{"id":22638,"date":"2020-01-03T15:09:34","date_gmt":"2020-01-03T23:09:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=22638"},"modified":"2020-01-04T23:20:37","modified_gmt":"2020-01-05T07:20:37","slug":"review-joker-4k-bd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2020\/01\/review-joker-4k-bd\/","title":{"rendered":"Joker 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Joker<\/em><\/strong> is one of the more unique experiences I\u2019ve had, and perhaps helping is that I am a fan of DC characters, and while this may not be a comic accurate portrayal, the performance by Joaquin Phoenix was nothing short than incredible.<\/p>\n

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Joker<\/span>
\n(2019)<\/span>
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Genre(s): <\/strong>Drama, Crime, Thriller<\/span>
\nWarner Bros. | N=R \u2013 122 min. \u2013 $44.95 | January 7, 2020<\/span><\/p>\n

Date Published:<\/strong> 01\/03\/2020 | Author:<\/strong> The Movieman<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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MOVIE INFO:
\n<\/u><\/strong>Directed by: <\/strong>Todd Phillips
\nWriter(s): <\/strong>Todd Phillips & Scott Silver (written by)
\nCast: <\/strong>Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy<\/span><\/p>\n
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DISC INFO:
\n<\/u><\/strong>Features: <\/strong>Featurettes
\nSlip Cover: <\/strong>Yes
\nDigital Copy: <\/strong>Yes
\nFormats Included: <\/strong>4K, Blu-ray
\nNumber of Discs: <\/strong>2<\/span><\/p>\n
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Audio: (4K\/BD) <\/strong>English (Dolby Atmos), English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)
\nVideo (4K): <\/strong>2160p\/Widescreen 1.85
\nVideo (BD): <\/strong>2160p\/Widescreen 1.85
\nDynamic Range: <\/strong>HDR10, Dolby Vision
\nSubtitles: <\/strong>English SDH, French, Spanish
\nCodecs: <\/strong>HEVC \/ H.265 (4K), MPEG-4 AVC (BD)
\nRegion(s): <\/strong>A, B, C<\/span><\/p>\n
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Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe opinions I share are my own.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Note:\u00a0The screen captures were taken from the Blu-ray disc and\u00a0do not<\/span> represent the 4K Ultra HD transfer.<\/span><\/p>\n

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THE MOVIE \u2014 4.75\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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Plot Synopsis: <\/strong>Forever alone in a crowd, failed comedian Arthur Fleck (JOAQUIN PHOENIX) seeks connection as he walks the streets of Gotham City. Arthur wears two masks — the one he paints for his day job as a clown, and the guise he projects in a futile attempt to feel like he’s part of the world around him. Isolated, bullied and\u00a0disregarded by society, Fleck begins a slow descent into madness as he transforms into the criminal mastermind known as the Joker.<\/p>\n

Review: <\/strong>There are very few villains that have embedded into the public conscious perhaps because clowns are, generally creep af, but one with no conscious and a complete psychopath is fascinating, not to mention the temptation from some actors to play the role is too hard to resist. The acting hierarchy for the role ranges, though it would seem to be extremely difficult to top the performance done by the late Heath Ledger, whom received an Academy Award post-humorously. Well, Joaquin Phoenix certainly put his mark on the role.<\/p>\n

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Joker<\/em><\/strong> was a movie, when it was first announced, was a bit perplexing to some. Myself, I was intrigued although DC was still in a re-construction stage with focus-based movies versus some shared-universe apparatus. As it turns out, this mid-budget crime-thriller (costing somewhere around $60 million) captured the public interest once again and despite the media\u2019s hyping of some incel attacks, before moving onto guilt-tripping with the film using the song by a convicted pedophile (supposedly getting six figures in royalties; though LA Times confirms others own the rights), this movie went on to cross the billion dollar mark, an achievement that only Aquaman<\/em> accomplished for Warner\/DC.<\/p>\n

Having skipped this in theaters, I did my best to avoid spoilers, which was difficult for anyone who even spends little time on Twitter, so going in I wasn\u2019t sure what to expect however in the end, I found Joker<\/em><\/strong> to be one hell of a ride, not a smooth or pleasant ride, but still a trip down a dark, gritty road. First and foremost, Joaquin Phoenix does turn in a transformational performance as Arthur Fleck, later called Joker, fleshing out a previously darkly mysterious character and giving him a tragic background, an aspect some fans probably didn\u2019t appreciate. But I felt it didn\u2019t hurt the interpretations that came before, or those who will come later (can\u2019t think Matt Reeves won\u2019t use the character down the road in his Batman<\/em> trilogy).<\/p>\n

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Back to Phoenix, his Joker his a combination of creepy and tragic and puts a spotlight on not only the state of mental illness, society\u2019s inability to help those suffering, but the whole nature versus nurture with Fleck\u2019s relationship and childhood growing up with his mother, portrayed in later years by the wonderful Frances Conroy. After one viewing, I can\u2019t say who gave a more standout performance, Phoenix or Ledger, but both were tremendous, giving different aspects to the character, even if Phoenix\u2019s, as I\u2019ve read, might not be the *real* Joker (whatever).<\/p>\n

Another perplexing part of Joker<\/em><\/strong> when it was announced was that it was going to be directed by Todd Phillips, a filmmaker mostly known for The Hangover<\/em> trilogy (as well as other goofball comedies like Starsky & Hutch<\/em> and Old School<\/em>), but he did show growth with the crime-drama War Dogs<\/em> and really his direction here was impressive, of course aided with Phoenix screen-grabbing performance, yet still had some beautiful shots, courtesy of his longtime cinematographer, Lawrence Sher (and is set to work on DC\u2019s Black Adam<\/em> feature).<\/p>\n

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I\u2019d be remiss to not mention the composer, Hildur Gu\u00f0nad\u00f3ttir originally from Iceland. It\u2019s an imposing score, somewhat reminiscent of fellow Icelandic J\u00f3hann J\u00f3hannsson\u2019s work on Sicario<\/em> (not surprisingly, Gu\u00f0nad\u00f3ttir scored its sequel, Sicariou: Day of the Soldado<\/em>), using a heavy, imposing bass that, especially during the character\u2019s full transformation, was particularly heavy.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a little hesitant to call Joker<\/em><\/strong> a masterpiece, not because it isn\u2019t great but I do like to give a film time before heaping that sort of praise (kind of like a movie having some future cult status), but this was one hell of a movie not only shot with gritty finesse by Todd Phillips proving once more that he\u2019s not a one-trick comedic filmmaker, but the performance by Joaquin Phoenix was absolutely metamorphic and deserving of a Best Actor nomination if not also outright win, not to mention deserves to sit right beside Heath Ledger\u2019s legendary turn.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 3.0\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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This release comes with a sleek matted slip cover<\/strong>. Inside is a code for the Digital HD <\/strong>copy.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for a movie that made as much as it did, this isn\u2019t exactly jam-packed, but there are a few featurettes:<\/p>\n

Becoming Joker (1:25)<\/u><\/strong> \u2014 This is the test footage compilation with Phoenix.<\/p>\n

Joker<\/u><\/em><\/strong>: Vision & Fury (22:25)<\/u><\/strong> \u2014 Behind-the-scenes featurette with comments by Todd Phillips, Joaquin Phoenix, Producer Bradley Cooper and others on the approach to telling the story about the Joker, visual effects breakdown turning NYC into Gotham circa 1981, costumes and more.<\/p>\n

Please Welcome\u2026 Joker! (2:44)<\/u><\/strong> \u2014 Short featurette showing some of the different entrances for Joker on Murray Franklin\u2019s show.<\/p>\n

Joker<\/u><\/em>: A Chronicle of Chaos (3:04)<\/u><\/strong> is a photo gallery set against Gu\u00f0nad\u00f3ttir\u2019s haunting score.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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4K UHD VIDEO \u2013 5.0\/5, BD VIDEO \u2013 4.75\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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Joker<\/em><\/strong> unleashes chaos onto 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray presented in its original 1.85 widescreen aspect ratio (nice to see Warner no longer opening matting) and not at all surprising, this does look glorious in the 2160p high-definition resolution, while the Blu-ray\u2019s 1080p transfer also looks quite good in its own right. Being more specific, the 4K has amazingly sharp detail throughout and while this is certainly a gritty and very serious film in its tone, interestingly enough it wasn\u2019t depressingly dark and there were some minor flares of color with minimal aid by the HDR (Dolby Vision is also available for those with the appropriate equipment) while black levels are impressively deep which only makes some of the coloring, especially on Arthur\u2019s clown makeup, starkly stands out.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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AUDIO \u2013 5.0\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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Both the 4K UHD and Blu-ray discs come accompanied with a strong Dolby Atmos track which one might think would be overkill for a drama like this, but there are some exceptional moments where this really shines. One of them is Hildur Gu\u00f0nad\u00f3ttir soulful yet also uneasy score which reverberated throughout the room, while the center channel outputs clear dialogue and front and rear speakers excellently showcased the ambient noises, most notably the riot sequences which at times put the viewer squarely in the middle of the madness.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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OVERALL \u2013 4.5\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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Joker<\/em><\/strong> is one of the more unique experiences I\u2019ve had, and perhaps helping is that I am a fan of DC characters, and while this may not be a comic accurate portrayal, the performance by Joaquin Phoenix was nothing short than incredible and deserving of the awards coming his way.<\/p>\n

This 4K Ultra HD\/Blu-ray combo pack offers up amazing video and audio transfers and even though the features could\u2019ve been better (would\u2019ve like to see the full array of alternate takes), it\u2019s still a fine release, though I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if the studio doesn\u2019t release some sort of special edition down the line considering its surprise box office success.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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