karenkaterina

The reference to Bandwagon (the classic film they watch) is not by chance. Neither is the throwaway cartoon at the beginning. This is a film about what 'Joker' does for and to Arthur, and society - and it's not pretty.

I think it was a mistake not to make it clearer in marketing that it's a musical, which is one of the reasons many people hate it. The other reason is that this is partly a critique of why people loved and felt represented by Joker' the persona, and a lot of that goes for people who loved Joker the film, too.

I'd like to rewatch this. There's a lot of detail and themes in it that would probably benefit from a second viewing.

I really enjoyed this. It's more than just a brainless popcorn film, but not one that you want to think TOO hard about. Clever enough to be entertaining, even if some things don't make an enormous amount of sense.

Josh Hartnett is great as the charming but totally ruthless psychopath, and his daughter is pretty good, too, as a star-struck teen. It was fab to see Hayley Mills in a film again, although she was underused here.

Some people seem disappointed there's no twist but a film (even an M Night Shaymalan) film doesn't have to have a twist to be entertaining. Yes, bits were predictable, but there was still the fun of "I know he's going to get out of this, but how exactly?"

It was tense and on the whole well paced. A solid 7.