Last week, we finally got our first glimpse of Todd Phillip’s Joker movie, with a poster and trailer coming in quick succession. It gave us an idea of how failed comedian Arthur Fleck dons the face paint and becomes one of the most iconic villains in pop culture history.
There had been a lot of question marks about this movie, a DC adventure that splits off from the main extended universe and that seems to be walking down a very different stylistic path. With the trailer, we can finally get excited. Here are some of the reasons why.
Joking Phoenix.
Towards the end of the trailer, we get our first full-look at Joaquin Phoenix as the clown prince of crime. It is a deeply unsettling one and takes some inspiration from the past. His long greasy hair could be a throwback to Heath Ledger’s take on the Joker from The Dark Knight (2008).
The most obvious influence however seems to come from Cesar Romero’s Joker from the 1960s Batman series; Phoenix sports a similar purple jacket and colourful shirt to Romero. Unlike Romero however, there is little laughter here (although when it comes, it’s downright creepy). This is a man who on the outside is a colourful clown but is tortured on the inside, feeling as if his life is not going anywhere. He is tormented by his failures until he reaches breaking point.
The Joker strikes parallels with one of Phoenix’s other recent roles – the hired gun Joe from You Were Never Really Here (2018). One of the best films from last year and inexplicably overlooked come awards season, Joe is similar to Arthur Fleck in a few ways. Both are troubled and lonely, both care for their mother – we see Fleck giving his mum a bath in one brief scene – and both have a tendency towards violence.
While the Joker’s brutality is only hinted at in the trailer and never seen, we can be sure that it will be as violent as a hammer to the head. Why? Because as a shot in an elevator suggests, Fleck is a man that becomes increasingly desensitised to suffering – or at least, the suffering of others. Phoenix’s history in similar roles, combined with his terrifying look, means that he already looks set to be a great piece of casting.
Changing the punchline.
The Joker is a villain who, famously, lacks the mutually agreed origin story given to most other comic book characters. The most commonly referred to one is the plot thread in Alan Moore’s influential comic Batman: The Killing Joke (1988), in which an unnamed engineer quits his job to become a comedian. He fails, and becomes involved in a botched robbery attempt that sees his skin permanently bleached in the Joker’s iconic colours. It is a narrative reproduced in several forms since, from Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) to the video game Batman: Arkham Origins (2013).
Joker plays with this story to an extent, in a somewhat new take on the character’s background. Todd Phillips and Scott Silver’s screenplay has Fleck down as an unsuccessful comedian-turned-criminal, but makes no mention of a chemical plant nor of a life of crime prior to becoming the Joker. Crucially, and unlike in The Killing Joke, he has a name – suggesting that audiences will be privy to more intimate details of Fleck’s life.
His face paint is not the result of some chemical accident, but applied by Fleck himself. While his status as a laughing stock and a “freak” clearly break him in some way, this seems to imply that however nasty things get, the Joker retains an element of self-control. If so, this would only make his actions all the more shocking.
“Gotham’s lost its way.”
Joker will be set in 1981, throwing up a number of interesting possibilities. What we do know is that Thomas Wayne, father of Bruce, plays a part in Fleck’s downward spiral. A young Bruce Wayne will also make an appearance, although how big his role will be is unclear. The very fact that Thomas Wayne is alive tells us that this is long before Bruce becomes Batman, The Joker’s arch-enemy, a journey triggered by Thomas and Martha Wayne’s murder.
The Gotham we see glimpses of is colder, crueler and less tolerant. Two violent assaults on Fleck during the trailer confirm the brutal nature of this urban jungle, a nature that Fleck himself will come to personify. Being set in the recent past may also present an opportunity to display how attitudes towards mental health have changed over the past few decades.
The presence of Arkham Asylum, a staple location of the Batman universe (although named a “hospital” here), furthers this possibility. This could be interesting given how most comic book characters uncomfortably embrace their troubled mental states to further their infamy and opposition to the “good guys,” a trope seen in many hero-villain dynamics. Lastly, nostalgia is a powerful marketing tool in modern cinema, but it looks like Phillip’s take on the era will hardly be gushing and rosy. Don’t expect any Captain Marvel-esque playful archaeology here.
Robert de Niro also stars, as TV host Murray Franklin. De Niro’s casting is a nod to his role in Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy (1982), from whom Fleck’s character takes some inspiration. Scorsese himself was originally involved in Joker but had to withdraw last year, although similarities to the director’s work can be spotted throughout the trailer. His involvement had been used to try and convince Leonardo DiCaprio into the role, but Phoenix emerged as Phillips’ top choice. He got his wish, and Scorsese left anyway.
Joker is set to be a radically different entry in the DC canon and in the overly-saturated comic-book adaptation market. When it was announced, Joker was met with justified scepticism, especially given how the DC Extended Universe already has its own Joker in the form of Jared Leto. Now however, there is reason to be excited for Phillip’s take on the infamous villain; a nightmarish character study that invites us into the depths of its protagonists psyche and won’t let us go until he has had the last laugh.
Joker is due to be released in the UK on October 4th, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures