First Impression (Movie Review): Joker [NO SPOILERS]

To be completely honest, I wasn't expecting to do this. I was very skeptical about this movie when I first saw the original teaser. When the trailers came out  I thought "Ok, this looks pretty good" but there was still doubt in my mind about the whole premise. "If they want this to work, they MUST have some EXTREMELY clever writers" I thought to myself, and between Disney's Remakes, Baby Driver, and Yesterday, I really doubt they would. Finally the reviews came in with overwhelming praise. Despite my doubts about the concept of a Joker origin story, I still wanted to see this movie and the positive reviews encouraged my desire to do so. I went to watch it last week and... well... how do I even start?

"Joker" is an amazing movie. Great cinematography, an amazing performance by Joaquin Phoenix, and a gripping, intense, heart wrenching script. Throughout its entire run time I felt my heart pounding, feeling as it wanted to explode out of my chest. I don't think any movie has made me feel like this. However, fair warning, this movie is very disturbing (for all the good reasons, but disturbing nonetheless). "The Dark Knight" showed us a demon. The embodiment of chaos, death, anarchy, and destruction. "Joker" gave us a man. A person with a family, hopes, dreams, and we watch him be slowly stripped away from everything that made him human until he is nothing but a monster. There is a comfort in villainizing those who commit atrocious acts. We could never become like them because they are evil. To me, this is what's horrifying about "Joker": The realization that monsters were, indeed, once human. 

Now, this movie has problems, like any other. I felt the music could've been quieter in some scenes. Also Joker seems to be whinier in some scenes. Usually he is more confident, commanding, and intelligent but his character does make sense in the world he is portrayed (it IS a different interpretation after all so as long as it works in the story and captures the essence of the character, it doesn't matter). There also a lot of shots that might come off as pretentious because Todd Philips wanted to be artsy, or some sequences that go on for a little too long, but honestly this is all nitpicking. 

"Joker" is a movie that was very carefully made, and the lighting, staging, acting, and cinematography all reflect that. It is absolutely a MUST watch. I might go and see it again because there's so much that can be picked apart. I know this review was kind of vague and short, but I do believe that this is a movie that should be experienced, not be told about.