“Joker” centers around the iconic arch nemesis and is an original, standalone fictional story not seen before on the big screen.
Phillips’ exploration of Arthur Fleck, who is indelibly portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix, is of a man struggling to find his way in Gotham’s fractured society.
A clown-for-hire by day, he aspires to be a stand-up comic at night…but finds the joke always seems to be on him.
Caught in a cyclical existence between apathy and cruelty, Arthur makes one bad decision that brings about a chain reaction of escalating events in this gritty character study.
Ronnie, a loner who lives with his possessive mother, is deemed unfit for military service due to his history of mental instability and petty crime.
Retreating into the world of extremist internet groups, he creates a vlog channel, from which he decries what he describes as the downfall of “real America”.
Meanwhile, prompted by sexual frustration, he agrees to play the role of cuckold in a couple’s homemade amateur pornography.
He buys an unregistered handgun and begins to spend time at firing ranges.
He meets his online idol, a charismatic leader of the alt-right.
However, when his identity as a “cuck” emerges, his macho persona is destroyed.
Facing online shaming, Ronnie takes solace in his gun, which he regards as the only symbol of masculinity he has left.