Joker

In our first fleeting moments with Phoenix’s KILLING-JOKE-meets-MEAN STREETS-and-THE-KING-OF-COMEDY (my favorite Scorsese films)-infused iteration let loose upon a TAXI DRIVER Gotham, a palpable combination of unpredictability, dread, and elasticity: the character at its core, no matter the answer posited within the final film to his multiple choice origins; that the film is called JOKER and not THE JOKER is significant, a tell, that this is just one of those endless multiple choice origins, the one that spoke most to director Phillips – and managed to convince the comic book-recalcitrant Phoenix to play the titular role.

If the DC movies continue on this “Black Label” path of apparent artistic independence advertised in JOKER’s teaser and shake loose the MCU-wannabe/neverwas strangulation of the Snyderverse DCEU (I never understood the “Extended” part of that name), we might be in for something truly special…. but October’s a long ways away – and we won’t know anyting until then.