Todd Phillips took Batman's most famous villain and stripped away almost everything comic-book about him. Joker follows Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), a struggling party clown and would-be comedian in a grimy Gotham modeled on old New York, as he slides into violence. It premiered at Venice in 2019 to an eight-minute standing ovation, then split critics sharply.
What critics loved
Nearly every review, positive or negative, put Phoenix at the center. David Rooney at The Hollywood Reporter praised an unsettling lead turn and called the film arguably the best Batman-adjacent movie since The Dark Knight. Owen Gleiberman at Variety called the performance astonishing, Pete Hammond at Deadline described it as extraordinary, and Mark Hughes at Forbes ranked the film among the year's best and predicted an Oscar. Tim Grierson at Screen Daily felt Phoenix made this the most human, most tragic version of the character.
The look and mood won fans too. IGN's Jim Vejvoda noted how much it borrows from 1970s and '80s dramas, turning Gotham into a version of old New York, and Eric Eisenberg at CinemaBlend credited Phillips with a Gotham unlike Nolan's or Burton's. In the UK, Geoffrey Macnab gave it four stars in The Independent, and The Telegraph compared it to a Fight Club for its time.
Where critics split
The arguments were about what the film is saying. Stephanie Zacharek at TIME found its philosophy phony and worried it glamorized its antihero, while IndieWire's David Ehrlich called it the boldest reinvention of the genre but also a toxic rallying cry for self-pitying young men. Richard Lawson at Vanity Fair admired its style and charge yet couldn't decide whether it celebrates or condemns its subject. Gleiberman felt Phillips leaned too hard on Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, and the BBC's Nicholas Barber, while praising Phoenix, saw a flimsy origin story underneath. The Guardian called it serious but shallow, and Vulture found it one unpleasant note played louder and louder.
The consensus
Critics broadly agreed on the craft: Phoenix's performance, the period atmosphere and the bold swing away from superhero formula, which earns it a solid QC score. Where they divided was on its ideas, with a vocal group finding it hollow or irresponsible, so it falls short of the top. Fun sits lower still. Reviewers described a tense, grim, often deliberately uncomfortable watch, gripping for many but rarely a good time.
Sources
- The Hollywood Reporter: Joker review roundup (The Hollywood Reporter, IGN, Forbes, CinemaBlend, Screen Daily, Vanity Fair, BBC)
- /Film: Joker review round-up (IndieWire, Variety, Deadline, TIME, The Playlist, io9, Nerdist, Forbes)
- Yahoo / The Independent: Joker reviews round-up, critics split (The Independent, The Telegraph, Vulture, The Guardian, New Statesman)