@jordyep "Is Mr. Robot a Fight Club rip-off?" It kinda is, the first season at least.
@danzoc I can see where you’re coming from, but even the first season adds its own ideas to the familiar story beats (like all the stuff with Tyrell and his wife, for example. Or making the imaginary character related to the protagonist), so I’d call it heavy inspiration. A rip-off, to me, is something like The Secret Life of Pets, which is a blatant copy of Toy Story.
@jordyep Love your review! This movie do have similarities with some movies, but i agree it's nothing close to being a rip-off. Just interested in your take on the cinematography of the movie, did you find yourself liking them? Or did you find them (i did), a bit uninspired and cliché? Cheers.
@omegancq You mean cliched because it’s visually so heavily inspired by Scorsese movies? I don’t know, I thought it was kinda beautiful. I really loved the neon lit night scenes in particular, as well as the scene where he kills the guys on the tube. Definetely Oscar worthy if you’d ask me.
@jordyep thanks for the reply! I'm glad that we are on the same channel here. I am not sure about oscar tho, how they did a third of the scenes with dolly just really got old for me half way through the movie. I love the shot with joker practicing his show entrance with the tv, and i guess i just wanted more of those creativity on some other scenes. Nice talking to you!
@jordyep you consistently write well thought out reviews. I had difficulties pointing which point the Joker felt a bit immoral (I thought of the first gunshot) but you correctly pointed out where. Cheers!
Review by JordyVIP 8BlockedParent2019-10-04T23:25:50Z— updated 2019-10-12T15:09:31Z
Well, I'll never listen to That's Life by Frank Sinatra in the same way again, that's for sure.
Before I start, there are two groups of people who need to be addressed:
- Regarding the people who are saying that it's too violent, and a movie based on comics shouldn't be like that: please, go back to watching Dora: The Explorer.
- Regarding the people who are calling it a Taxi Driver or King of Comedy rip-off: Is Mr. Robot a Fight Club rip-off? You have to see the difference between ripping something off and taking inspiration + adding your own ideas to it. Also, Taxi Driver is a vigilante story, something which this isn't.
So, most of the praise you heard about this movie I can absolutely get behind. The cinematography and score are without a doubt Oscar worthy. Joaquin Phoenix is front and center, and he absolutely shines. It is a full on character study, and the movie shows everything from the Joker's point of view. It keeps the movie focussed, but it has to be said that there are no other interesting characters to get invested into, something that other character studies don't forget. The pacing is also very well done. It doesn't feel like a slow movie, and the final 20 minutes are something special. To me, however, the first 90 minutes are a lot more interesting. I love the fact that we get to see an in-depth exploration of the causes of social exclusion and what leads to Arthur's downward spiral. Phillips very wisely points to a variety of causes at very different levels of society (elites, government, punks), while not forgetting that some blame also falls into the hands of Arthur himself (e.g. his megalomania). This is a very strong and nuanced message.
And then there's the film's other message. When it comes to a film like this (a protagonist with a downwards spiral), the movie often starts with making you feel sympathetic towards the character. The Wolf of Wallstreet does that. Breaking Bad does that. And Joker also does that. But then there's a point where the character crosses the line, a moment which you can almost pinpoint in this movie, namely the scene where he kills his mom . From that point on, a movie should clearly condemn what he's doing in order to not give out an immoral or wrong message. In The Wolf of Wallstreet, Di Caprio starts to lose everything. In Breaking Bad, Walter White starts to lose everything. Phillips, however, goes out of his way of condemning what his character does. Instead, he plays swelling and upbeat music during the film's darkest moments. Moreover, Joker gets a happy ending , and no other characters have a sincere conversation about the atrocities of what he's doing. In other words, the movie gives off the impression of still being on his side, thereby presenting violence as the answer to this man's problems, and I can totally agree with some of the critics who have a moral problem with that. I understand that they wanted to stay with Arthur's perspective through the end, but this comes at the cost of one of the biggest mistakes a film like this can make. At the same time, one major flaw doesn't make a film bad. I mean, Gone With The Wind is immoral in the sense that it is racist, but is it a bad film? Absolutely not.
7.5/10