Joker Spoiler Review

ALL CONTENTS ON THIS SPOILER REVIEW ARE THE SOUL CREATIVE AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTIES OF D.C. COMICS AND WARNER BROTHER STUDIOS. ALL IMAGES ARE FROM THE STUDIO PREVIEWS ON YOUTUBE. THIS IS FOR ENTERTAINMENT AND INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY.

Film Maker Todd Phillips and writer Scott Silver have created a cinematic masterpiece with 2019's Joker. A character study and villain origin story of the DC comic book villain The Joker. Filmed in the likeness of Martin Scorsese's films like Taxi Driver, and King of Comedy with similar film stock and shots of the 80's period used to enhance the feeling of being in Gotham in the past. The musical score is haunting and the acting is superb by actor Juaquin Phoenix who should win the oscar for this role. Holding nothing back as this film explores some of the most important and controversial social issues that our society has neglected to deal with for a very long time. There is no doubt it is disturbing at times and when those scenes are there they are abrupt quick and shocking.

I recommend you see this film but go into the movie not expecting to see your typical comic book movie.

Expect to see a dark depiction of what happens when society fails to notice the decline of the everyday man and the consequences for their neglect.

My word for this film is... "Triggering"

This film was an unexpected treat for the fans of comic book films in that we get a stark and beautifully mastered period art-piece. Set in 1982, Gotham is a dirty, gritty, and politically charged city. The city is cutting budgets for things like trash pick up, social services, and mental health services (which directly effect our anti-hero). People are poor, and out of work. Their anger is directed at the upper class which are totally out of touch with what the masses are going through. This is shown through open news papers on the bus and subway with headlines that say things like Kill The Rich and through background radio news lines and television news flashes.

In this chaotic environment a mentally ill comedian / clown Arthur Fleck suffers from paradoxical laughter brought on by severe childhood trauma, Arthur lives in a run down apartment with his delusional mother. He regularly sees a therapist and is on medications for his mental issues,.When the budgets are cut Arthur loses his therapist and access to his psyche medications.

Arthur struggles to get by acting as rental a clown for Pogo's events and party's. In the beginning of the movie Arthur is attacked as he is hired to be a sign spinning clown for a going out of business sale. A group of youths knock his sign out of his hands and run away with it. Arthur gives chase only to be attacked a couple blocks away in an ally-way by the youths who in their attack break the sign. He gets in trouble for the broken sign and even though he was jumped his boss threatens to take it out of his pay. A coworker gives him a hand gun and tells Arthur to pay him later for the gun. Arthur explains that he's not allowed to own a gun. The coworker rebukes his rejection and leaves Author with the gun.

At a hospital cancer ward for children Arthur in full clown get up drops the hand gun on the floor. That night he is fired for bringing a gun to work. He learns the coworker that gave him the gun lied to his boss and said Arthur had asked to buy the gun. Upset and reeling from the loss of his job (the only thing he loves to do) he takes the subway home We follow Arthur as his world slowly collapses around him and hope for anything better is snatched away at every turn. While on the subway three young rich males, intoxicated are going from car to car harassing passengers. As they harass a single woman riding in the subway car with Arthur, Arthur begins to laugh out of nervousness giving the woman a chance to slip away. One of the men begins to sing a drunken rendition of Send In The Clowns as he dances around Arthur eventually slipping Arthur's green clown wig off his head asking Arthur if he thinks they are funny and call him a freak when the begin hitting and kicking him. Arthur being beaten panics and defends himself shooting two of the attackers, but then the third runs off the train shot in the leg. Arthur exits the train in chase and as the man exits the train Arthur exits and chases him down and shoots him unloading the gun into the man. We then see Arthur do something which is symbolic of his metamorphosis into the Joker persona as he enters into a public bathroom after killing the three men and he begins to slowly dance. Arthur seems to revel in the act of killing experiencing a euphoria and peace.

Rejected and neglected Arthur descends into madness.

Each time Arthur experiences rejection he slips into delusional episodes that seem real but are in truth all in his mind, this false reality gets mixed up with his waking reality. He has a fictional relationship with a young single mother down the hall from his apartment. He doesn't realize that he's fantasizing about having a physically involved relationship with the woman. He imagines her with him at every downward turn until his reality comes crashing down around him as he enters her apartment in the waking world and she reacts in fear asking why he's in her apartment. Arthur realizes she is not truly with him and responds, "I've had a really bad day. "

Arthur learns from his mother that a rich politician Thomas Wayne a former employer of hers is supposedly his father. Thomas Wayne is running for mayor at this time. Author pursues this information trying to visit Thomas Wayne. He is rejected by Alfred Pennyworth at the Wayne estate where he meets a young Bruce Wayne at the gate to the Wayne home. In this scene Arthur gives Bruce a bouquet of flowers produced from a magic wand. He then kneels and softly asks, "What's your name?" To which Bruce responds, "I'm Bruce." Arthur reaches through the bars and presses Bruce's cheeks into a wide grin with his thumbs and says, "That's better."

He then sneaks into an event the Wayne's are attending dressing in an attendant's coat. Arthur follows Thomas Wayne to the bathroom and confronts him with the fact that he is his father and that his mother told him about their affair. Thomas Wayne protests when Arthur claims that they look alike and says to Arthur, "Well that would be a miracle because your mother adopted you when she worked for us." He explains that when Arthur's mother worked for him she had gone crazy and was taken out of the Wayne home and put into an asylum. Arthur feels extremely hurt and confused as Thomas Wayne tells him he is not father. When Arthur breaks out into nervous laughter Thomas Wayne gets angry and punches Arthur in the face.

Arthur goes to the mental records department at Arkham and requests the information on his mother's old case. When visiting the records department he quietly tells the clerk that he had done something bad and that he thought he'd feel bad about it but that he doesn't. The clerk tells Arthur that he's just a file clerk and that he can't help him with those kinds of issues but that he should see someone about it He is told he cannot remove his mother's file from the hospital so desperate he reaches behind the glass and rips the file from the clerks hands. Arthur sprints down the hallway and into a flight of stairs where he stops and opens the file and reads its contents and finds his adoption papers and reports of severe and brutal child abuse by his mother's ex-boyfriend.

All this happens and then Arthur is contacted by a famous television show he religiously watches with his Mother. Footage of him bombing on stage is played as the host makes fun of Arthur. Arthur feels even more rejection from someone he felt would understand him. The show contacts him and asks him to be on and of course he accepts the invitation.

Arthur is contacted by two agents looking into the murders of the three men on the subway since witnesses said they saw a man dressed as a clown. The two agents give chase as Arthur runs from them. Next we see Arthur at the television studio dressing up in clown make up and a purple leisure suit. He asks to be introduced as the Joker.

While live on the air Arthur admits to the three killings and explains that he has nothing left to lose. The talk show host Murray tells Arthur that he was wrong for what he did and that there is no excuse for him to have done it. Arthur confronts his old hero telling him and society that they are awful. As Murray tells Arthur that he's done talking to him Arthur delivers a socially charged knock knock joke and then subsequently shoots Murray in the head and then in the heart.

Arthur has now become the Joker. He is arrested and as he whisked away in the cop car the city is descending into chaos as rioters burn cars and break into buildings stealing and looting. The cop car is smashed by a truck and Arthur is removed from the wreckage and left on the hood of the car as people dressed in clown masks look on to see if he will recover egging him on the stand up and lead them. Arthur stands up on the hood of the car and dances. He then in a very twisted way takes the blood pooling in his mouth and paints a blood grin on his cheeks turning to face the crowd of people that now look to him to spearhead a rebellion against the rich.

We then cut to the mental hospital where Arthur is being interviewed by a therapist and we end with him laughing and her asking him what is so funny and he responds, "You wouldn't get it." as he then is walking down the hall with bloody shoe

In closing even if you totally spoiled your experience reading this and you haven't seen the film yet GO SEE IT! It is that good. All the good things you are hearing on the net are all true. Go see this adult version of a classic villain story and be drawn into this beautifully and bleakly told story.