{"id":19220,"date":"2019-10-03T14:23:33","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T21:23:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=19220"},"modified":"2019-10-03T14:23:33","modified_gmt":"2019-10-03T21:23:33","slug":"joker-is-salvaged-by-a-superb-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=19220","title":{"rendered":"JOKER Is Salvaged by a Superb Performance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/24_0007_B-merged.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15337\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The latest comic-book adaptation to hit cinema screens\nis at least an attempt to try something a bit different from the current\nformula. Based on the famous villain from the <em>Batman<\/em> comic book, <em>Joker<\/em>\nis a gritty and violent take on the figure that does its best to explain the\norigins of the character, his motivations and the reasons behind his psychotic\nsnap. It\u2019s an uneven effort that doesn\u2019t always hit the mark, but is salvaged\nby an admittedly incredible lead performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Joker-bus-seat-1024x588.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19223\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This film is not for the kids, presenting Gotham City\nas crime-ridden and on the verge of mass riots. Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix)\nis a struggling clown who lives with his mother (Frances Conroy) in a run-down\ntenement. He dreams of being a successful stand-up comedian on a TV show hosted\nby Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro). Unfortunately, a neurological condition\ncauses him to laugh uncontrollably and often at inappropriate times. He also\nsuffers from depression, feeling completely invisible to others, taking several\nmedications to keep him balanced. After being beaten on the street, losing his\njob as well as social assistance needed to pay for his medication, Arthur\nfinally lashes out and murders his next gang of tormentors. The slaying makes\nthe press and suddenly Arthur begins to feel, in a strange way, recognized by\nthe public. As the police close in and new family history is discovered,\nArthur\u2019s newfound sense of purpose provokes him into planning even more drastic\nacts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Joker-teary-eyed-1024x604.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19222\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Phoenix appears to be going all-in on his depiction of\nArthur, not only immersing himself in the part, but physically losing a great\ndeal of weight for the role. He looks emaciated, his body almost looking like\nthat of a contortionist. This is a character who commits terrible crimes, but\nthe performer does manage to make Arthur into a meek and tortured soul who,\nwhen he isn\u2019t brutally killing anyone, does come across as sympathetic. After\nhe turns violent, he\u2019s equally threatening. A scene involving a couple of\ncoworkers visiting his apartment grows ever more-tension filled as it\nprogresses thanks to the character\u2019s unpredictable movements, mannerisms and\nthoughts. His transformation and discovery of a new purpose in life, as messed\nup as it may be, is dynamic to watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Joker-comedy-club-1024x630.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19225\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s a good thing that the performer is so strong, as there are some issues with the story itself. A twist that occurs late in the film should come as a surprise to absolutely no one; far too much information is given by the editing team that makes what is occurring obvious from the outset. The climax is also a bit of a jumble as the lead rather bluntly gives a speech that feels a bit too on-the-nose. It also comes across as difficult to believe that a man in his unhinged condition would be granted access and allowed a specific item while on a television set. One just has to accept that Gotham City\u2019s studio shows must have by far the most careless and negligent security imaginable.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Joker-public-bathroom-1024x584.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19224\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alas, these kinds of problems do take one out of the\npicture here and there, ultimately keeping it from reaching its full potential.\nHowever, Phoenix is completely committed and commands the screen whenever he\nappears. Given the story issues, this film could have been a complete disaster\nwere it not for his stellar work. The movie also tries to make a point and\nsuggest that ignoring the sick and helpless can have unintended and very violent\nconsequences, even if it\u2019s delivered too bluntly and without much nuance. Much\nlike the plot twist that isn\u2019t surprising, too much information is delivered in\ntoo obvious a manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As such, the end results are a mixed bag. This is a\nthrilling and well-performed character to watch onscreen, but one wishes a\nlittle more care and attention was taken to putting the story together and\ndelivering the plot points in a surprising way. <em>Joker<\/em> features a great\nperformance, but the movie itself could have done with some extra tinkering in\nthe editing room.&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The latest comic-book adaptation to hit cinema screens is at least an attempt to try something a bit different from the current formula. Based on the famous villain from the Batman comic book, Joker is a gritty and violent take on the figure that does its best to explain the origins of the character, his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":19221,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[197,1853,2345,4542,4668,4669,5376,7800,10751,10960,15483,17149,19362,19383,23795],"class_list":["post-19220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-197","tag-arthur-fleck","tag-batman","tag-clown","tag-comic-book","tag-comic-book-adaptation","tag-dc","tag-frances-conroy","tag-joaquin-phoenix","tag-joker","tag-origin","tag-robert-de-niro","tag-superhero","tag-supervillain","tag-villain"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19220\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}