Joker

I have been putting off watching this movie for so many years because of not only the amount of people telling me to watch it, but also just because of the weirdness of some people who took the movie way too seriously and really idolize Arthur Fleck/Joker. The last time I watched it, I was only a couple of minutes into the first act, but it was really late, so I never ended up finishing it. But I needed to watch it before watching Joker: Folie à Deux in theaters, and I felt like I had to watch this movie first since everyone’s been telling me how good it is. Arthur and Sophie’s relationship was such a mindfuck for me. At first I thought it was weird that Sophie was into this strange man, but then I kinda thought it was nice because it was just nice to see something good finally happen to him for once. But then when the revelation came that she didn't even know him when he entered her apartment, it really made me go “Oh shit” out loud, because I didn’t even consider the option that he imagined this relationship the entire time. And I should have known better because throughout the movie, you see him go through his delusions to cope with his life being so shitty. And that’s what the movie is good at, making things seem real and believing them until it’s revealed that it’s just all made up. Like I was also mostly convinced that Thomas Wayne was Arthur’s dad and Bruce Wayne was his half-brother, until it was revealed that it wasn’t true at all and his mom made it up. It just sucks that this was the tipping point for him, because all the things that he had going for him didn’t work out or weren't real all along, and I felt like this is what finally caused him to snap and kill his own mother. At least with the subway killings, he did it to protect himself because the three businessmen were assholes. But he was just so cold-blooded with how he killed his mom because she basically ruined all of his hopes and dreams. Joaquin Phoenix kills (no pun intended) as Arthur Fleck. He does such a good job at portraying a very sympathetic character who is also pretty terrifying. There’s been so many times where seeing his descent into being the Joker made me anxious or on edge. The final act where he’s being interviewed by Murray (with also a great performance by Robert De Niro) is one of the best scenes I’ve seen in a movie. He seriously carried this movie from beginning to end. I feel like a lot of people relate to Arthur Fleck because there have been times where their lives get worse and worse until they finally snap, and they root for characters like that. They like seeing someone who’s considered an “everyman” rise up and take a stand to those that have wronged them. I also feel like just seeing Arthur resort to violence feels like something satisfying for them to see because they can’t do it in real life. You just basically see him go in a downward spiral and it culminates in him killing Murray. It just shows how society just straight up mistreats or ignores people like Arthur, and how it leads to serious consequences. This is a pretty good movie, and one of those movies that really make you root for the villain. This felt more like seeing Gotham City in the eyes of the Joker, which puts him in a more sympathetic light.