Why do people dislike Joker (2019)?

[GeekSmark]

The longer the movie went on the less I could believe that Arthur was capable of accomplishing anything. By the time the climax comes and he stands tall and triumphant I just didn't believe it, didn't felt earned. It felt like we got there because the movie was ending and we had to get there.

Now in all the Joker related media I've consumed in my life Joker has been Batman's foil, but I just don't believe that Arthur's Joker can be a anywhere near a credible threat to anybody, let alone Batman.

I could appreciate that technically it is a well made movie. The acting was good, it looked good and sounded good. So I supposed that the answear as to why I disliked Joker is that I had an idea of what the Joker is supposed to be and Joker wasn't that. Instead of being enthralled by the movie the more it went on, I found myself loosing more and more interest the longer it went on.

[The True Detective]

To me, the easiest answer is that it's dark and heavy and depressing and sad. And that's not why a lot of people go to movies. I thought a lot of people felt it was well made, they just didn't enjoy it.

They used the Joker name to lure people into what was otherwise an Oscar bait movie--I don't think that's bad per se, I'm glad people went into see a film like that. But you can't also expect that a lot of the casual audience wanted something more--fun?

It made over $1B, is that not a sign people really enjoyed it? Fun is subjective, something doesn't have to be a lighthearted comedic romp to be considered fun. I found Joker much more fun to watch than lighter movies like Green Lantern and Catwoman. I don't care if a movie is traditionally "fun" as long as I find it compelling and engaging to watch. Joker was for me so I had fun watching it even though it has a dark tone.

[Castle]

Where did you get the theory people disliked Joker? I never got that feeling. Joker was one of the best films of its year, even now on this thread, the people that seem not to like it, I know them well on this forum to be marvel studio fans, which is just more about the usual marvel vs dc battle that does not mean anything when it comes to truthfully liking a movie.

I know some critics had a filled day with it because it was not a fun and humor comic film, thankfully that did not override the other critics that loved it for been just not that.

[lowfyr]

Where did you get the theory people disliked Joker? I never got that feeling. Joker was one of the best films of its year, even now on this thread, the people that seem not to like it, I know them well on this forum to be marvel studio fans, which is just more about the usual marvel vs dc battle that does not mean anything when it comes to truthfully liking a movie.

I know some critics had a filled day with it because it was not a fun and humor comic film, thankfully that did not override the other critics that loved it for been just not that.

Still in "Castle World" I see.

[Kirby101]

Where did you get the theory people disliked Joker? I never got that feeling. Joker was one of the best films of its year, even now on this thread, the people that seem not to like it, I know them well on this forum to be marvel studio fans, which is just more about the usual marvel vs dc battle that does not mean anything when it comes to truthfully liking a movie.

And yet these same people are saying how much they liked The Dark Night Rises on the other thread. Showing, once again, that you don't know what you are talking about.

[Castle]

And yet these same people are saying how much they liked The Dark Night Rises on the other thread. Showing, once again, that you don't know what you are talking about.

The dark knight rises was pretty mixed-negative though by the same people. These are the same people I talked too who did not get why many others don't find Spiderman homecoming and far from home not very good Spiderman movies, despite many logical explanation that can be used to explain why or why not they don't like Joker, The Dark Knight Rises or X-Men 3.

[Triniking1234]

Well the media pushed that people disliked it for hate clicks. I don't recall people actually watching it saying it was bad.

[SiegePerilous02]

What I find BS and simplistic is saying that Joker isn't a comic book movie and the only people that like it are the ones who hate comic books.

Subjective opinion is one thing but I find that much of the criticism against this film is rooted in either arbitrary rules about what constitutes a comic book movie that other cbms don't follow or the notion it's pandering to mass shooters and incels. If dismissing those criticisms is wrong, I plead guilty.

Your first seemed to be a blanket statement about ALL criticisms towards this film, and not all the criticisms were as simplistic as saying "it's not a comic book movie." That is overly simplistic, but it's not all that is being said.

The Gaiman quote has also been used for more than just this movie, regardless of what is being said.

[Kirby101]

The dark knight rises was pretty mixed-negative though by the same people. These are the same people I talked too who did not get why many others don't find Spiderman homecoming and far from home not very good Spiderman movies, despite many logical explanation that can be used to explain why or why not they don't like Joker, The Dark Knight Rises or X-Men 3.

Using the Trumpian "some people say" argument I see.

[Ikari]

'Joker' was a great movie about fantasies of an incel spree killer. As a movie about Joker, the DC character, not so much. As somebody said on the first page, the movie could have been just as well called 'Clown'. It had nothing to do with comic Joker.
Arthur was dumb and brutal, and his paybacks were unrefined and unimaginative. It was in many ways chillingly realistic, but complete antithesis what Joker is about.

[Midvillian1322]

I thought it was a really good movie but it has almost nothing to do with the IP it's banking off of. But as a film it's a really good Homage to two great films from the past. I enjoyed Joker but I also dont see myself watching it again anytime soon.

[SiegePerilous02]

'Joker' was a great movie about fantasies of an incel spree killer. As a movie about Joker, the DC character, not so much. As somebody said on the first page, the movie could have been just as well called 'Clown'. It had nothing to do with comic Joker.
Arthur was dumb and brutal, and his paybacks were unrefined and unimaginative. It was in many ways chillingly realistic, but complete antithesis what Joker is about.

I thought it was a really good movie but it has almost nothing to do with the IP it's banking off of. But as a film it's a really good Homage to two great films from the past. I enjoyed Joker but I also dont see myself watching it again anytime soon.

Yeah, this sums it up. Really good movie, but criminal mastermind this Joker was not. The character as I see him wouldn't be this unrefined, and yeah I know there are plenty of comics where he IS pretty straight forward about his paybacks/sprees. Those tend to not do it for me to begin with.

But again, for what this is, it was a great performance by Phoenix. And it's not like there will be any shortage of Joker interpretations going forward.

[Frobisher]

I thought it was a really good movie but it has almost nothing to do with the IP it's banking off of. But as a film it's a really good Homage to two great films from the past. I enjoyed Joker but I also dont see myself watching it again anytime soon.

Same. At the end of the day I’d sooner watch the originals again than a pastiche made by the guy who did the Hangover.

Also, kind of feel like the story wants to have its cake and eat it by trying to be a sympathetic take on mental illness, but then saying actually anyone with mental illness can turn into a psychopath, because psychos are cool.

[Godzilla2099]

I thought it was a good movie, but the 'Joker' part felt like it was thrown in to attract crowds.

The movie was more about a broken man that fell off the deep end due to a broken society.

[Ikari]

My headcanon for 'Joker' is that most of the stuff happened only in Arthur's head (like girlfriend thing). Particularly the scene where crowds busted him out and cheered him - even though he was a brutal murderer - was right out of the fantasies of real world spree killers.
It is undeniable that lots of people loved it. My pal thought it was probably the best comic book based movie ever (to which I countered same as here, that it was not comic book based) and I know a guy who watched it like dozen times that fall.