealed
That things did not actually play out that way then of course
There's Brett Cohen who's playing Thomas Wayne?
I think
Early on when I first saw that he was cast the way they talked about the character made it sound like he was actually going
To be one of the villains of the film which is a very interesting twist on the Thomas Wayne character someone who you've seen in
So many different iterations of the Batman origin story as a very loving
Caring father who cared about the Gotham community only seen as this great
Charitable person who did everything he could to give money to the people that needed it in the city
Brett Cullen's version of the character comes off as much more imperialistic is a very different take on the character
But remember what I said The Joker's mind false narration
Sometimes you're not always seeing things
Correctly and throughout the film The Joker keeps getting all this new information about his backstory that he assumes is correct information
Which isn't always necessarily the case, there's a lot of people that tell him things that later turn out to be false
So this is nice parallel between them unraveling the story as his mind is slowly unraveling as he's being pushed to violence
I thought the set design was great
They made it look really gritty and grimy like you would expect
Gotham City to be it was like a slightly more realistic version of Tim Burton's Gotham from his original Batman film
Talking about the end of the film without getting too spoilery
I feel like they nailed the ending in a very clear origin for the character
It's a very complete loop where they could do sequels if they want to but Joaquin Phoenix isn't known for doing sequels and Todd Phillips
Makes it sound like they don't have a sequel planned
But right now the movie is on track to break Venom's record for all-time highest earning October release
So for why ends up doing gangbusters? I feel like they'll try to do everything
They can to get Joaquin Phoenix to come back
but when you think about the timeline of the film and how this my crossover with other Batman related films the way todd phillips has
Been talking about this is a DC black label
Is this sort of bubble outside the regular DC universe where they can tell rated r DC stories hard-core stories?
That wouldn't necessarily mix with the tone of what the other films are doing
Even the slightly more serious version of the Batman that Matt Reeves is working on
I feel like it's not a spoiler to say that Bruce Wayne does appear during this film the age difference between them is so
Significant that it would take a lot of bending over backwards to get the two of those
characters in a film in the future you would have to have a very serious time jump to like I said though the movie is
fantastic
even though there's so many hot takes don't listen to that go see the movie just enjoy it for yourself and once you do have
A chance to see it. Let me know what you think of it in the comments below overall
I give the film a B+ a - it's not perfect, but it is
Amazing and definitely will be nominated for a lot of awards
I will do Easter Egg videos for it this weekend more specific videos about the ending possible sequel jumping off points
So if you have any big questions about the movie that you want me to address during those just let me know in the comments
Below, I'll name a new giveaway winner
when I post that next - Joker video
everybody click here for the brand new flash season 6 crisis on Infinite Earths trailer and click here to re-watch that new
Birds-of-prey trailer video in Easter. Thank you so much for watching. Everybody put on a happy face. I'll see you guys tonight