I don’t remember specifically why I avoided seeing Joker when it first came out, but I know it had a lot to do with the general negative vibe on Twitter. I remember thinking I didn’t need a reason for the Joker to be who he was. I liked Heath Ledger’s version of pure chaos coming from nowhere, wanting nothing, achieving greatness as an agent of disorder. I didn’t want a backstory about a terrible childhood, the kind of thing made popular in books like Red Dragon and Hannibal.

It took four years for me to get bored enough to sit down and watch the movie by myself at home, not nearly as intended, only to discover this is an amazing film. A work of art from the well known artist famous for his other brilliant social commentaries like (*checks notes*) The Hangover? Old School?

What is happening.

So, yes, Todd Phillips isn’t known for his cunning ability to tell a subtle story, but then Joker isn’t even remotely a subtle film either. It has the same garish colors and outsized performances that made his comedies so popular. It’s just all of that has been skewed toward a very realistic portrayal of a toxic mother/son relationship that yields an emotionally crippled man existing in a loose relationship with reality.

While the first 155 minutes are devastating, the last five are explosive. There’s really very little to tie the Joker to the Batman myth except for his imaginary relationship to Thomas Wayne. But at the exact moment we thought we weren’t going to have to see “that scene” one more freaking time, the story betrays us (as it has before several times) and brings us fully into that myth.

But unlike so many other depictions of Bruce’s parents being killed, this movie earns the moment. It feels like the whole point of the story rather than some vague inciting incident from a terrible screenwriting book.

Joker is told in a way that is reflective of the ugly chaos inside Arthur Fleck’s broken mind. When his psyche shatters he is reborn not into order but into anarchy that revolves around him. It’s the perfect narcissistic personality disorder fever dream. He doesn’t change his act to make people laugh, he forces the world to change what they perceive as funny.

If The Joker must have an origin story, this is the one I prefer.