An Above Average Film For The Common Moviegoer

Rating: 10/10 (11 January 2020)

Joker is a film carried entirely by the talent of leading man Joaquin Phoenix, which feels like he is trying to do the best he can with the mediocre script and screenplay he was given to work with. The film is above average at best sometimes containing brief flickering glimpses of brilliance and downright terrible at worst with its lazy and uncreative choices, lacking any of the depth and subtlety that made the films that it so shamelessly steals from great. The dialogue in this film is just flat-out corny and bad at points, it sounds like a 13-year old was tasked with writing a deep and profound script that really speaks to the soul, only to end up with this embarrassment. Make no mistake, this is a surface level character study attempt to masquerade itself as a form of high art.
Cinematography wise, the film is surprisingly very good, the film has some truly beautiful and gorgeous shots and it's just plain frustrating that it is more interesting to look at stills from the film than to actually watch it. Hildur Guðnadóttir's original score for the film is somehow great, it's bleak, harrowing, and haunting which perfectly captures this overwhelmingly dark and brooding atmosphere that accurately represents the day-to-day life of Arthur Fleck.
One merit I will say that this film has is that its got soul, it feels like the people behind it actually cared about this project and were well-intentioned despite the less than stellar outcome. The film is not deep at all, it's very in your face with its symbolism and messages which could have and most likely would have been acceptable if it actually went somewhere with trying to say something instead of just bringing it up once and never taking it further than that.
Personally, I believe that the outcome of this film would have been better had an actually competent director been at the helm instead of Todd Phillips, the man responsible for bring us revered classics such as The Hangover Trilogy and War Dogs. It is absolutely ridiculous that this film has caused the amount of controversy that it has because this film is sadly a rather dull affair that had me asking, "That's it?" once the credits started rolling and may I also mention that it uses the same ending font as Citizen Kane, how much more pretentious could you possibly get than that by trying compare your mostly forgettable and frankly lazy character study to Orson Welles' 1941 masterpiece.
Let me reiterate, I do not think Joker is a bad film, it is far from it and I rather enjoyed it; However I am of the believe that it is an interesting concept turned into a misguided film that was entrusted to the wrong people. It is a solidly enjoyable, well-intentioned, and entertaining effort that unfortunately is bogged down by its poor script and clunky dialogue and falls more than a tad bit short of becoming the masterpiece that it aspired to be.