Joaquin Phoenix’s ‘Joker’ Officially Rated R By The MPAA

Joker Joaquin Phoenix Batman

Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker has been officially rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America.

With six weeks to go before Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker makes his cinematic debut, the MPAA have officially given the film an R-rating. Fans will be pleased to hear that this standalone character study of one of the most iconic villains of all time isn’t shying away from his taste for ultra-violence. The first trailers for the DC Comics adaptation showed off a gritty, edgy vision of Gotham in the 1980s, before Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker becomes determined to bring a sense of deranged chaos to the city.

The MPAA gave the R-rating to Joker specifically for “strong bloody violence, disturbing behavior, language and brief sexual images”. It’s hardly surprising given the footage in the trailer, which sees the Joker get hit by a car while a crowd of protestors in clown make-up grapple with the Gotham Police Department. Since Todd Phillips is aiming for a visceral and gritty exploration of the Joker’s psyche, it seems like the R-rating is exactly what he was looking for.

Joker looks like no comic book movie we’ve seen so far, so are you looking forward to seeing what Joaquin Phoenix does with the role? Sound-off your thoughts in the comments!

Here is the official synopsis for Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker:

Director Todd Phillips “Joker” centers around the iconic arch nemesis and is an original, standalone fictional story not seen before on the big screen. Phillips’ exploration of Arthur Fleck, who is indelibly portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix, is of a man struggling to find his way in Gotham’s fractured society. A clown-for-hire by day, he aspires to be a stand-up comic at night…but finds the joke always seems to be on him. Caught in a cyclical existence between apathy and cruelty, Arthur makes one bad decision that brings about a chain reaction of escalating events in this gritty character study.

Directed by Todd Phillips from a script he co-wrote with Scott Silver, Joker stars Joaquin Phoenix, Zazie Beetz, Bill Camp, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Glenn Fleshler, Douglas Hodge, Marc Maron, Josh Pais, and Shea Whigham.

Joker will be released in theaters on October 4, 2019. Stay tuned for the latest news on Joaquin Phoenix and the upcoming movie!

Source: Warner Bros.

Eammon Jacobs

Eammon Jacobs

British dork who can be found online raving about how good Tron: Legacy is.