First-class clown: ‘Joker’ a chilling, absorbing supervillain origin story

It’s difficult to fathom anyone who has actually seen “Joker” coming away with the impression it’s a sympathetic origin story or it glorifies mob violence and bloody anarchy.

To the contrary. As embodied by an emaciated, maniacal, wild-eyed Joaquin Phoenix, who dances like a life-size marionette, laughs uncontrollably at the most inappropriate times and feels alive for the first time in his life only after he kills, “Joker” is a chilling character study centered around the series of events in Gotham City that resulted in the transformation of the sad loner Arthur Fleck into one of the most storied (and psychopathic) comic book supervillains of all time.

Yes, the murderous Joker becomes front-page tabloid material, and yes, mobs of mask-wearing thugs intent on literally burning down the establishment hail Joker as their inspiration.

But the MOVIE itself doesn’t glorify violence, nor does it ever paint this psychopath in anything approaching a favorable spotlight (although we do learn some horrific details about his background, and we see how much worse he becomes when he’s off his medication).

Director and co-writer Todd Phillips (best known for comedies such as the “Hangover” movies and “Old School”) has delivered a dark, intense, well-photographed examination of a damaged and dangerous soul who lashes out at a society that has stepped over him and looked right through him his entire life — that is, when they’re not making him the butt of their jokes.

We recoil at Joker’s sudden bursts of mayhem, which are rendered in a realistic, blood-soaked manner rarely seen in films featuring comic book characters. (When thousands or even millions are killed in Marvel and D.C. Universe movies, the deaths are cloaked in PG-13 visuals and often shown from a distance, with no focus on any particular individual’s demise. Here, the killings are seen in jarring close-ups and medium shots, producing a much more visceral effect.)

Borrowing elements from “Taxi Driver” and “The King of Comedy” and even taking a page from an infamous real-life vigilante subway shooting in New York City that took place in roughly the same early 1980s time period as this movie, “Joker” is bathed in dark, ominous tones of brown and deep blue and shades of gray — in sharp contrast to Arthur Fleck/Joker’s increasingly splashy wardrobe. (By the time Joker has fully embraced his insanity and celebrates with a stairwell dance routine, he’s wearing a bright red suit with a pumpkin-colored vest, he’s in full clown makeup and he has put streaks of green in his hair.)

At times the film overdoes it with the clown metaphors (including the use of songs such as “Everybody Plays the Fool” and “Send in the Clowns”), and I had major misgivings about one particular subplot, but with Phoenix appearing in virtually every minute of this movie and dominating the screen with his memorably creepy turn, “Joker” will cling to you like the aftermath of an unfortunately realistic nightmare.

Warner Bros.

When we meet Arthur Fleck, he’s a walking punchline who’s considered weird even by the other misfit outcasts working for a grimy company that hires out low-rent clowns for store promotions and birthday parties and hospital visits. Arthur lives with his shut-in mother (Frances Conroy, doing excellent work) in a decrepit apartment complex, and he has a bit of crush on the single mother (Zazie Beetz) down the hall.

Arthur’s mother once worked for billionaire businessman Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullen), father of Bruce Wayne, who is about 7 years old in this timeline. Mom keeps writing letters to Mr. Wayne, insisting to Arthur that he’d help them if he only knew how they were living.

If you think this plot thread leads to some major revelations: You’re not NOT right.

Simmering tensions in Gotham City have reached the near-boiling point. Bags of garbage are piled up everywhere as the result of a weeks-long sanitation workers strike. Unemployment is high. Essential social services are being cut. After a man in clown-face kills three yuppies on the subway, protesters take to the streets wearing clown masks and demonstrate outside a fancy benefit screening of “Modern Times” (providing an excuse for a scene in which Arthur/Joker laughs uproariously at Charlie Chaplin’s famous roller-skating scene).

When Thomas Wayne, who is considering a run for mayor of Gotham City, goes on TV and says people like him who have made something of themselves will always think of those who haven’t succeeded as “clowns,” well, them’s rioting words.

Even as Arthur sinks deeper into his darkness and discovers he feels zero remorse about committing murder, he continues to pursue his ludicrous fantasy about becoming a stand-up comic.

Warner Bros.

That brings us to the aforementioned plot thread that nearly takes “Joker” off the rails at times. In a perhaps too-meta nod to “The King of Comedy,” Robert De Niro (who played the talk show host-obsessed lunatic in Scorsese’s 1983 film) is now on the other side of the stalking as one Murray Franklin, a Johnny Carson-esque late-night talk show host who invites Arthur onto his show after coming across a clip of Arthur bombing at a Gotham City nightclub.

When Arthur/Joker joins “Live! With Murray Franklin,” it’s so surreal and jarring (and unrealistic, even with the confines of this grim fairy tale), I kept wondering if it might be a fantasy sequence. Still, even though the scene isn’t nearly as shocking as it might have intended to be, and even though it’s more weird than dramatically impactful, Phoenix mesmerizes as the worst talk show guest in the history of ever.

Pro tip: When a guest shows up in dramatic clown make-up at a time when the city is reeling from the havoc ignited by a killer in clown make-up, you might want to call the cops or at the very least bump him and give more time to the musical act.

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