After months of media hype, Todd Phillips’ stand-alone origin story Joker has arrived in theaters. With the concern about a potential incel uprising, it’s hard to tell if the bad press is reasonable paranoia or calculated strategy from the coldest of marketing departments. Regardless of where you stand, Joker has been the most polarizing topic of discussion involving a comic-book movie since the initial superhero boom of the last decade.
Joker tells the story of Arthur Fleck, a mentally-ill loner taking care of his elderly mother in the class warfare-torn Gotham City. He works as rent-a-clown during the day and dreams of becoming a stand-up comedian at night. As tensions between politicians and the working-class reach powder-keg levels, Arthur finds himself in a downward spiral of self-destruction and chaotic impulses. All of which will lead him down the path of becoming the spark that ignites a violent revolution.
In many ways, Arthur’s pessimistic view of society could be seen as a reflection of our time.
Most of the negative press for the film stems from the sympathetic victim mentality shown in the trailers. A month before it’s release, I planned an article about how the film could be dangerous in today’s social climate. But I decided to hold my tongue until seeing it myself. Admittedly, rallying against a movie I hadn’t watched would be just as pathetic as defending it without seeing it. Romanticizing vengeance and/or violence will always be dangerous, but not all trailers properly represent their respective films. 
Ironically, Joker is closer to a love letter to Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy than it is a serious character study.
Sure, we feel sorry for the downtrodden Arthur but it’s never to the point to where we root for him. For all intents and purposes, the far-Right could make a case for Joker just as much as the far-Left. The film brings up the failure of government dealing with mental health while showing the dangers of gun violence. Further transparencies include Gotham’s elite depicted as calloused and detached while protesters are violent savages ready to riot. It’s this indecisiveness in the narrative that tells me Joker isn’t as smart as it pretends to be.
In a recent interview, director Todd Phillips insufferably claimed he can no longer do comedies like Old School and The Hangover because ‘woke’ culture has ruined his brand of humor. And while there is some truth to the shift in the entertainment landscape, it’s disgustingly hypocritical coming from a director whose latest film utilized paranoia from the 2012 Aurora, Colorado Shooting as a low-key marketing push. I would have fewer reservations for his takes if Joker challenged me in some way. We don’t get the opportunity to relate to a character in Joker because most of them are manipulative, vile, or toxic. I applaud the choice of using a villain as the protagonist but at the same time, we sort of need kind of contrast to offset the single note of villainy.
Despite being visually striking with Oscar-worthy performances across the board, Joker isn’t what I would call a good film on its own merits.
After setting up its premise in the first 5 minutes, Joker plays the same chord over and over for 2 and a half hours. Essentially, the entire film is a series of 3-minute scenes set up and played out in the same exact fashion. It’s clear Phillips is a fan of Martin Scorsese, but Joker might be too on-the-nose for its own good. What good is a visual/audio nod if it makes the viewer want to watch those movies instead?
Joker works fine as a standalone movie. But Arthur’s transformation isn’t interesting enough to end the film without seeing the repercussions of his actions. I’m not suggesting a sequel but it would be interesting to see this variation of the character from a Batman’s perspective. Especially since both characters are born of tragedy. 
Like Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, Phillips’ Joker wants to acknowledge society’s injustices. However, it lacks the courage to be anything more than an extended scene in any other gritty comic adaption. While not a bad film by any means, Joker struggles to match the unreasonable hype before its release. It’s dark, depressing, and bleak but Phoenix’s performance keeps it from being a complete loss. Despite being promised a comic book film like no other, we got a Scorcsese-Lite exercise in marketing manipulation. The punchline may have been promising but the payoff is a bit underwhelming.