SoIf you want spoilers, here you go. Keep in mind some of it may be off because I'm doing it from memory. The movie was pretty good, definitely worth seeing, and definitely not the incel rallying cry people are concerned about I think. I do get how some people would have issues with how the Joker is portrayed, and it's not totally nuanced at some points, but it's ultimately probably one of the better comic movies out there.
- the movie starts out with Arthur being a sidewalk clown, twirling a store close out sign. Some teens steal the sign, and as he chases them down an alley they gang up on him and beat him up.
- He goes to his therapist and they have a session where he asks for an increase in dosage of his psych medication. We find out here that he's already on 7 kinds of medication.
- on the bus in his way home, he is being playful with a little boy and the boys mother tells him to stop. He starts laughing, and this is where we find out that he has a condition that causes uncontrollable laughter.
- in the elevator in his apartment he meets Zazie Beetz, his neighbour, and her daughter. She complains about the apartment, and does the gun hand motion to her head. Arthur laughs and does the same back to her.
- at home we learn that Arthur lives with him mom, and takes care of her (feeds her, bathes her, etc). She's not bed ridden, but obviously she needs taking care of.
- the next day, Arthur stalks Zazie as she goes about her day. That night she comes to the door and asks if he's been stalking her. He says yes, and asks her to see him perform stand up. She accepts.
- the next day at work, Arthur's co worker hands him a gun in a paper bag so he can protect himself.
- Arthur seems his therapist and she tells him that the government has cut funding and this is the last time they will see each other.
- Arthur does stand up, which mainly consists of him laughing to himself on stage, and when he finally tells some jokes it seems to go well. Zazie and Arthur go on a date and have a good time,
- while entertaining kids at a hospital, the gun falls out of his pocket, and he gets fired by the clown company. The guy that game him the gun sells him out and says that Arthur tried to buy a gun from him.
- on the way home from being fired, Arthur is in the subway and 3 Wall Street guys beat him up for laughing. He ends up shooting and killing all three of them. Like most of the violence in the movie this is pretty sudden and not glorified.
- Arthur feels pretty good about this ultimately, and goes back to his apartment knocks in Zazie.s door and they make out as he goes inside.
- Arthur's mother keeps talking about Thomas Wayne, and how she wrote him a letter, and she keeps wondering if he will read the letter. One night Arthur sees the letter she wrote, and it says that Arthur is Thomas Wayne's child, and she asks him to give Arthur a job. Arthur is pissed about this and leaves the house.
- Arthur goes to Wayne Manor and sees a young Bruce. He performs some magic tricks for him, and Alfred comes out and asks him what he's doing. Arthur says that he knows all about the affair Arthur and his mother had, and Alfred says that his mother is mentally ill and none of that ever happened.
- Arthur goes him to find paramedics taking his mother away in a stretcher. At the hospital who detectives try to talk to Arthur, and they tell him they were at the house walking to his mother when she had a stroke. Arthur doesn't answer any questions and goes back to his mother in the hospital. Zazie and Arthur watch over his mother as she's in a coma.
- while in the hospital, Robert DeNiro's talk show plays a clip of Arthur doing stand up, and essentially mocks him,
- While all of this is going on, the public is taking to this clown character who presumable killed the three Wall Street people. There are protests as Thomas Wayne announces his intention to run for mayor. Arthur goes to the protest, and sneaks into a theatre where a Charlie Chaplin movie is playing. I went to the bathroom at this point, but somewhere in here is when he meets Thomas Wayne and Thomas Wayne punches him.
- when I got back from the bathroom, Arthur was in a hospital where he was talking to a keeper of records. He talks to the clerk who pulls his mothers records, but won't give him much info until his mother signs a release. He wrestlers the documents out of the sleeks hands and runs.
- it turns out that his mother has had a litany of mental health issues, and that he was adopted, and chained to a radiator by one of her many boyfriends, and suffered massive head trauma (which likely caused the spontaneous laughter). So basically, he's not Thomas Wayne's son and his mom was delusional.
- Arthur goes back to the hospital and smothers his mother with a pillow.
- Arthur goes home and walks into Zazie's apartment. Zazie comes out of the bedroom, and is scared because she doesn't know Arthur other than as her neighbour she met once. Arthur imagined their whole relationship.
- Arthur gets a call from DeNiro's show, and his clip was so popular they want him to be a guest. (This may have happened earlier, I can't quite remember)
- A big clown protest is scheduled for the night of Arthur's talk show appearance.
- Arthur is putting in clown make up, when he gets a knock on the door. It's his two buddies from the clown business, one of which was the one who gave him the gun. Arthur ends up murdering him with scissors, and lets the other guy go.
- Arthur goes on DeNiros show, and asks to be introduced as the Joker, based in what DeNiro called him when he showed the stand up clip. Talks about how he has been marginalized (I'm really simplifying this) and admits that he's the one who shot those three Wall Street guys in the subway. He ends up asking DeNiro if he wants to hear a joke and shoots him in the head on live tv. Again, violence was not glorified at all. It was shot as a static shot from far away.
- the police end up arresting Arthur and on their way to the police station, an ambulance hits the police car, and some clowns get out and pull joker from the car.
- there are riots going on, and Thomas Wayne and family duck into an alley. They get shot by one of the clown rioters. This was my least favourite part of the movie, but I get why it's there. It's the same thing we'We seen in three movies so far.
- joker wakes up after on the good of the police car as a crowd of people in clown makeup surround him and cheer.
- cut to Arthur in a white room talking to a therapist. She asks him what he's laughing about, and he says a joke that she wouldn't understand.
- next shot is a hospital hallway, and Arthur is walking down it with bloody feet.
The end.
- joker wakes up after on the good of the police car as a crowd of people in clown makeup surround him and cheer.
It's the fucking ending to Evangelion, huh.
It's the fucking ending to Evangelion, huh.
