Joker 4K Review (Warner Bros)

Joker is a 2019 psychological thriller film co-written, produced, & directed by Todd Phillips (Starsky & Hutch, The Hangover Trilogy, Road Trip, Old School, & Due Date). It’s an origin story for the legendary DC Comics villain. It’s inspired by 1988’s Batman: The Killing Joke. It was co-written by Scott Silver (The Fighter, 8 Mile, The Mod Squad, & The Finest Hours). It was produced by Bradley Cooper (A Star is Born, American Hustle, American Sniper, War Dogs, Limitless, & Silver Linings Playbook), Michael E. Uslan (Batman franchise, The Spirit, Swamp Thing franchise, & Catwoman), Bruce Berman (Mad Max: Fury Road, Training Day, Deep Blue Sea, Sherlock Holmes franchise, & The Matrix franchise), & Jason Cloth (Child’s Play, The Addams Family, The Kitchen, Assassination Nation, Anna, & The Mule). Actor Jared Leto tried to get this project cancelled. It was originally developed in 2016, it was rumored to have  Martin Scorsese direct & Leonardo DiCaprio star at one point. Joaquin Phoenix lost around 50 lbs for the role. It’s the first R rated movie in history to make over $1 billion dollars.It had an estimated budget of $70 million. It won multiple Golden Globes & various other awards so far during it’s run!!!!

In 1981, social outsider Arthur Fleck (played by: Joaquin Phoenix from Walk the Line, Gladiator, 8MM, & The Yards) lives with his mother Penny (played by: Frances Conroy from Six Feet Under, Catwoman, American Horror Story, & Castle Rock) in Gotham City. He works as a party clown & he is an aspiring stand-up comedian. Gotham City is filled with tension. The lower class are struggling to find jobs, eat, & survive while the rich keep on getting richer. Arthur suffers from a medical disorder that causes him to laugh at inappropriate times. He has to meet with a social worker with every week & he takes a variety of medication to function in the world. He has a crush on Sophie Dumond (played by: Zazie Beetz from Deadpool 2, Invincible, Atlanta, & Geostorm) who lives in his apartment building. He only has two real friends Randall (played by: Glenn Fleshler from Billions, Boardwalk Empire, Hannibal, & Barry) & Gary (played by: Leigh Gill from Game of Thrones & The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power) who are also clowns that work for the same agency as him. He constantly bullied & treated like crap from everybody. His mother is obsessed with Thomas Wayne (played by: Brett Cullen from The Dark Knight Rises, Ghost Rider, True Detective, & Lost) who she used to work for & he doesn’t seem to know why. They watch their late night favorite television show hosted by Murray Franklin (played by: Robert De Niro from Taxi Driver, The King of Comedy, Heat, Casino, The Irishman, & Goodfellas) every night before bed.

Arthur is already barely hanging on when his world falls apart. He gets fired from his job & gets cut off from social work visits plus medication. After getting attacked on the subway by three drunken Wayne Enterprises businessmen, he finally snaps & kills them all in self defense. This sets off a dangerous chain of events. Gotham City starts to get more chaotic after the killings. The community starts to protest with their faces painted as clowns or a mask. He has started a movement. Arthur thinks he has a successful stand up routine plus he finally gets the attention of Sophie so he starts feeling better about himself. He finds out a horrible secret about his family history & he does his own investigation for it. Butler Alfred Pennyworth (played by: Douglas Hodge from Lost in Space, Red Sparrow, The Report, & The Descent: Part 2) kicks him out of Wayne Manor when he tries to talk to the young Bruce Wayne (played by: Dante Pereira-Olson from Happy! & You Were Never Really Here). He is confronted by two Gotham City police detectives Burke (played by: Shea Whigham from Fast & Furious franchise, Boardwalk Empire, American Huste, & Vice Principals) & Garrity (played by: Bill Camp from The Kitchen, The Outsider, Vice, & Black Mass) after his mother gets hospitalized. Arthur Fleck is a mess without his medication, he starts to lose his sanity more & more every day. He is invited to be on his favorite show with Murray Franklin after his infamous stand up routine is recorded & showed to the talk show host. He transforms into The Joker & leaves Arthur Fleck in the past. What did these people create with this real life monster? Is it too late to save them????

Joker was a mix between The King of Comedy & Taxi Driver to me. Both of those films are great & the Martin Scorsese influence is all over the place here. This not your typical DC Comics or Superhero production. It’s a character study of a disturbed man that’s pushed over the edge. Almost no one is nice to Arthur Fleck in this & he honestly tries his best to be social despite being really awkward. It’s a downward spiral into pure madness. You can see why he becomes The Joker after all of this. The script from Phillips & Silver was top notch, you can tell it was carefully crafted. Speaking of Phillips, most of the world was probably scratching their head when he was announced as the creative force behind this project because he is known for all of his comedy features. If War Dogs didn’t convince you that he can do serious material also then Joker definitely will open up your eyes when it comes to the director. He will never be doubted again when it comes to non comedic movies. Joaquin Phoenix proves once again that he is one of the most under-rated actors working today in this Golden Globe winning performance.

The Joker character seems to be good luck when it comes to awards in recent years well unless your Jared Leto. Phoenix lost so much weight & completely transformed himself for this role. His role was smaller but it was very important in this, Robert De Niro was amazing as the Gotham talk show host. I grew up watching guys like this & De Niro was perfect as Murray Franklin. It’s a shame he wasn’t really praised here for his performance like he should have been. Frances Conroy was fantastic in Joker. She shows you why Arthur ended up the way he is because she isn’t exactly all there either. The supporting cast mainly with known character actors rather than your typical bigger names in comic book films elevated the entire production. It was nice to see flashes of familiar roles like Thomas, Bruce, & Alfred in this. The score set the tone for the film. This is one of the darkest entries from the DC universe & I hope to see more like this in the future. I love the direction they went with this feature & I am glad that it did great at the box office. This is easily in my top 3 for 2019 when it comes to best films of last year, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!

Let’s talk about the high definition presentation from Warner Bros! This 2160p (1.85:1) transfer with Dolby Vision & HDR10 looks fantastic here. It’s the first time a DC Film really focused on the rougher part of Gotham City in a feature. It’s very reminiscent of New York. It has a variety of locations that shine in 4K for this release. The actual look of The Joker pops on the screen with it’s colorful display & I enjoyed this different approach to the classic DC universe with this. It has a variety of 5 alternate audio options which includes English: Dolby Atmos, English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1, English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1, & French: Dolby Digital 5.1 on this UHD disc. This movie sounds great & it’s definitely one to test out your speakers on. The dialogue is very clean here, all the chaos is elevated, & the Golden Globe winning music has a killer boost to it. It also has English SDH, French, & Spanish subtitles. Both picture & sound are very impressive on this 4K release, all the technical aspects are at a high quality for this UHD.

Let’s discuss the special features from Warner Bros on this UHD disc. None of the extras are on the 4K, they are all located on the blu ray. “Becoming Joker” is a little over a minute. It has various screen tests of Joaquin Phoenix as The Joker during filming. “Joker: Vision & Fury” is a little over 22 minutes. It has interviews with director Todd Phillips, producer Bradley Cooper, actors Joaquin Phoenix, Zazie Beetz, Glenn Fleshler, Leigh Gill, & various members of the production. Todd Phillips says he was doing a character study film, it just happened to feature a famous villain from the superhero universe. He talks about how he came up with it, pitched the movie to the studio plus DC Comics, & that he always knew who he wanted to play the main role in this. Bradley Coopers mentions that he drew sketches of The Joker resembling Joaquin Phoenix years before he tried to pursue the project. Todd Phillips said it took a little awhile to convince the actor to take the gig. Joaquin Phoenix chats about The Joker & his experience on the production. They talk about the look of the known villain, putting together this version of Gotham City, & the music for the feature. They all praise Phoenix’s performance in this. They mention that they wanted to do their own version of the role for this alternate universe. They say most people only see Phillips as a comedy director but he’s much more than that. They bring up his great ideas on the spot & improvising dialogue while filming. They go over how much Arthur changes & transforms into someone else before it’s over. “Please Welcome… Joker!” is almost 3 minutes. It’s an interview with director Todd Phillips. He chats about the many different ways & improvisation Joaquin Phoenix did during the production. He says there’s various versions of the film because each take was different for most scenes. He shows examples of it with the Murray Franklin introduction with a variety of alternate takes from the actor as The Joker. “Joker: A Chronicle of Chaos” is a little over 3 minutes. It’s a still gallery with the score playing behind it. It features all kinds of photos from the movie in this. It also includes a slipcover, a digital code, & a blu ray copy of the release. There’s a few store exclusives of this film including Best Buy & Target. It’s available everywhere on the 7th, CHECK IT OUT!!!!