A pointed character study masked as a comic book film

Rating: 8/10 (4 October 2019)

Amidst all the controversy and thoughtless comments from its director that threaten to overshadow the film itself, Joker is a brutally pointed and thrilling film that seeks to deviate from the comic book mold, all the while staying religiously true to its trademark qualities.
though it is, in parts, ladened with the overbearing need to fulfill the requirements for an inevitable franchise (see: some of the thomas wayne arc), Joker is an intriguing character study that actually scratches the thematic surface so-to-speak, glossing its plot over with a depth that many comic book films struggle for.
and at its core is the clown himself! if Heath Ledger's Joker was a portrait of a psychopath standing out in a society that was conceptually good, then Joaquin Phoenix's take on the role is a victim borne of the very perversion that he seeks to revenge. Phoenix is chilling and nuanced, capping his performance off with an odd innocence that is terrifyingly memorable.
much of the criticism garnered by the film is well-deserved, as its thought-provoking message begins to get lost in the violence in the third act. it is, after all, a super hero flick. but the quick need to dismiss the film is wholly unwarranted. Arthur Fleck doesn't even become Joker until the final half-hour of the film - for the majority of its runtime, he is a broken man living in a society that's failed him.
its overall commentary is poignant and rich, maybe even a little too on the nose, and it begins to get needlessly gruesome as Todd Phillips (his direction being the weakest aspect of the film by the way) strives to drive home his point. whether it serves as a source of empathy for mass murderers or not is a matter of subjectivity, though i agree that the violent end-all approach it takes cripples its overall effect. nevertheless, Joker is a solid film that shows that comic book films can have meaning.