Finally Frank Miller should be happy - and proud!

Rating: 10/10 (14 February 2020)

Never thought Phoenix could beat Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, but Phoenix did the impossible - and there's no doubt - this movie is a 10/10.
After watching the film I was thinking that now I had just watched my very first superhero (ok, supervillain then) movie. Frank Miller would be proud - I hope, because this is the first movie from DC where I felt the atmosphere and story matched or transcended the best books. Ledger might still have delivered the best comic book Joker performance, but Phoenix just went beyond the books and made the Joker come out the books and made him into a real person. Like for the first time turning Pinocchio into a real boy ;-)
I do think there might be an age problem though, unless we're going to see Batman beating up the elderly in later movies, but maybe some clever writer can fix that, lol.
Note that Joker isn't for kids including young teenagers, not really because of violence, but this is a movie for adults. It's not funny nor is it an action movie, mostly I think - like Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns books - this is a film about society - a political film about wealth inequality and the consequences. A movie cleverly disguising and reflecting our current world. To quote the movie Seven:
"Wanting people to listen, you can't just tap them on the shoulder anymore. You have to hit them with a sledgehammer, and then you'll notice you've got their strict attention."

and the Joker hits you with a sledgehammer like never before. You could say it's also a movie about the nature of being evil. - In psychology the term does not really exist, because being evil can be reduced to many different components, so is the Joker really evil - or sick - or a product of society - or everything combined (=sum of traumatic incidents and triggers)? That - together with Phoenix' godlike performance - make this movie a 10/10.

BTW, saw the 4K disc version on a 85" high-end Sony TV. The 4K version is reference when it comes to 4K image quality, maybe topped only by Mortal Engines. Blacks are really blacks due to HDR and the resolution is so high it feels like swinging a microscope over Phoenix face from time to time. I could even clearly see the dirt under his bitten fingernails - which was kinda gross. Also his dirty teeth, and every skin imperfection, all his hair etc. This movie was so disturbingly clear I was thinking that maybe the more blurry blu-ray version would be better, lol - but the clarity did add presence like (close to) never before. Felt like watching a stream of photographs. There's a small amount of film grain used, but you don't notice it in most scenes.
Sound and music were awesome too, and the 4K disc contains Dolby Atmos sound as usual - in fact the music may be another reason for buying the 4K disc version - Joker got a second Oscar for the music.