So I saw the JOKER movie last night. Maybe because I was tired and didn’t want to think too much but I was ready to give this movie 2.5 out of 5 stars. As I was writing the rough draft of this review and started thinking about the movie, I soon realized how great this movie actually is. It was exactly what I expected though not as disturbing of a movie the media has hyped it up to be. If you’ve seen movies like ‘Taxi Driver’, ‘Falling Down’ or even ‘Rampage’ (which is a million times worse than JOKER and the aforementioned movies) then you’ll know what to expect when going into JOKER.

The movie is a slow burn. It wasn’t until the third act that the movie really caught my attention. Maybe it was because I went in knowing how insane comic book and movie iterations of Joker were, so much of what I was seeing was expected. The JOKER I came to see did show up until the very end and by that time the movie was over. You are really going to have to go into this movie your eyes open and pay attention. The first 10 minutes of the movie pretty much set up everything that is to come.

Joaquin is one of my favorite actors and did not disappoint. He played an awesome Authur Fleck/Joker and his performance should stand on its own next to Heath Ledger and Jack Nicholson as one of the best portrayals of the Joker. If you are looking for a similar Joker to the ones that have come prior, don’t even waste your time. Joaquin’s Joker is none of those.

The movie, in my eyes, was the evolution of Authur becoming his true self – Joker. A character in the movie said that the Joker was a coward hiding behind a mask – referencing the first kill by Authur. Those words rang true, but not in the way I initially thought. What I realized is that Authur was the mask, hiding his true self which is Joker. I’m not going to go too deep into the backstory so I’ll try to stick to the main points and try not to spoil too much. Authur spent his whole life unhappy and he never knew why. As the movie progresses we learn that Authur’s life is a lie. His mother, Penny Fleck, suffers from psychosis and has been lying to Authur his whole life. Once Authur uncovers the truth about her, his descent into sanity and not madness sends his life spiraling into control and not out of control I know that sounds weird but hear me out. Up until Arthur finds out the truth about his life, he was unhappy with is life and unsure that he was even real. Which in his case was true. Every aspect of his life was being controlled by a lie. A lie fabricated by the only person he thought had loved him. His mother only really loved him because of another lie she had fabricated because of her psychosis. Authur was not real. Authur was nothing. Once those lies came to the surface, Authur also became a lie. So Authur becoming Joker was a rebirth. Unfortunately for Authur, he was the product of his environment. Authur’s life was nothing but violence, unhappiness, disappointment, and suffering. Authur was the personification of everyone that life was treating unfairly. With no guidance, he succumbed to the reality around him and lashed out in the only way he knew how.. Yes, Authur was mentally ill but that mental illness was created by his environment. Authur thus sheds his mask and realizes Joker – the persona behind the mask.

Authur’s laugh which was caused by brain damage and is known as pseudobulbar, causes him to laugh uncontrollably and at inappropriate times becomes less frequent as he transforms more and more into the Joker. As the Joker, the few times he does laugh, the laugh becomes more and more deliberate. This I believe is because he’s becoming acceptive of his true self – he’s becoming whole. There are other factors that lead Authur down this path but that would be spoiling the movie and again, I’m not going to go deep into them since it would spoil the movie. This realization helped me appreciate the movie even more.

I couldn’t go on and on, but I’m going to end this topic here. I just don’t feel like typing an essay, but I believe you get the idea. I’m tired of typing. Just go see the damn movie!

Let me know what you thought about the movie if you’ve seen in in the comments section or hit me on Twitter and Facebook.