HOW TO MAKE A KILLING : Tuesday 17th March 2026

I saw the M Rated 'HOW TO MAKE A KILLING' earlier this week, and this French and UK Co-Produced black comedy thriller film is Written and Directed by John Patton Ford in only his second feature film making outing following 'Emily the Criminal' in 2022. This film is based on the Roy Horniman 1907 novel 'Israel Rank : The Autobiography of a Criminal' which in turn was used as the basis of the Screenplay of the highly-regarded 1949 black comedy 'Kind Hearts and Coronets' Directed by Robert Hamer and starring Alec Guinness playing all eight members of the family whom he must kill off to inherit the family fortune. This film was released in the US in mid-February, was released here in Australia on 5th March, in the UK on 11th March, and upcoming in France on 25th March. The film has so far received mixed or average critical reviews, and has grossed US$9M from its US$15M production budget.

Convicted of murder and waiting to be put to death in a little over 24 hours, Becket Redfellow (Glen Powell, who also Co-Produces here), recounts his story to a priest, Father Morris (Adrian Lukis) on how he came to be there in the first place. As a child, Becket (Grady Wilson) is raised by his single mother, Mary (Nell Williams), who was outcast from her wealthy Redfellow family for choosing to keep her teenage pregnancy at just eighteen years of age. As a young lad, Becket befriends the more well to do Julia Steinway (Maggie Toomey). Prior to her death in hospital, Mary stresses to young Becket that he should fight for the life he 'deserves' to have.

One day, a now adult Becket who works as a suit salesman in a bespoke tailors shop is noticed by a now married Julia (Margaret Qualley) who by chance is in the shop looking for suits for her husband. They briefly catch-up on each others lives having not seen one another for many many years. Later Becket gets  demoted from his job as a suit salesman, and pushed out to the company warehouse, whereupon he promptly resigns. Becket decides to eliminate the remaining Redfellows in order to claim his inheritance to the family fortune which runs into the tens of billions of dollars.

Becket first kills his cousin Taylor (Raff Law), an investment banker, by tying an anchor to his leg while he sleeps off a hangover on his private motor boat and tosses the anchor overboard taking Taylor with it. Becket then meets Taylor's father Warren (Bill Camp) at the funeral, who offers him Taylor's old job at his financial investment firm. While planning the murder of his other cousin Noah (Zach Woods), an artist, Becket befriends Noah's girlfriend Ruth (Jessica Henwick). After killing Noah, by rigging an explosion in his photographic dark room, two FBI agents approach Becket, discussing the two suspicious deaths, though they do not accuse Becket of murder. Becket pretends to not know whether he is eligible for the inheritance. Julia appears in Becket's office, claiming her husband Lyle is broke and asks for a US$300K loan, which he denies. 

Becket and Ruth begin dating and move in together into a lavish high-rise apartment, now that he has moved onward and upward in his new job. Despite being welcomed with open arms by Warren, rapidly promoted in his job and content with his relationship with Ruth, Becket kills three more Redfellows -  cousin Steven (Topher Grace), aunt Cassandra (Bianca Amato), and uncle MacArthur (Alexander Hanson). Warren, who Becket is unable to bring himself to kill because of the kindness and generosity he had shown him, has a heart attack and dies as they are both leaving the office one day reeling from a looming financial crisis, leaving only one more living Redfellow, Becket's grandfather Whitelaw (Ed Harris).

Whitelaw sends a personal invitation to Becket for dinner at his mansion on the night of Becket and Ruth's engagement party. He calls Ruth to explain that he must attend and she makes him promise to be home by 7:00pm which he agrees to. Julia reveals to Becket that she has photographic evidence of his murders, which she will reveal unless he gives her the US$300K she had asked for previously, and that this must be delivered personally by him to her husband Lyle (James Frecheville) at his place of work. Becket complies, going to Lyle's office to hand-deliver a cheque to him. Becket forgoes his engagement party to go to the mansion, where he meets Whitelaw, who locks the doors and attempts to kill him with a WWI pump action shotgun. Becket kills Whitelaw in self-defence using a bow and arrow taken from an arrangement hanging on the wall. This makes Becket the sole inheritor to the family fortune. At a celebratory party at the mansion, Becket is approached again by the FBI agents, who arrest him for the murder of Lyle, who was found stabbed to death in his office using a letter opener that Becket touched when he delivered the cheque, leaving fingerprint evidence.

With the clock counting down the hours until his execution, Julia visits Becket in jail. During their timed three minute meeting, she tells him that there was a suicide note written by Lyle that was withheld from the trial. Becket pressures Julia to release the note, which she agrees to only if Becket signs over the entire Redfellow fortune to her. Becket reluctantly agrees, and signs the necessary paperwork from his jail cell. Julia then releases the note as promised. With Becket's innocence now without question, he is set free. Ruth waits for him outside the prison, only to return his mother's locket to him containing a lock of her hair as a keepsake. She leaves afterwards without saying a word to Becket and speeds off in her beat up old car. Becket sees Julia waiting for him with the Redfellow family driver, and the pair travel to the Redfellow family mansion together in the comfort of a Rolls Royce.

As a big almost life long fan of 'Kind Hearts and Coronets' I left the movie theatre feeling underwhelmed by this modern 21st century set in New York retelling that is 'How to Make a Killing'. On the plus side Glen Powell gives an OK frequently smirking like the proverbial Cheshire Cat performance backed up by the always dependable Margaret Qualley and Ed Harris, with the latter being banished to the penultimate sequence in which he perishes courtesy of two well aimed arrows. On the downside however, the six murders are all wrapped up with relative ease, are totally bloodless, and are skirted over like they've been concocted by a ten year old with access to Google. The script would have benefitted too from a little more polish, and being just a tad nastier, more witty, and less predictable. In summary, the film has all the touchstones to be greater than the sum of its parts . . . it just fails to hit them.

'How to Make a Killing' merits two claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

SOUND OF FREEDOM : Tuesday 29th August 2023.

I saw the M Rated 'SOUND OF FREEDOM' at my local multiplex this week and this American action film is Co-Written and Directed by Alejandro Monteverde in his third feature film outing after 'Bella' in 2006 and 'Little Boy' in 2015, with the biographical film 'Cabrini' due out sometime in 2024. This film was released in early July this year, and became a sleeper hit having so far grossed US$182M against a US$15M production budget. It has generated mixed reviews from critics, while audience reception has been highly positive. 

Based on a true story, the film opens in the Honduras capital city of Tegucigalpa, where Roberto (Jose Zuniga), a poor father of two, receives a knock on the door from a former beauty queen, Giselle (Yessica Borroto). She offers to sign his young children, Miguel (Lucas Avila) and Rocio (Cristal Paricio), up with child modelling contracts. The next day, with the two young children suitably dressed up he rides with them on the bus to the allotted place for the photoshoot - an apartment in a run down block. Giselle meets him at the door and tells Roberto that he is not permitted entry and to return promptly at 7:00pm to collect his two children. When he returns at 7:00pm to collect his children, they are no where to be seen. He runs frantically from door to door but no one answers and then out onto the street searching for them but to no avail. It is revealed soon after that the children were sold to be used as sex slaves, bundled in the back of a van with the other children, then to the local port, into a shipping container and carted off to some faraway place on a container ship for their lives to be changed irreversibly. 

Meanwhile, in Calexico, California, Tim Ballard is working as a Special Agent for the Homeland Security Investigations - a job he has done for the past twelve years or so, where he arrests people who possess and distribute child pornography. The often painful and emotional work takes a great toll on his personal life, although his wife Katherine (Mira Sorvino) is understanding and supportive. Another agent, Chris (Scott Haze), points out that they have arrested many child predators during their time but have failed to save even a single child from being exploited. Tim responds that this is because most of them are outside the US, but nonetheless Chris's words resonate with him. He speaks to a predator he recently arrested, Ernst Oshinsky (Kris Avedisian), and makes out to be a pedophile himself, so gaining his trust. Once he has gained that trust, he sets up a meeting with a trafficked child, and is able to arrest Earl Buchanan (Gary Basaraba), the man who purchased Miguel, at the border crossing with Mexico. 

And so Tim rescues Miguel, and after he is released from hospital, befriends him and over a burger and ice cream gently asks him for information that would help him find other children. Tim learns that Miguel's sister Rocio is still missing, and the boy asks him to save her. Tim arranges for Miguel to return home to Roberto, but not before Miguel gives Tim his sister's Saint Timothy pendant. Tim starts looking for Rocio, and his search leads him to Cartagena, Colombia, where he is introduced to Vampiro (Bill Camp), a former cartel accountant who now works to save children from sex trafficking.

Tim learns about a child sex club in Thailand that was shut down, but decides that this would be the perfect cover story to acquire a large number of Giselle's children in a sting operation. Vampiro gets a Colombian police officer, Jorge (Javier Godino), and a wealthy local citizen named Paul (Eduardo Verastegui, who also Produces here) to assist in Tim's mission. Tim's supervisor, Frost (Kurt Fuller), is only able to provide funding for the operation up to US$10K and ultimately asks him to return to the US and forget about his mission as it is outside their jurisdiction. As a result Tim resigns his position, ten months out from being able to retire on a pension, rather than abandon the search for Rocio.

And so Tim, Vampiro, Paul and Jorge arrange for the sex club to be set up on a small island just off the coast. Frost is able to persuade the staff of the US Embassy in Colombia to assist with Tim's rescue operation. Undercover, they convince Giselle to sell them between 50 and 60 children, and at the launch party Jorge's armed men are waiting in a secluded bay for the final boat load of children to arrive. When they do finally arrive, Jorge's men successfully storm the island and arrest all of the conspirators and Giselle, and free the children, but Rocio is not among them. In the aftermath, all of the children are seen in tandem clapping their knees and hands in a rhythmic beat which Vampiro remarks to Tim, that it's the 'sound of freedom'.

Jorge, who interrogates one of Giselle's business partners, learns that Rocio was sold to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, who are entrenched deep in the Amazon natural region. Jorge advises Tim that there is no way to retrieve the girl, because the region is largely unmapped jungle wilderness, and any rebel territory is a no-go zone for the Colombian government. Vampiro suggests an alternative course of action stating that doctors are permitted into the region for medical reasons, which gives Tim the idea to pose as doctors. Jorge reluctantly agrees to the dangerous operation. After Jorge drives them as far as the dirt road will allow them to travel Tim and Vampiro attempt to enter enemy territory in disguise and alone in a boat. The rebels soon rock up in a boat all guns blazing and after checking their supplies and seeing that they are unarmed and only carrying vaccines, they refuse to let more than one of them enter, leaving Tim to enter the area alone. 

Tim gains access to the rebel camp where Rocio is being held and learns that she is being used as the personal sex slave for the rebel leader, El Alacran ('the scorpion' - Gerardo Taracena), and along with others is required to mash coca leaves with her feet to produce cocaine which funds the rebel war against the Colombian government. Tim comes across Rocio while she is doing this at the end of the day, and whispers her name, to which she eventually responds.

Later that evening after Tim has located Rocio sleeping in El Alacran's hut, Tim is forced to kill him while freeing Rocio. Tim and Rocio, under cover of darkness, make their way back through the jungle undergrowth to the boat and then the designated pick up point with Jorge and Vampiro are waiting. Despite the rebels being in hot pursuit and firing on them, having discovered their fearless leaders lifeless body, Tim brings Rocio back to freedom. Before they part, he gives her back the necklace Miguel gave him earlier. Rocio wakes in a hospital bed when she is finally reunited with her father and brother, and the family later return home to Honduras. Stay in your seat for a 'Special Message' given by Jim Caviezel about three minutes after the end credits have begun to roll. 

It's easy to see why this movie has resonated with audiences more than it has with critics. From an audience perspective this is a real life telling of a sombre, at times heart wrenching, thought provoking issue writ large on a global scale that for the most part we get to hear very little about as we go about our daily lives. It's not until a film like this comes along that slaps you around the face and tells you to wake up and do something about the fact that there are now more people enslaved today than at any other time in our history, including when slavery was legal. From a critical standpoint this film is a procedural cops & robbers story that has more in common with the TV series of the last ten or fifteen years a la 'Criminal Minds' et al. That said Jim Caviezel is well cast as Tim Ballard and gives a nuanced performance, and Bill Camp as the constant stogie smoking, whisky swilling and wise cracking sidekick Vampiro also holds his own here. And as for Director Alejandro Monteverde, he has crafted a well made thriller that tells an important story that will give you something to think about long after the end credits have rolled. 

'Sound of Freedom' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

DARK WATERS : Tuesday 10th March 2020

'DARK WATERS' is a M Rated American legal thriller film which I saw earlier this week, and is Directed by Todd Haynes whose previous Directorial outings take in 'Velvet Goldmine', 'Far from Heaven', 'I'm Not There', 'Carol' and 'Wonderstruck' most recently. It is based on the 2016 article 'The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's Worst Nightmare' by Nathaniel Rich, published in The New York Times Magazine. Robert Bilott, the principal character in the film portrayed by Mark Ruffalo (who also Co-Produces here), also wrote a memoir in 2019 titled 'Exposure : poisoned water, corporate greed and one lawyers twenty year battle against DuPont'. The film had a wide US release in early December, has garnered generally positive Reviews and has so far grossed US$17M.

Inspired by a shocking true story, corporate environmental defence lawyer Robert Bilott (Mark Ruffalo) has just made partner at his prestigious Cincinnati legal practice in no small part due to his work defending big chemical companies. However, one day while in a Board Meeting, he is interrupted by Wilbur Tennant (Bill Camp), who presents him with a box of video tapes and urges him to watch the evidence of the slow painful death of his cows and the ruination of his fields on his Parkersburg, West Virginia farm due, he firmly believes, to toxic run off from landfill by the DuPont chemical plant nearby over the course of the last twenty or thirty years. Tennant knows Bilott's grandmother, hence the connection.

Bilott pays a visit to the Tennants' farm, where he learns that 190 cattle have died with unusual medical conditions such as tumours, bloated organs and blackened teeth. Bilott consults with DuPont attorney Phil Donnelly (Victor Garber) who advises him that he has no knowledge of this case but will help out in any way he can. Bilott files a small law suit so he can access data through legal discovery of the chemicals being dumped on the site. When he finds nothing useful in the Environmental Protection Agency report, he realises the chemicals may not even be regulated by the EPA.

At the 1999 Ohio State chemical industry event dinner, Bilott confronts Phil leading to an embarrassingly angry exchange that is overheard by everyone in attendance. Soon afterwards DuPont releases hundreds of boxes of historical records and files to Bilott's office, hoping to bury the evidence, and completely overwhelm the lawyer. Sifting painstakingly through the files Bilott finds numerous references to 'PFOA', a chemical that is not referenced in any medical textbook. In consultation with an expert chemical engineer he learns that PFOA is perfluorooctanoic acid, used to manufacture Teflon, and used in American homes for thirty years or so now on nonstick fry pans, carpet underlay, rain coats and all manner of other common household products. It's even in the drinking water. Bilott's research reveals that DuPont generate $1B a year in profit from Teflon coated products alone, so why would they risk that sort of annual pay day for the cost to human health and well-being??

In the middle of the night, Bilott's pregnant wife Sarah (Anne Hathaway) finds him tearing the carpet off the floors and rifling through their kitchen pots and pans. Sarah is at her wits end with her husband's all consuming work on this case and calls him crazy. After calming Sarah down, he urges her to sit at the kitchen table and hear him out, while he recounts in detail what he has uncovered about DuPont. DuPont has been running tests on the effect of PFOA for decades, finding that it causes various forms of cancer and birth defects, but did not make the findings public. They dumped thousands of gallons of toxic sludge upriver from Tennant's farm and buried hundreds of oil sized drums of the stuff into landfill. PFOA and other such similar compounds are forever chemicals that do not leave the blood stream and gradually accumulate.

As the years pass, Tennant is shunned by the local community for suing their biggest employer, they are spied upon by helicopter, and he and his wife come to learn that they both have cancer - hardly surprisingly! Bilott encourages him to accept DuPont's settlement, but Tennant refuses, wanting justice and prison sentences. Bilott sends the DuPont evidence to the EPA and Department of Justice, among others. The EPA fines DuPont $16.5 million. However, Bilott is not satisfied. He realises that the residents of Parkersburg will suffer the effects of PFOA for the rest of their lives. He seeks medical monitoring for all residents of Parkersburg in one large class-action lawsuit, for which he engages the services of expert class-action lawyer Harry Deitzler (Bill Pullman). DuPont meanwhile sends a letter to every resident of Parkersburg notifying them of the presence of PFOA, thus starting the statute of limitations and giving any further action only a month to commence.

As PFOA is not regulated, Bilott's team argues that DuPont is liable, as the amount present in the water is greater than one part per billion deemed safe by the company's own internal documented protocols. Later in a court hearing, Bilott and Deitzler are blindsided by DuPont who now claim that their much later study found that 150 parts per billion is safe. The locals protest and the story becomes national news and makes international headlines. DuPont agrees to settle for $70 million. As DuPont is only required to carry out medical monitoring if scientists are able to prove that PFOA causes the ailments, they are prepared to hedge their bets and so an independent scientific review is set up. To get data for it, DuPont tells the locals they can get their settlement money after donating blood. Nearly 70,000 people donate to the study, each being paid $400 for their time and blood sample.

Seven years pass with no result from the study. Tennant dies, and following several pay cuts, his obsession with this case straining his marriage, and when Bilott's boss at the law firm Tom Terp (Tim Robbins) tells him he needs to take another pay cut, Bilott collapses, shaking violently down his right side. In the hospital the doctor reports to Sarah and Tom that he has suffered a TIA (Transient Ischemic Attack - often called a mini-stroke, and brought on by a temporary blockage of blood flow to the brain), caused by stress, anxiety and pressure. Sarah tells Tom to stop making her husband feel like a failure, since he is doing something for people who need help.

Eventually after seven or so years, one evening while back in his office, the phone rings. It is a representative of The Scientific Review Panel who apologises for it taking so many years to come back to him with their findings, but with almost 70,000 cases to analyse it was the biggest study of its kind ever. She tells him that their research has concluded that there is a probable link between PFOA and multiple cancers, other diseases and birth defects including kidney cancer, testicular cancer, thyroid disease, high cholesterol, pre-eclampsia and ulcerative colitis. At a celebration dinner with his family, Bilott is informed that DuPont is reneging and backtracking on their entire agreement, because that's what big multi-national companies do whom governments are beholden to. And so, Bilott decides to take each defendant's case to DuPont, one at a time starting in 2015. He wins the first three multimillion-dollar settlements against DuPont, and DuPont settles the class action for $671 million on behalf of some 3,500 other similar cases.

Whilst the movie lingers along almost to the point of monotony, there is still much to like here. Mark Ruffalo is well cast as the mild mannered lawyer going up against the monolithic corporate giant that is more than happy to trade human life and long term suffering for its staggering profits over decades, and then throw just about every road block in the path to discredit that lawyer and the mounting number of sufferers. This is a deftly made film that doesn't seem to steer too far from the truth for dramatic effect, instead trading excitement for efficiency and effectiveness in the storytelling. And it's a story that needs to be told if for no other reason than to highlight corporate America's wrong doing towards it's less well off and often downtrodden citizens laid bare for all the world to see - finally! As for the remaining cast, Anne Hathaway is wasted as the stay at home mum and housewife who barley contributes anything to the storyline, neither really does Bill Pullman as the lawyer headlining the class action, Tim Robbins has his moment in the sun when he delivers a rousing speech to his gathered Board members as to exactly why his company should go after DuPont, and Bill Camp slurs his dialogue so much that it's difficult at times to decipher what he's saying! Despite these flaws, this is still compelling viewing and a powerful message that is hammered home in the final frames as PFOA statistics are etched across the screen - forever chemicals being present in 99% of all humans! Scary stuff, and well worth the price of your movie ticket.

'Dark Waters' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

JOKER : Tuesday 8th October 2019.

'JOKER' which I saw earlier this week is here finally and is the eagerly awaited, much hyped, highly anticipated and largely acclaimed MA15+ rated American psychological thriller based on the DC Comics character starring Joaquin Phoenix as Batman's arch nemesis, the Joker. Directed, Co-Produced and Co-Written by Todd Phillips whose previous film making credits take in the likes of 'The Hangover', 'The Hangover Part II', 'The Hangover Part III', 'War Dogs', 'Due Date', 'School for Scoundrels', 'Road Trip' and 'Starsky & Hutch'. The film acts as an origin story for the Joker and is not intended to form any part of the DCEU, rather a launchpad for DC Black - a series of DC standalone movies. The film Premiered at the 76th Venice International Film Festival at the end of August where it won the Golden Lion, the festival's highest prize, was released in the US last week too, cost US$55M to make and has received positive Reviews from Critics, with particular praise for Phoenix's performance. The film has scored the biggest October opening, finishing the weekend with a global total of US$234M, and a total worldwide Box Office take so far standing at US$282M. It also set career records for Phoenix, Phillips, and De Niro, and was the fourth-largest debut for an R-rated film of all-time.

Set in 1981, party clown and aspiring stand up comedian Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) lives with his mother Penny (Frances Conroy) in a run down apartment in Gotham City. The city is itself becoming increasingly run down too with rising unemployment, a breakdown in basic infrastructure services, budget cutbacks in essential services, and escalating crime. After a gang of youths attack Arthur in an alleyway leaving him battered and bruised, one of his co-workers Randall (Glenn Fleshler) gifts him a gun with six bullets to fend off any future would be thugs and attackers. When returning home later that night, Arthur comes across Sophie Dumond (Zazie Beetz), a single mother in the elevator and befriends her. It's not long before they start dating, and Arthur subsequently invites her to one of his stand-up comedy shows.

One day while entertaining sick children at a hospital, and dressed in his full clown gear and make-up, his gun falls out of his pocket onto the floor in full view of the young kids, some parents and hospital staff. Arthur is subsequently fired. On his way home later that night, and still in his clown costume and made-up, Arthur is set upon by three Wayne Enterprise businessmen who first mock a young girl sat all alone and then turn attention to Arthur when he starts to laugh uncontrollably (a neurological disorder that causes him to laugh out loud at inappropriate times). He shoots two of his assailants dead in self-defence and executes a third trying to flee on the subway steps. The vicious murders are quickly condemned by Gotham's elite - especially one Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullen), the head of Wayne Enterprises, who is considering running for the post of City Mayor, and who brands those jealous of more successful city dwellers as 'clowns'. This sparks demonstrations against Gotham's rich, with many protesters on the streets donning clown masks in Arthur's image.

Arthur's takes Sophie to his comedy show and it goes off very poorly, with him laughing uncontrollably right from the off, and then he has difficulty in landing his jokes. Popular talk show host Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro) mocks Arthur live on-air by showing clips from his recent failed stand-up routine on his show, viewed by Arthur on his TV at home in his apartment.

Later, Arthur intercepts a letter written by Penny to Thomas, whom she used to work for years previously, and refers to him with fond memories. In the letter, she claims that Arthur is Thomas's illegitimate son, and he then berates his mother for hiding the truth from him for all these years. Arthur pays a visit to Wayne Manor, and talks to Thomas' young son, Bruce (Dante Pereira-Olson), through the gates of the estate but flees after a scuffle with family butler Alfred Pennyworth (Douglas Hodge). Following a visit from two Gotham City Police Department detectives - Garrity and Burke (Bill Camp and Shea Whigham respectively) investigating Arthur's involvement in the train murders, Penny suffers a stroke and is admitted to hospital.

At a black-tie public event showcasing a classic Charlie Chaplin film, Arthur confronts Thomas about what he now knows about him being his real 'Dad'. Thomas tells him that Penny is delusional and was assigned to a mental asylum and that he was in fact adopted. Thomas by now was informed of Arthur's visit to his property the day before, orders him to stay away and promptly thumps him to the ground with a hefty punch to the face. In denial, Arthur visits Arkham State Hospital and steals Penny's case file which the orderly had to dig out of the archives because it was over thirty years ago. The file states that Penny adopted Arthur as a baby and repeatedly allowed her abusive boyfriend to harm them both. Penny alleged that Thomas used his influence to invent the adoption and commit her to the asylum to hide their affair for fear of public shame and the impact upon his family name and business. Distraught, Arthur goes to the hospital and kills Penny by suffocating her with a pillow.

In going home that night, Arthur enters the unlocked door of Sophie's apartment, has a look around and sits on the sofa holding his head in his hands. Sophie's comes out of her young daughters bedroom and is both surprised and shocked to see Arthur there. Seemingly frightened, she immediately asks him to leave. Arthur is seen exiting the apartment and walking down the hallway towards his own apartment, with their previous 'relationship' having all been fragments of Arthur's overactive imagination. Once inside his apartment, he rips out the contents of his fridge, shelves and all, climbs inside, and closes the door behind him.

The next day the phone rings in Arthur's apartment, and answering it he is invited to appear on Murray's talk show due to the unforeseen popularity of his failed stand-up comedy routine clips. As he prepares himself for his live interview, he is visited by his former co-workers Randall and midget Gary (Leigh Gill). Arthur murders Randall with a pair of scissors, while Gary cowers in the corner completely shocked by what he has just witnessed. Arthur chooses to leave Gary unharmed for treating him well in the past, and allows him to leave the apartment. Having dyed his hair dark green, painted on his white clown face and dressed in his best red suite with orange waistcoat, while on the way to the studio, Arthur is pursued by Garrity and Burke onto a train filled with clown protesters all travelling to a rally in the city. Burke accidentally shoots a protester while giving chase on a crowded train carriage and incites a riot which then spills out onto the platform, allowing Arthur to escape in the ensuing chaos.

Arthur arrives at the television studio where the Murray Franklin Show is broadcast from. Before the show goes live, Arthur asks that Murray introduce him as 'Joker', a nod to Murray's previous derisory comments about his routine. When the curtain goes up, Arthur walks out to a warm reception and is welcomed to the stage by Murray. 

Within minutes Murray asks Joker to tell a joke from his new material, and he responds with a tasteless one that irks the audience. He then goes on to admit that he killed the three businessmen on the train much to the horror of Murray and his audience, and begins a rant about how society has abandoned the many disenfranchised citizens, and how Murray mocked him. Arthur pulls out a gun and shoots Murray in the head at point blank range killing him instantly live on television, he then unloads another round into Murray's now lifeless chest.

Arthur is promptly arrested as riots break out across Gotham City. One rioter wearing the trademark clown mask confronts the Wayne family in a dark and lonely alley and murders Thomas and his wife Martha, sparing the young Bruce. Rioters in an ambulance crash into the Police car carrying Arthur and free him, placing his unconscious body on the bonnet of the vehicle. He comes around soon afterwards, rises to his feet still on the bonnet and dances to the cheers of the gathered crowd. He tastes that he is bleeding from his mouth, and he uses his own blood to paint a smile on his face. In the closing scene assumed to be in Arkham Asylum, Arthur laughs to himself telling his psychiatrist that she would not understand his joke. Arthur is then seen exiting the interview room leaving behind a trail of blood red footprints on the white tiled floor, before being chased down by an orderly.

'Joker' has certainly divided the Critics and polarised the audiences, and it's easy to see why. On the one hand Phoenix, who appears in just about every frame of the film, inhibits his Arthur Fleck character with a nuanced and mesmerising performance of a wannabe stand-up comedian and professional clown who is emotionally and mentally unhinged to the point where he descends into homicidal madness, ultimately becoming the Joker. Phillips has also crafted a believable and relatable story grounded in the real world whose message resonates as much today as it would have done when the film is set - societal breakdown, riots in the streets, mass indiscriminate killings and the general ignorance of society towards those in less fortunate positions than ourselves. And, when the violence comes it does so graphically and clinically and without any remorse, and yet we are drawn to sympathise with the Clown Prince of Crime, because society has turned its back on him, created a monster and he is the victim of an uncaring, corrupt and violent world. On the other hand, at times it's a hard watch for the way its portrays mental illness, drags a little in places, and feels somewhat derivative of classic Scorsese offerings 'Taxi Driver' and 'The King of Comedy' both of which get nods in this outing. As an origin story, it gets to the very roots of the bleak maniacal world of an emerging monster that will be debated long after the end credits have rolled, providing a notable back story that gives way to Jack Nicholson's and Heath Ledger's portrayal of this clown faced antagonist.

'Joker' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-