DC’s The Joker

I’m trying to decide if this trailer has shown too much making it harder to draw a crowd to the theaters or if showing the trajectory of this character that we all know, and in some cases love, up front is brilliant.

I want to start by saying that this trailer looks GREAT!! DC has been making some major strides in their new films with Shazam, Wonder Woman and Aquaman but I think this film will be a real turn in DC films. This trailer is both creepy and very humanizing. In most of the versions we see of The Joker, he is a murderous villain who’s main goals are to cause chaos in Gotham and to kill Batman. This movie, I think, is the first of its kind. This movie tells the story of Arthur Fleck.

Arthur looks like a simple man who’s down on his luck. His mom is sick and he is tasked with taking care of her. Their apartment looks small and cramped but the love from his mother keeps him afloat. He loves to see his mom smile and wants to spread that same joy to others. Later in the trailer, we see him as a sign spinner dressed as a clown and then, society does what society does, brings this man down.

I think DC is going into a new direction with this film because it is following, or lack of a better term, trend of movies that tell how society affects someone’s decisions and personality as a whole. People don’t start out bad. They evolve into who they are as an adult gradually and society plays a major role in that. Something we also see in the trailer is Arthur going to a mental ward. There’s this intense scene where Arthur is in an elevator with a man who is strapped to a bed, flanked by two guard nurses (or whatever you call those people). Mental health is the new wave of concern for society nowadays but as we’ve seen, not everyone with a mental illness is born with that illness. Sometimes the illness manifests due to stress or anxiety. This is what I think is happened to Arthur. The stress of having to take care of his mom, finding a stable job and wanting to be a standup comedian takes a toll on poor Arthur which, after his mom passes and bullying on the street, turns him into a cold, heartless and dangerous killer.

I love these types of stories and I think Joaquin Phoenix is the perfect person to take us on this journey. We have to wait six months to see this masterpiece but I think the wait will be well worth it. I hope DC doesn’t find a way to mess this up because this looks SO GOOD.

The Joker will be released in theaters October 4th.