A fanboy's struggle to grade a movie

Rating: 8/10 (6 January 2020)

I have so many mix feelings about it. I'm gonna start from the begging tho. Since the first rumor that this movie was even a possibility my initial thought (one that I held until weeks before the release) was: Ok, DC is lost, this is just a terrible idea by all means possible. My line of thought was: My favorite aspects of the Joker character are by far the fact that you do not know why he is what he is (I mean, The Killing Joke isn't the definitive answer to Joker's origin, just isn't, you see what I mean here), he is just an agent of chaos, the perfect opposite for Batman, and in his mindset Batman is only "a bad day away" from becoming the Joker, and this what he tries to prove over and over again. So that's one thing, I was scared that the movie would try to answer thing we do not need to be answer.
A perfect parallel for me was the Han Solo movie, since the beginning sounded like a bad idea, at the end, I didn't think the movie was bad, it's entertaining enough, just didn't need to be "A Han Solo movie", actually the worst parts of it are the ones that they give us answers to questions that we truly didn't need an answer for (the name scene, geeez). The difference here is, that Han Solo was far from being my favorite Star Wars character, actually my biggest regret with all that is that would never see an Obi-Wan movie due to the box office failure of Solo (now we are getting a series, so, it's better than nothing). But the Joker... man, he is one of my favorite villains ever. The "bat-verse" is by far my favorite thing in the superhero world, that being movies, tv shows, comics etc. So I was genuinely concern they would screw the character up doing a movie.
Well, at the end, one thing I can say for sure is that they didn't. The movie isn't bad. And the fact I can barely write this without being confused by my own thoughts shows that. But my second concern was (and this one kind of still holds up) that for me (that's my perspective on the joker character tho, not a universal rule) Batman and the Joker exist almost in "harmony", one can be fully himself without the other, mainly the Joker. I gonna get more into that in a minute, but upfront my main issue with the whole thing is my struggle in evaluating the movie as its own thing. My fanboy side just can't shut up. So that's for me it's probably the reason why I would never give this movie a 10/10, in my mind that isn't necessarily the Joker, it's a version of it, sure, but the real one couldn't be fully himself without the Bat.
That being said tho. They did a heck of a job in changing my mind on the movie being a bad an idea. I have never thought I would live to see an adaptation of a DC/Marvel character into an art film. And that's 100% what Joker is, it's a freaking Oscar film, based on the batverse (!!!) character, that's insane. This in one of the hopes I have, that we won't be stuck into the "Marvel Formula" forever in superhero movies, and therefore, we will have variations within the genre going forward. Cause, no mater how you feel about any of the recent superhero films, having different adaptations of different characters is the best-case scenario ANY comic book fan can hope for. To there is that. Talking about the movie itself, it manages to go deep into this character mind, and, as Nolan did with Batman almost fifteen years ago, sort of puts the character into a "believable world". "What if the Batman/Joker existed in the real world?" and explores that concept without any of the comic's suspension of disbelief.
That's the struggle I have tho, I know the movie is supposed to be its own thing (and to me the ending was sort of: Did it really happened? Or was he just dreaming about it the whole time? And the best thing about it is that there isn't a definitive answer, and that in a way emanates what the Joker is. Caos. Confusion), but even tho the execution is good, I can't fully put behind the fact that I believe that Batman-Joker relationship is deeply important in any story you may tell about either.
I know this is sounding confusing af so far. But the main point I'm trying to make here is that the movie is indeed great, and I was wrong for thinking it was a bad idea. However, some of my concerns I had upfront were proved valid (in my opinion), and I still think that the fact that this origin story doesn't have the Batman doesn't quite fit with the image I have of the character. And also, before I forget, that aside, the plot with the Waynes was something I truly thought was misplaced, I can't see it as more than a fan service, you cloud have putted any other billionaire that and the movie would have worked just fine (or even better). If you aren't making the connection with Batman, fine, just don't make the connection, don't try to give me a "half-way through it" solution, that's worst.
Well, if you read until here (first of all, why? Haha), thanks. But to sum up, Joker is an art film of a DC comics character, and I hope it's something that changes forever the superhero genre, and moves it forward, with more options besides the (great) "Marvelish" movies we have been seeing for the past 10 years. Joaquin Phoneix is great, and it would be insane if he doesn't get an Oscar nomination (at least!). He holds the movie big time, and I can't imagine anyone else in this specific role in this movie. I hope that don't make a sequel tho, and try to build a new universe after it. It holds up, and its better qualities are the fact that it takes risks and try to be a "what if..." scenario, continuing to tell his story may be a huge mistake (well, what do I know anyways right).
I may edit this text at some point in the future after re-watching. I know that it seems like I'm bashing the movie, but I'm not, I just have m reasons to not give it a 10/10, even though it may deserve something around that if I was able to look at it without my fanboy eyes. Sadly, I cannot. If you can, you probably enjoyed way more than I did, and thought about only the things the movie really wanted you to. That's fine, as long as we don't make a huge deal about it, and just move on with our lives.
8,5/10