Joker Trailer 2 Review: 9 Ups & 3 Downs

7. Call Me Joker

Joaquin Phoenix's performance continues to look Oscar-worthy and nobody is going to be surprised if the time comes and he joins Heath Ledger on the Oscar nominations list for the same role. It's a surprisingly restrained take that looks more like the product of a method approach than something more pantomimey and that's absolutely to its credit.

Phoenix has clearly lost a lot of weight for the role but there's more to it than that: he moves strangely, his mannerisms are almost supernatural and there's an obvious intensity that immediately suggests some of this is going to be difficult to watch.

But then the trailer bundles all of that bubbling undercurrent into an incredibly marketable package and we get what amounts to a "hero" shot at the end when Arthur demands his audience call him "Joker." It's that mic drop moment that gives the trailer the added razzle-dazzle that it needs to sweeten the deal even more. That's a genius moment for a lot more than the title drop.