Joker - Teaser Trailer Review
The first teaser trailer for Joker arrived. Does it deliver?
Thoughts: If a trailer, or really ANYTHING can get me to feel any hint of emotion and pity for a psychotic killer who murders for pleasure and aims to send a city into chaos, then that trailer deserves the highest praise.
So it was to me delight and great surprise that I began to feel empathy for the Clown Prince of Crime as I watched this trailer. Because this trailer managed to show me two different sides of the same person that were so completely different, yet so closely intertwined.
Joaquin Phoenix as just Arthur Fleck looks like he's giving an Oscar-worthy performance. The subtlety and the creepiness, yet the weakness and the sadness and hurt that you can see when you look at him is so profound. When he's talking to Zazie Beatz's character and she offers him a smile, just by lifting the corners of his lips into a small grimace in an attempt to smile, you're able to see so much about his character. He's broken, he's lost, and he has nothing left to lose.
But the scene that really got me was when the people on the street took his sign. Because I presume at that point in the film, Fleck is an honest man, trying to make it in a hard world, a harsh Gotham. And when those thugs beat him up, you can see that he's scared, you can see that he's genuinely afraid to lose his life.
But as the trailer moves on, you see those layers began to shed as he gains confidence. The forced smile as he puts his fingers in the corners of his mouth shows how damaged he's becoming (without needing to tattoo the word "Damaged" on his forehead).
By the time we see his final form at the end of the trailer, I was absolutely stunned that I actually was rooting for him. Not to kill a bunch of people, surely not, but to make things right. Because this character had been so horribly mistreated, he deserved to get what he wanted.
If a trailer can make me think all these things in two minutes about a psychopath, it has done its job and so, so much more.
Did it Raise Excitement? Without question. This film was already on my top ten most anticipated but not because I thought it would be Oscar-caliber, but because I thought it looked interesting. But now I'm sold. Get me this movie.
So it was to me delight and great surprise that I began to feel empathy for the Clown Prince of Crime as I watched this trailer. Because this trailer managed to show me two different sides of the same person that were so completely different, yet so closely intertwined.
Joaquin Phoenix as just Arthur Fleck looks like he's giving an Oscar-worthy performance. The subtlety and the creepiness, yet the weakness and the sadness and hurt that you can see when you look at him is so profound. When he's talking to Zazie Beatz's character and she offers him a smile, just by lifting the corners of his lips into a small grimace in an attempt to smile, you're able to see so much about his character. He's broken, he's lost, and he has nothing left to lose.
But the scene that really got me was when the people on the street took his sign. Because I presume at that point in the film, Fleck is an honest man, trying to make it in a hard world, a harsh Gotham. And when those thugs beat him up, you can see that he's scared, you can see that he's genuinely afraid to lose his life.
But as the trailer moves on, you see those layers began to shed as he gains confidence. The forced smile as he puts his fingers in the corners of his mouth shows how damaged he's becoming (without needing to tattoo the word "Damaged" on his forehead).
By the time we see his final form at the end of the trailer, I was absolutely stunned that I actually was rooting for him. Not to kill a bunch of people, surely not, but to make things right. Because this character had been so horribly mistreated, he deserved to get what he wanted.
If a trailer can make me think all these things in two minutes about a psychopath, it has done its job and so, so much more.
Did it Raise Excitement? Without question. This film was already on my top ten most anticipated but not because I thought it would be Oscar-caliber, but because I thought it looked interesting. But now I'm sold. Get me this movie.
Trailer Rating: 9.75/10
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