One of the most anticipating movies of the year “Joker” is out and it is nothing short of a masterpiece. Director Todd Phillips took on this task with one of the most iconic comic book characters of all time, the Joker. The Joker, a character from the Batman universe, finally getting his stand alone movie all to himself. Joker has been one of the most memorable fictional characters and has been played by other great actors before like Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger. Adding another name to that list is actor Joaquin Phoenix, who puts on an Oscar performance with this role. Phoenix who is one of the best actors in Hollywood carried this movie with his performance, but what is this stand alone Joker movie really all about.

The story is about a man named Arthur Fleck who has serious mental disorders. It is the mental disorder and how people treat him because of it that is the main synopsis of his character. His mother is the only person who he can really talk to about his social life. His mother is a big influence on him saying things like ”always put on a happy face.” Arthur who decides to become a comedian, who wants to make other people smile and laugh, but often finds that no one is laughing.

The setting this story takes place in is Gotham City where people are tired of the lack of fairness and justice the city provides. It targets people who are weak people like Arthur Fleck. With the unfairness he gets, the more violent he gets due to his mental issues that he has. His world begins to collapse around him, a broken character put into a broken environment. With some of his irrational choices that he makes, the city is on the brink of anarchy. Joaquin Phoenix begins to capture his true potential with the character, a troubled man who spirals into complete madness.

I think that the script for his movie is pretty good, a great way of telling who he really is. Anybody who knows who the Joker is, knows that he is no hero by any means. But everyone likes to think they are the hero of their own story, not the hero from another persons eyes. Its almost like you kind of feel bad for the Joker, showing a little bit of empathy for the character even with the choices that he makes throughout the movie. You just feel bad that his life is just a mess, trapped in a box with mental problems that’s waiting to be unleashed. Todd Phillips and the cinematography do a very excellent job at giving off an uncomfortable and terrifying vibe with the camera angles and more. As the movie keeps going on you feel more and more different, you may question things and lose sympathy for the character. Your anxiety feels like it goes higher when Arthur slowly becomes the Joker.

Overall the movie is fantastic, it may not be for everyone that’s for sure. But everything is just done perfectly, a great actor, good script, and everything is just correlated together with the cinematography. If you are a big fan of either comic book movies, Joker, or even the Batman universe as a whole, I would recommend you watch this. Joker also gets a lot of comparison to the movie Taxi Driver. Going forward maybe other comic book movies can be made like the Joker, as I think it changed the way things may be made. The movie touches on a very big problem in our society with mental illness and disorders, it just happens to use the character Joker to show off how bad it really is. The movie in a way is an origin story for the Joker but is it really? Joker is one of the most mysterious characters ever. ”If i’m going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice.”