The Joker Movie starring Joaqin Pheonix October 2019 release

Apr 29, 2012
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Not a huge fan of the final minute, for me I would have been fine if it ended with the image of him standing on that police car being cheered whilst Gotham burns behind him.

Brilliant scene and thumping score. Sensational note to end it on. Intermixed with the death of the Wayne’s.

That final moment with the psychiatrist at Arkham (I’m guessing), I didn’t really like that. I enjoyed the “you wouldn’t get it reference”, a great callback to the greatest comic book novel of all time (more on that later).

But the scene itself, to then leave it open to interpretation if the entire events that transpired in the film actually happened or not? Nah, not a fan of that. Seems a bit of a cop out and cheapens the impact of the film for me.

I’ve got no problem with his delusional day dreaming about his date etc, his mental health was already rapidly deteriorating at that point. But whether the entire thing happened or not, no thank you. Anyway, minor gripe overall. But wish it didn’t end on that note.

I started reading The Dark Knight Returns again last night, it’s been a while. It still gets me, even after first reading it 30+ years ago. This is a sensational scene and clearly used as some inspiration for Joker’s appearance on the Murray Franklin show, an excerpt from the animated movie:

To build on this thread. The brightness, whiteness and cleaness of Arkham requires you to read into it. Theres also an argument that the young black femae pysch is a younger version of his psych in the movie but that's another point that doesn't turn the ending on its own. The fact is that Arkham is shown to be dingy and dirty throughout the film and it's the opposite at the end. The only explanations for that are -

1. It was all in his head
2. Since the Wayne's death they have used Wayne funds to rebuild social services in their honour
3. It is in his mind as a representative of a euphoric post release state where he is happy with himself
 
He is one of my favourite actors but reading comments in this thread I don't think I want to watch it

I thought this might be a Batman begins type film leading to a couple more movies I'm assuming this won't happen?
 
He is one of my favourite actors but reading comments in this thread I don't think I want to watch it

I thought this might be a Batman begins type film leading to a couple more movies I'm assuming this won't happen?

Its one of his greatest performances if not his best. So if ur a fan of his u can watch it for that reason.

They have said they wont do another but watching his interviews over the weekend he said he and Todd Phillips would still be filming if they could. Seems he really enjoyed working on this so maybe he would be willing to come back after all but I would still say unlikely
 

glenferry23

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To build on this thread. The brightness, whiteness and cleaness of Arkham requires you to read into it. Theres also an argument that the young black femae pysch is a younger version of his psych in the movie but that's another point that doesn't turn the ending on its own. The fact is that Arkham is shown to be dingy and dirty throughout the film and it's the opposite at the end. The only explanations for that are -

1. It was all in his head
2. Since the Wayne's death they have used Wayne funds to rebuild social services in their honour
3. It is in his mind as a representative of a euphoric post release state where he is happy with himself

the best thing about this movie is there’s no right or wrong answer. There’s circumstantial evidence throughout to support any theory, but there doesn’t seem to be a definitive answer.

As it should be with the Joker. “If I’m going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice”.

He’s the most unreliable narrator there is, so it’s very possible he just thought Arkham was cleaner and whiter than it appeared otherwise. Remember when he’s talking to the clerk, he asked “how does one get in here?”

So for him, Arkham could be this wonderful beautiful palace that he wants to live in. Hence fantasising that it’s all clean and lovely inside. When we know how dark and dingy it actually is.
 

glenferry23

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He is one of my favourite actors but reading comments in this thread I don't think I want to watch it

I thought this might be a Batman begins type film leading to a couple more movies I'm assuming this won't happen?

I would say that’s a very compelling reason to see it. A magnificent actor in a unique role. It was never designed to be related to the DCEU and I think it can be appreciated more because it’s not tied down to that.
 

crafty_bernardo

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Lol rip Leto.

Remove the cringe tattoo's and there's probably a decent Leto Joker. Especially with all the unused footage.
 
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He is one of my favourite actors but reading comments in this thread I don't think I want to watch it

I thought this might be a Batman begins type film leading to a couple more movies I'm assuming this won't happen?

Then it's definitely worth seeing.

Don't be sad it's over, be glad it happened.
Live, laugh, love - that's what Arthur Fleck would want.
 
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Saw this last night, I liked, it really reminded me of taxi driver though which isn't a bad thing but you see the inspiration.

Joaquin Phoenix is outstanding in this it's just about on par with Ledger's performance and does it in his own way. Miles ahead of Leto's portrayal anyway.

If I have one gripe with it.. I wanted it to be darker, they should have pushed the R rating imo, don't get me wrong it is dark but they should have gone all the way with this and went a little darker.

The pacing was a little off aswell, the score was excellent

Better than your average comic book movie anyway.
7/10
 
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glenferry23

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Saw this last night, I liked, it really reminded me of taxi driver though which isn't a bad thing but you see the inspiration.

Joaquin Phoenix is outstanding in this it's just about on par with Ledger's performance and does it in his own way. Miles ahead of Leto's portrayal anyway.

If I have one gripe with it.. I wanted it to be darker, they should have pushed the R rating imo, don't get me wrong it is dark but they should have gone all the way with this and went a little darker.

The pacing was a little off aswell, the score was excellent

Better than your average comic book movie anyway.
7.5/10

It is R rated, which is the equivalent of MA in Australia. Same rating as Logan, Deadpool etc.

Glad you noted the score too, it really is brilliant. Took this movie to another level.
 

glenferry23

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Lol rip Leto.

Remove the cringe tattoo's and there's probably a decent Leto Joker. Especially with all the unused footage.

I do feel for him in a way, chopped and changed his role so much during SS’ production that he was then reduced to a glorified cameo. It would have been better in hindsight to make that film about him murdering Todd, having the s**t beaten out of him by Batman (hence the metal grill) etc. That would have been far better than what the end product was.
 

glenferry23

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charcoalchicken I tried to respond to your post but seems to have been deleted. Todd Phillips spoke in recent weeks about his early pitch meetings with Warner Bros about this movie, and their resistance to going R rated. “We sell Joker pajamas for kids at Target” or something to that effect. That was their reluctance.

Not sure how much darker they could have made this really. It’s a bleak tone, graphic violence (although nowhere near as bad as some of the media hysteria), lots of swearing. It’s about the best representation they can get away with.

As much as I’d love to see a live action Death Of The Family, it’s just not going to happen.
 

Ambrosia

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Two things I thought were worth mentioning:

- The whole movie actually being a dark comedy about how Thomas Wayne is responsible for his own downfall and the Joker and the Batman being enemies

- What was people’s take on the Joker being freed by the ambulance slamming into the police car and Thomas Wayne and his wife being shot? Seemed like a planned attack. Was that hinting and some sort of organised villain behind the whole thing?
 

Filthy Sanchez

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saw it last night and I really struggled with it.

I thought the film looked excellent, music was on point and the plot of how the Joker became a symbol to Gotham was very nice.

I just think the ending had far too many holes in it to be truly gripping and believable.

I thought the Joker’s character became too political. I feel that the best Joker’s stand for nothing, yet this Joker clearly has an anti-capitalist agenda and would operate out of fairness such as when he spared the midget or we didn’t see whether he killed his neighbor.

I thought the whole idea of the tv show sourcing comedy club film, putting him on TV and allowing him to wear a clearly political outfit on a fluffy talk show was a bridge too far, also how long production allowed that conversation to go to air was highly unrealistic.

In fact, I found the whole transplant of the King of Comedy into the film to be quite lazy.

And of course the asylum scene at the end was a major cop out and didn’t leave us with that hard-hitting final shot like that burning Gotham City could have.

I feel I’m just not quite getting any deeper challenging messages from this film, it was just a really nice and clever way of showing the birth of the Joker and Fall of Gotham.

I liked a lot of it, I loved the performance/dance elements that were brought back, he looked fantastic as both Arthur and Joker. It just missed the mark on Joker’s values I think and instead went for just a society outcast ala Taxi Driver.
 
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