Joker : Movie Review
In first of the DC Black’s stand-alone spin-off series, we examine and plumb the dark stygian depths of one of DC’s iconic villains, the arch-nemesis to the Dark Knight, the Joker . And what an epic flight of imagination is it, lent some serious credence and authenticity by Joaquin Phoenix ’s astounding career-defining performance as the lead/eponymous character. Joker unspools like a raw, bloody experiment with our minds and souls, a yawning exit wound that refuses to heal, unsettling, painful and yet indelibly scorched into our psyches. The movie is a chaotic, slow-burn psyche-eval of one of the most unhinged characters ever written about but Todd Phillip/Scott Silver ’s interpretation of Joker is fresh, is a bold riff on Heath Ledger’s iconic portrayal and invokes pity, grudging admiration and loathing in equal measure. Because let’s not forget. This is the rise of a villain , we are taking about. But the deplorable conditions of a callous, cruel society that catalyze...