The make-up of a madman

Rating: 8/10 (12 January 2020)

The backdrop to what has previously been a bleek and empty landscape of Gotham has never felt more real. A city of its people, Gotham corrodes into an environment that is complimentary to the makeup of its mad clown, as it is the perfect foil for its eventual caped crusader. Hildur Guonadottir--who developed as eerie a score in the Chernobyl miniseries-- develops a score as beautiful as it is haunting. Phoenix not only holds his own among other greats to down the white paint, but stands apart in his rendition of a Joker who had never been more crisply defined. His is the most compelling of origin stories, one that provides us with not only the "how," but the "why" behind the Joker's madness. Compelling and thought-provoking. A sign that the comic book genre can offer more beyond it's colorful source material.