My Take on Joker

First and foremost, thanks, dear reader. All two-to-three of you, tops that decided that my little, dumb, drunken ramblings of art things of blogs things that they are were worth this. Secondly, all I can do is promise that I’ll be adding more “patron exclusive” ramblings as time goes on. In fact, you shoulld, hopefully, expect more of (along this sort of, fun like… serious but not too serious… but mostly fun) kinda thing. I’ve talked about Joker a couple of times here on RyansDrunk.com. But now, I’ve seent it. So. I’ll be sharing my thoughts accordingly. Again. Thank you. And expect more awesome fun times.

So, I’ve finally watched Joker. This incel trainingmanual. This. ultimate display of white male hatred. This putrid piece of patriachal white supremecy or whatever the Slates of the wolrd are so pissed off about that this movie has garnished 11 Oscar nominations. Apparently, Joker is the worst thing to happen to film since The Triumph of the Will according to most left-leaning media outlet.

“EXPECT MASS SHOOTINGS!” They, basically, creid prior to opening weekend. Then. Opening weekend came and went and they were like, “NO DUDE! WE NEVER WANTED mass shootings to happen! NOT AT ALL!” wE just knew, because we’re the media elite in a guild of ultra elite awesomeness that know better than you. And we knew that this film was going to inspire crazy people to do crazy things.

Again. I’m playing the part of the mainstream, left-leaning media up there.

So. I’m sitting here.

Watching Joker. And I’m like… where the fuck is the ultra-white racism? FFS. The dude is, CLEARLY in clove witha black woman. The numbers don’t lie. And they spell disater for your “OH NO WHITE RADICALISM!” narrative. Again. At this point. In year of our lord, 2020, precisely 0 deaths could be contributed to Joker. Nor could any acts of racism be attributed to the filmm. NONE% of anything the media cried. Happened.

Kinda like a certain political situation. But. I’ll let that slide.

So. Whar do I thnk about this Joker movie.

First and foremost. I need to share this…

Basically, the “this” link, refers back to an old rambling. Whre I described, pre-release, that this Joker movies wasn’t THE JOKER. I’d nominate the dude for “top fandom” if I had any say in the matter. But the first reply there is by a certain reader of RyansDrunk.com (and hopefully, my first patron due to this rambling… I’m just saying…)

And to say that Joker existed without Batman is beyond nonsense. the dude even refered back to Batman #1. Which. Dude. OK. MERHAPS. In Batman #1 Joker existed before Batman. MER.FUCKING.HAPS. But. No dude. He wasn’t. AT ALL. 20 years older than the dude. Nor was he a contributing factor to the Waynes death ANYWHERE NEAR 1939-1940. THE closest thing you’ve got to tie Joker to those first comic years of Batman was Batman punching a dude so hard he broke the steel railings in Detective Comics #27 that the dude fell into a vat of acid.

Now. All of that. Me. Being that Batman experty dumbass tht I am. Out of the way.

Do I LIKE Joker. Yes.

I LIKE it the way I LIKE Taxi Driver. I LIKE it. The way I like Goodfellas. I LIKE it the way I like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I LIKE. The movie. Which, I had no doubts I would. Ever.

It’s a fantastical piece of film that blahbuhdyblooblahed a something of masterful continuations of perservering. And themes. And Oh NO! A white person happened!

Dude. The movie’s fine. The only DIRECT comparison is to Taxi Driver. And that comparison is too obvious that it’s painful. FFS/ Robert De Niro is in both movies! HELLO! Or some sort of reality show nonsense.

Dude. Fundamentally? Batman experty person of shit that I claim to be? I loved how they protrayed the Wayne deaths in this movie. It wasn’t a random act of vioulce. It was a part of a media narrative. That spoon fed, the apparent, clown mask-wearing Joe Chill to kill Bruce’s parents.

And I mean. FFS. Throughout the movie, the biggest thought I had was, “Jesus Christ, this Gotham needs itself some Batman,” which… apparently makes me some sort of “-phobe,” unquestionably. Merhaps it makes me an elitist? Me. Someone that’s still scrounging up coins to purchase something to ramble for ya’ll. I… could… somehow be, in 2020, constrewed as an elitist.

Which. Brings up. All of the fucking awesome cinemetography. Dude. I mean. It’s been meme d to death at this point. But seeing it in action? The whole situation with the stairs. And Joker dancing atop of them. This whole thing’s been meemed to death but like.

I’ll stop the memes and go here:

That picture. Tragically. Was gthe easiest i could find to describe what I’m about to ramble about.

THere’s something poetic in the direction of the film. Merhaps it’s on the writing crew. Merhaps Todd Phillips came up with it all together. Merhaps Joaquin Phoenix made the suggesting/ I don’t know. All I know is that it was so fucking brilliant to reference these stairs time and time again throughout the mobie. Arthur Fleck climbs them. Tie and time again. As a way to return to his appartment. But then. When yoou see these stairs in all of his Joker glory, dancikng, jumping int the pudles of yesterday, et al. You see Arthur. Again. In all Joker glory. Descending them. Instead of climbing.

I’m sorry. But like. That’s the most brilliant piece of filmmaking I’ve seen in a decade. Arthur is climbing these stairs. Throughout the movie. Returning to his “shitty” life. But when he starts accepting the fact that he’s nothing but a murding piece of shit, does he descend from the stairs in the glee you’d expect from the would-be clown prince of crime. You know?

But. Boom.

Dude.

No.

I’m sorry. This still. Isn’t.. A JOKER movie.

This is. Unquestionably. An amazing elseworlds story. EVERYTHING about the Fleck/Wayne connection that transpires throughout the mobie is amazing. Anf. Again. It’s a GREAT telling of, how, merhaps, Joker was an eldery person when Bruce Wayne became Batman. Or a GREAT telling of how the Waynes were murdered.

But. I’m sorry dude. Without Batman? THE JOKER can not. Ever. Exist. In this elseworlds story? Sure. He does. I guess. But I mean. If like. You want to see Batman punch out a 60-year-old Joaquin Phoenx in 20 years to makes sense of this whole thing. Then yeah dude. Let’s stop.

Again. This is the reason why Gotham, as a premise was dumb as fuck. Batman is not only a rich cunt beating the shit out of the down-trodden criminals. But now, he’s going to be going to senior citizen homes. And beting the shit ut of his rogues gallery. How in the fuck could that EVER make sense? Right?

But now.

I guess. Here comes, probably, my most controversial take.

The quick answer? I don’t like it.

If I were to rank actors’ portrayals of Joker? He’s a Solid number 4. Hell. Maybe even #5. For me.

OK. OK. OK.

Obviously. Merhaps I’m biased or whatever. But Heath Ledger is, obviously my number one. And hsit. That’s arguable. Mark Hamil is right up there with him. Heath and Mark. I mean. OVERALL?! mARK hAMIL. BUT.  He never did anything live action. So. I dunno. Those two are tied for #1 and #2. #3. IS. Without question, Jack Nicholson. Easily. Caput. Barnone. But. I mean. Forreals. This is gonna make me sound like a crazy person. But. Uh.

I have no idea who was a better Joker. Jared Leto or Joaquin Phoenix. Legit. Jared. LOST himself into the role. Much like Heath did. There wanst a moment in Suicide Squade where I needed to remind myself that Jared was playing Joker. I just knew Joker was on screen. Much like HEath’s portrayal. And then I was like, “Oh yeah, that’s Jared Leto.” You know? Now. Jared’s portrayal of Joker might’ve been shit. I mean. I ddin’t LOVE it. I dunno. But at least. It was JOKER.

Joaquin Phoenix is playing the part of Arthur Fleck. Brilliantly. And, there’s no question he dedicated the shit out of this role. The dude, apparently, only ate one apple a day in order to get the build of the Joker. Which. OK. That’s THE leg Joaquin has on every other actor. His build. As a leggy, scrawny dude. Was absolutely fantastic. I wanted nothing more than to see that dude get punched out by Batman.

But. I mean. Batman doesn’t exist.

But. This Joker does.

And. Boom. As far as “Golden Globes” and “Oscars” are concerned? Sure. Joaquin deserves the win here. But I mean. There was never a moment in the move where I differentiatted the actor from the character. Hell. I did that for Murray Franklin more than Joker, honestly.

Joker is the Aught-10, into this new decade, film’s version of Taxi Driver. Without question. It’s an amazing film piece of the pysche of a loner in America.

It’s also a GREAT elseworlds DC comics stry telling of how, merhaps, Joker came to be.

However.

Again.

What it isn’t.

Is a JOKER moive.