Joker: An Engaging Rollercoaster

   This year has seen a couple of big comic book films, primarily from the marvel cinematic universe get released but as the year comes to a close, DC released Joker, a single film about the Joker that has no ties to their cinematic universe or their other Joker who was played by Jared Leto in Suicide Squad.

 I saw Joker on my birthday thanks to an awesome friend who took me to go see it and honestly from the very first scene, I knew it wasn't going to be a basic pop corn flick...I mean, I knew that already from seeing the trailers but still, when the film starts, you know this isn't just another movie, this is an actual experience.

  Jaoquin Phoneix has always been a phenomenal actor but he brings life to this new yet familiar character. He plays the slow descent into full blown madness perfectly and it's very very real. Every thing he does is shown from his perspective, they are a lot of crazy good scenes with him. You can tell he actually wanted to go all out for this film and he really did. I really hope he wins an Oscar for his performance because I think he truly deserves to win, simply because of how he brought a new spin to a well known character without ruining the character.
In fact, everybody in this film had grade A performances and that added so much more to the already beautiful looking film.

 Before seeing this film, I knew it was an original story overall, but, I didn't know how they would take cues from other classic joker tales and put it into this one, one of the major problems with films these days is, they're always trying to set up a sequel or reference something in such a very loud manner but this one? this one isn't anything like that, the nods are just that, nods, it's not trying to sell you a Joker trilogy or tell you "hey, look at that thing from the red hood story line". It's just glimpses here and there, if you understand, it adds more to your viewing experience and if you don't you'll still be fully immersed in the world and the film's story.

  I think my favorite things in this film besides the fact that everybody in it brought their A-game is that the camera work and music is freaking amazing. The whole film is from Arthur's point of view first and foremost and the way the camera moves in certain scenes just makes you feel like you're part of the experience. They used different angles to express certain things even without dialogue, you just get it and the music adds a dangerous yet vulnerable feel to the whole film. As the film progresses, everything keeps getting more and more intense, they are little scenes that would be boring if they weren't executed the way they were in this film and that's something truly amazing because, if this was just handled as a regular film, it wouldn't have as much impact.

    When you leave Joker you're left asking different questions, you'll obviously leave with questions about the film but, you'll also have a ton of questions about the world you live in. Gotham city feels like a real place, everything looks and feels dangerous, you understand why people are either sick, poor, crazy or extremely rich. You feel like they are actual stories from this city, it's not just a place from a movie even though that's what it is. I have to really commend the amount of effort they put into this because it's actually a big step especially when you think about the dominating comic book films like the marvel films have a more lighthearted tone.

  Another thing I think I need to add here is, please do not go into this film in comparison mode, don't go in saying "oh, this can't top Ledger's performance", "Fuck Jared Leto" or "Mark Hamill and Jack Nicholson are the best" because if you do you'll be very dissapointed. You can't compare this Joker to any other, this take is very unique even though it has a lot of influences, also, don't go hating Jared Leto because that man gets way too much hate because I think he did a very good job based on the type of joker he played, I would even like to see him come back for another film because a lot of his scenes were cut in suicide squad

 Joker has been said to be a film that'll start violent attacks and some people even claimed that it thinks it's a smart film when it really isn't. I have never seen it in that way, the film sticks to it's narrative and never really does anything that's too crazy or try to be to fake woke. I think why people think that would be is because of how raw and honest this film is. It does something that's very fascinating, it takes beloved DC Characters like Joker and Thomas Wayne and add levels of realism to their character without necessarily changing who they've been in previous years.
Joker shows you the negativity of not taking mental health seriously, it doesn't glorify any negative acts, it's very honest and it also makes sure you know when things are wrong and that's one of the many reasons why I think it was absolutely amazing.

 So, if you're looking for something to watch and you don't mind seeing a dramatic case study of one the greatest villains of all time, be sure to see Joker and remember, put on a happy face!!!