Super slow, half-baked movie with nothing to say. Does not deserve the high rating.

Rating: 3/10 (4 January 2020)

** spoilers **
It used to be movies with 8.7 ratings were actually good. It seems not so anymore.
As a fan of Batman series and batman in general--I do highly rate Christopher Nolan's batman trilogy and even Tim Burton's version, I was quite curious, given the high praise and high Imdb ratings, what kind of story they have to tell of the Joker. Will there be any surprises, would it be interesting?.
It turns out, not so much.
Let me talk about the good first.
1. Great acting. We have Joachin Phoenix, a pro actor, who I loved best in the fantastic movie Gladiator, gives his all in his role as the Joker. That is if he has any lines to say.
2. Good cinematography. The movie has great photography and gives it that moody, dark look of Gotham.
Now let me talk about the bad.
1. Mediocre story.
The story itself can be summed up in this synopsis. Arthur Fleck was born with a condition which makes him laugh. Life treats him bad and he goes over the edge and becomes the Joker. That's the story.
Forgive me, but I think that Jack Nicholson transformation to Joker was more reasonable than this story. At least in Tim Burton's batman, Joker was already crazy and a member of a criminal gang. Besides, people in the real world, with bigger problems that Arthur Fleck don't turn into homicidal, crazed lunatics who just shoots anybody in sight. So his transformation doesn't make any logical sense.
2. Poor dialog and writing.
Joker, who is supposed to be a villain of super high IQ seems to not show it at all in this movie. I would think that any person with exceptional IQ would display it in works or his words. But in this movie, what does he do which demonstrates his intelligence? Nothing I can remember. In fact there doesn't seem to be much talking in the whole movie by any character at all. Even in the great Robert De Niros role, had nothing much to do ro say. That's poor writing and the characteristic of this whole movie. If they have nothing to say maybe they should have waited for more ideas before pushing this half-baked show where nothing happens.
All in all, this movie is an example of how far writing talent and dialog have fallen since the good old days of the Batman trilogy. I'd rather recommend just watch a rerun of Dark Knight if you want to see a proper joker and a good story.
Not recommended at all.