(We’ve got some big spoilers ahead for “Joker”)
Todd Phillips’s “Joker” is a crazy movie, and no, I’m not referring to any of the aspects of the film that some consider problematic or socially irresponsible or whatever. I have thoughts about those things, but for now I’m just thinking about the film as an adaptation of a comic book character, and how what it depicts just doesn’t really line up with the character as established in all the other media he’s been present in.
So, it’s crazy because it’s tough to connect the dots between the character of Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) and the character of the Joker as depicted in every other piece of media that the Joker has ever been included in, because this guy just doesn’t really feel like the Joker.