what a let down.
i did fall asleep mid way so maybe i missed a lot of good bits, but when i woke up, the film was finally getting into gear, or at least getting ready for a joke about short people.
phoenix is actualy a bit overrated (when you were here was just terrible, and as full of rehashed 70s vigilante crap as this), and often quite flat, lacking in the star charisma you need for a film like this, but he just seemed incredibly repetitive. that laugh alone just got very annoying fast. i get it was meant to be uncomfortable but it was wheeled out way too much. also how many shots do you need of his oddly shaped torso?
i liked how it looked (todd philips is obv thinking he wants to be a modern 'master' like QT or PTA), its paced like a film trying to announce its very adult, it had great songs, but as a whole it was just flat AF, repetitive AF, and actually quite boring. where was the edge? its just another leaden, self consciously slow paced, self serious, actually kind of smug, fun-less superhero movie like nolans batman movies, but worse. mainstream movies do 'edgy' very poorly these days.
cant really comment on the politics of it, as it seemed quite muddled, but its obv going for narcissistic nihilism, i just wasnt sure what about exactly. i might need to see it again and stay awake this time but i CBA really.
origin stories are generally shit though, and this doesnt break the rule.
michael moore seems to think its a movie for our times though, or maybe its that the film is so opaque and potentially about representing anything that you can project onto it whatever you like.