Dark, dismal, and as realistic as it gets,
Joker gives the Batman mythos a whole slew
of updates that makes everything feel more
grounded in the real world and, in many ways,
more effective.
These are just a few of the things that Joker
does better than any other Batman movie.
Joaquin Phoenix's portrayal of Arthur Fleck
is more relatable than any other Clown Prince
we've met on the big screen.
We all know what it's like to imagine romantic
lives with those who don't reciprocate, to
fantasize about being heralded in a world
of fame, and to be recognized for being special.
We don't, thankfully, all respond as Fleck
does when those desires aren't fulfilled,
but still, getting to know Arthur gives us
something we've never had with any other Joker
an understanding of why he becomes and remains
the Joker.
Cesar Romero's Joker of the '60s television
show was, like the rest of that series' antagonists,
just a crook with a particular theme.
The origins of Heath Ledger's Joker are a
mystery in The Dark Knight and his motivations
seem to change from scene to scene.
We get to meet Jack Napier before he becomes
Joker in 1989's Batman, but it doesn't help
make the character more relatable.
He was always kind of a huge, homicidal jerk.
Obviously, Christopher Nolan and Tim Burton
had different priorities when making their
respective films than Todd Phillips did with
Joker, but as MCU villains like Tom Hiddleston's
Loki and Josh Brolin's Thanos have taught
us, the more we can relate to a supervillain,
the more we enjoy their portrayal.
We briefly meet some of the Wayne family in
Joker.
Thomas Wayne is running for mayor, Arthur
Fleck gets the opportunity to meet his future
nemesis Bruce Wayne as a young boy, and we
even briefly meet the butler Alfred Pennyworth.
Particularly in the case of Thomas Wayne,
the versions we see of the characters in Joker
aren't quite the saints Bruce Wayne usually
remembers in the various movies.
"Is this a joke to you?"
Out of touch and condescending dismissive,
insulting, and even violent toward Arthur
Fleck this version of Thomas Wayne is refreshing
and feels genuine, especially compared to
other incarnations of the guy.
For example, Linus Roache's version of Thomas
Wayne in 2005's Batman Begins seems so beyond
reproach, he's practically a cartoon character.
He does nothing but selflessly give to Gotham,
offer unassailable wisdom to his son, and
even in his dying breaths worry about nothing
beyond Bruce's well being.
To be fair, it makes sense Bruce Wayne's memory
of his father is viewed through rose-colored
glasses, but seeing more depth and flaws to
him makes him more than a faceless ghost fueling
Batman's crusade.
Joker always has his followers.
Usually they're professional criminals, like
in 1989's Batman and 2008's The Dark Knight.
But in Joker, Arthur Fleck doesn't recruit
anybody at least not on purpose.
After he kills three men on a subway, the
news inspires the impoverished and powerless
of Gotham to see him as a symbol of resistance.
Gotham protesters regularly wear clown masks
as a symbol of rebellion, and by the end of
the film his followers rescue him from the
police and worship him like a newborn god.
The clown-masked protesters of Gotham are
not the mindless, disposable henchmen of the
other movies, which is exactly why it's more
believable they would come to see Joker as
their leader.
They rightly feel betrayed and forgotten by
Gotham, and Joker offers them an empowering
alternative.
It may not be the healthiest choice, but it
makes more sense than hardened ex-cons saying,
"sure, I'll dress like a mime for a guy who
might murder me for a gag tomorrow."
The Gotham City of Joker feels more like a
city situated somewhere in the real world
than any of its other big screen incarnations.
The Gotham of 1989's Batman and its 1992 sequel
Batman Returns was an imposing gothic nightmare.
Joel Schumacher's version in 1995's Batman
Forever and the 1997 hate-magnet Batman & Robin
add some absurd Day-Glo to the city, making
it seem that much more cartoonish.
Gotham like its lighter reflection Metropolis
is really just New York City with a different
name, and in Joker, it's never been more clear
that that's exactly what it is.
Christopher Nolan's trilogy gave us a Gotham
closer to the real world than what we saw
in the Burton/Schumacher films, but Joker
gets it perfect by simply giving us New York
City, and calling it Gotham instead.
If there's one thing every version of the
Joker shares, it's a penchant for violence.
The Joker of 1989's Batman kills in unbelievable,
cartoonish ways.
It's easy to laugh when he electrocutes a
rival mob boss and poisons Gotham's population
to make them die with gruesome forced grins
just like his own, because none of it feels
real.
"With new Joker brand, I get a grin… again
and again."
In some cases like when he gasses an entire
museum full of patrons and employees we don't
even know if he kills anyone or just knocks
them out, and it hardly seems to matter.
Heath Ledger's Joker in 2008's The Dark Knight
is certainly less cartoonish than Nicholson's
depiction, but in many ways his violence doesn't
feel right.
While Ledger's performance is often intimate
and chilling, the situations he's put in often
feel more like a Michael Bay film than they
should, like when he's firing at police cruisers
with a missile launcher from the side of an
18-wheeler.
Once Arthur Fleck turns to violence in Joker,
however, it's a kind of violence that not
only feels more genuine to the real world
but for the Joker himself.
Arthur Fleck's violence is brutal and without
the Hollywood sheen of big-budget action flicks.
It's non-stylized and viscerally jarring.
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