I’m going to lean closer to a 6/10. Phoenix saves it, no doubt. Some moments were shocking or heart wrenching, but there’s a lot of nonsense in the movie. It handles mental illness in a very hamfisted way and really only provides superficial commentary, just stopping short of saying anything really interesting. It lacks depth, and maybe that’s because after the awards and the hype I went in with expectations that were too high, but it just seemed... eh.
The ending was a good payoff, though. If it ended with him in the cop car I would’ve borderline hated it. But the fan service was nice.
I definitely see where the commentary about it glorifying the school-shooter-type. The character comes out as a sort of folk hero, but all he does is blame everyone else for his problems and murder a few innocent people (and a few ‘guilty’ people, to be fair) because they ‘deserve it.’ There are parts where the movie obviously wants you to emphasise with Peck or even cheer for him, but I wasn’t convinced.
I don’t know. There are a few other minor things I loved and a few I hated. How this won Venice, I’m not sure I can even begin to understand. It is interesting though: if you took out the classic Batman scene and changed the names, there would be basically zero relevant connection to Batman or the Joker story. Peck is, I assume, the inspiration for whoever becomes the Joker based on how they set the ending, but I’m not entirely sure what the point of the movie really was.
Those are my thoughts. I don’t understand the love for it, but art is subjective, so to each their own. Phoenix was incredible though. Oscar worthy for sure.
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