Dark, dismal, and as realistic as it gets, Joker gives the Batman mythos a whole slew
of updates that makes everything feel more grounded in the real world and, in many ways,
more effective.
These are just a few of the things that Joker does better than any other Batman movie.
Joaquin Phoenix's portrayal of Arthur Fleck is more relatable than any other Clown Prince
we've met on the big screen.
We all know what it's like to imagine romantic lives with those who don't reciprocate, to
fantasize about being heralded in a world of fame, and to be recognized for being special.
We don't, thankfully, all respond as Fleck does when those desires aren't fulfilled,
but still, getting to know Arthur gives us something we've never had with any other Joker
an understanding of why he becomes and remains the Joker.
Cesar Romero's Joker of the '60s television show was, like the rest of that series' antagonists,
just a crook with a particular theme.
The origins of Heath Ledger's Joker are a mystery in The Dark Knight and his motivations
seem to change from scene to scene.
We get to meet Jack Napier before he becomes Joker in 1989's Batman, but it doesn't help
make the character more relatable.
He was always kind of a huge, homicidal jerk.
Obviously, Christopher Nolan and Tim Burton had different priorities when making their
respective films than Todd Phillips did with Joker, but as MCU villains like Tom Hiddleston's
Loki and Josh Brolin's Thanos have taught us, the more we can relate to a supervillain,
the more we enjoy their portrayal.
We briefly meet some of the Wayne family in Joker.
Thomas Wayne is running for mayor, Arthur Fleck gets the opportunity to meet his future
nemesis Bruce Wayne as a young boy, and we even briefly meet the butler Alfred Pennyworth.
Particularly in the case of Thomas Wayne, the versions we see of the characters in Joker
aren't quite the saints Bruce Wayne usually remembers in the various movies.
"Is this a joke to you?"
Out of touch and condescending dismissive, insulting, and even violent toward Arthur
Fleck this version of Thomas Wayne is refreshing and feels genuine, especially compared to
other incarnations of the guy.
For example, Linus Roache's version of Thomas Wayne in 2005's Batman Begins seems so beyond
reproach, he's practically a cartoon character.
He does nothing but selflessly give to Gotham, offer unassailable wisdom to his son, and
even in his dying breaths worry about nothing beyond Bruce's well being.
To be fair, it makes sense Bruce Wayne's memory of his father is viewed through rose-colored
glasses, but seeing more depth and flaws to him makes him more than a faceless ghost fueling
Batman's crusade.
Joker always has his followers.
Usually they're professional criminals, like in 1989's Batman and 2008's The Dark Knight.
But in Joker, Arthur Fleck doesn't recruit anybody at least not on purpose.
After he kills three men on a subway, the news inspires the impoverished and powerless
of Gotham to see him as a symbol of resistance.
Gotham protesters regularly wear clown masks as a symbol of rebellion, and by the end of
the film his followers rescue him from the police and worship him like a newborn god.
The clown-masked protesters of Gotham are not the mindless, disposable henchmen of the
other movies, which is exactly why it's more believable they would come to see Joker as
their leader.
They rightly feel betrayed and forgotten by Gotham, and Joker offers them an empowering
alternative.
It may not be the healthiest choice, but it makes more sense than hardened ex-cons saying,
"sure, I'll dress like a mime for a guy who might murder me for a gag tomorrow."
The Gotham City of Joker feels more like a city situated somewhere in the real world
than any of its other big screen incarnations.
The Gotham of 1989's Batman and its 1992 sequel Batman Returns was an imposing gothic nightmare.
Joel Schumacher's version in 1995's Batman Forever and the 1997 hate-magnet Batman & Robin
add some absurd Day-Glo to the city, making it seem that much more cartoonish.
Gotham like its lighter reflection Metropolis is really just New York City with a different
name, and in Joker, it's never been more clear that that's exactly what it is.
Christopher Nolan's trilogy gave us a Gotham closer to the real world than what we saw
in the Burton/Schumacher films, but Joker gets it perfect by simply giving us New York
City, and calling it Gotham instead.
If there's one thing every version of the Joker shares, it's a penchant for violence.
The Joker of 1989's Batman kills in unbelievable, cartoonish ways.
It's easy to laugh when he electrocutes a rival mob boss and poisons Gotham's population
to make them die with gruesome forced grins just like his own, because none of it feels
real.
"With new Joker brand, I get a grin… again and again."
In some cases like when he gasses an entire museum full of patrons and employees we don't
even know if he kills anyone or just knocks them out, and it hardly seems to matter.
Heath Ledger's Joker in 2008's The Dark Knight is certainly less cartoonish than Nicholson's
depiction, but in many ways his violence doesn't feel right.
While Ledger's performance is often intimate and chilling, the situations he's put in often
feel more like a Michael Bay film than they should, like when he's firing at police cruisers
with a missile launcher from the side of an 18-wheeler.
Once Arthur Fleck turns to violence in Joker, however, it's a kind of violence that not
only feels more genuine to the real world but for the Joker himself.
Arthur Fleck's violence is brutal and without the Hollywood sheen of big-budget action flicks.
It's non-stylized and viscerally jarring.
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