Oscar Performance - Turns Batman Universe upside down, if only for a film.

Rating: 8/10 (4 October 2019)

It is a creative, intelligent exploration of today's societal issues. It also explores reversing long-standing character bases in the DC Universe, specifically the Batman Universe.
I'd give it 4/5 stars, just for Joaquin Phoenix's performance - it is Phoenix's essential trademark character for the last two decades, only with the "Joker touch." In other words, it's like Joaquin Phoenix, version 3.0 - Oscar material version. I would say his essential character is one of a quieted mental illness, that has the capacity to expand into lunacy and violence (i.e. - the sink scene and staring scene from Walk the Line). He did an especially good job distinguishing his laugh from previous versions of the Joker. It loses its points for originality, carbon-copying elements from Scorsese movies, and elements of other movies in the Batman universe. There is also one issue that seems kind of out-of-place and forced involving Arthur Fleck's/the Joker's mother and a certain influential character of the DC Universe.
Don't believe the review-bomb anti-hype from Rotten Tomatoes.