Joker (2019)
★★★½ — Joker (2019)
Todd Phillips had built his career almost entirely on broad studio comedies (The Hangover trilogy, Road Trip, Old School) before making this conspicuous pivot into character-driven, awards-oriented territory. Released in October 2019, Joker is an original story rather than a direct comic adaptation, though it draws loosely on Alan Moore and Brian Bolland's The Killing Joke alongside the broader Batman mythology. Phillips and co-writer Scott Silver were visibly indebted to Martin Scorsese's 1970s New York canon, particularly Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, a connection underlined by the casting of Robert De Niro. Shot largely in New York and New Jersey on a relatively modest $55 million budget for a DC property, it went on to gross over a billion dollars worldwide and won the Golden Lion at Venice, making it one of the most commercially and critically divisive comic-book adjacent films of its era.
Todd Phillips’ Joker is a bold departure from the superhero genre, less comic-book film, more character study wrapped in gritty 1970s New York grime. Joaquin Phoenix delivers a career-best performance as Arthur Fleck, a mentally ill, socially invisible man teetering on the edge of collapse. His physical transformation (the jerky movements, the haunting laugh born of trauma) is mesmerising, unsettling, and impossible to look away from. The film latches onto his descent with unflinching focus, painting a portrait of alienation, neglect, and the terrifying ease with which society can create its own monsters. The atmosphere is superb: dimly lit apartments, decaying subway tunnels, talk-show stages that feel like pulpits of false hope. The cinematography, score, and production design all work in harmony to create a world that’s oppressive and real. It’s a film that wants you to feel discomfort, and it succeeds. There’s also something undeniably powerful in how it channels real-world anxieties about inequality, mental health, and urban decay, even if it occasionally risks romanticising violence in the process. That said, it’s not The Dark Knight . How could it be? Heath Ledger’s Joker was chaos incarnate, a force of nature shaped in direct opposition to Batman’s order. This Joker exists in a world without Batman (no foil, no mythic counterbalance) which makes it feel strangely unmoored from the legacy of the character. It’s a standalone psychological drama that borrows the iconography, but without the larger mythology, it lacks the depth and tension of a true comic-book tragedy. It’s a strong, well-acted, technically accomplished film, but not a flawless one. And while Phoenix’s performance is unforgettable, the film around it sometimes feels more like a mood piece than a fully realised story. It’s good, very good, but not in the same league as the gold standard.
Rating: ★★★½ | Year: 2019 | Watched: 2025-08-05
Where to watch (UK)
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from Todd Phillips: Old School (2003) · Road Trip (2000)
More with Joaquin Phoenix: Gladiator (2000) · Walk the Line (2005) · Signs (2002)
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More from the 2010s: Wonder (2017) · Beautiful Boy (2018) · The Witch (2015) · What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
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