A very unique and special interpretation of the Joker, but unfortunately the movie is very flawed.

Rating: 7/10 (20 October 2019)

So i had the chance of seeing "Joker" in the cinema and it was very good. A very fascinating character study that explores the origin to one of the greatest villains ever created and the most famous archenemy of the superhero Batman. It's a movie that everyone can admire or appreciate, even if there are people, who didn't like it all that much and have problems with it.
The story takes a very different direction, since it isn't based from a very famous Batman story that we know in the comic book world (for a example The Killing Joke) and gives it a unique take of the character, even if it isn't perfect. Unfortunately i found the story not so great at all. There are some moments that many people can find problematic and can be distracting when you think about them after watching it and process everything that you saw on the screen.
This new interpretation of the Joker is fantastic and the way he was presented in the movie was very interesting. The script offers a unique take on the character and makes him one of the best Joker interpretations out there. Of course everyone will compare this Joker to the other versions of the character like Mark Hamill, Jack Nicholson and especially Heath Ledger's take of him and it's impossible not to. For me - i love all versions of the character so much that it's impossible to say who is the best one and there is no definitive answer for me, so of course i'm not going to compare them at all and i'll never going to do it.
While the Joker is the best character in the movie, i can't say the same thing about the side characters. Many of them are very average, have minimal screen time or are not fully developed like for a example Thomas Wayne, who does play somewhat of a important character, but he comes out very OK at best. The inclusion of the Wayne family (especially the younger Bruce Wayne) feels very forced, since they made it clear that the movie wouldn't be connected with the DCEU by being standalone movie and they don't show the DC logo at the beginning, because it will be very inconsistent in that universe, but i feel like they had no choice and they had to be added to the story. The other characters were no very intriguing or compelling and some of them didn't need to exist in the story, so you can easily take them out and it wouldn't change nothing (at least for me).
The dialogue for me was way stronger than the story itself. Many of the lines are great, but some of them can be found very weak. The dialogue starts strong and continues the same path to the end of the movie.
The cinematography was fantastic and the use of lighting does help create the tone that they were going and makes the movie look beautiful.
The performances are great. Joaquin Phoenix gives the strongest performance of the year and once again proving that he is one of the best actors that we have today. Even though their characters were very weak - the rest of the cast did a great job with the material they are given.
The music from the composer Hildur Guðnadóttir is also fantastic and the way it creates the atmosphere is great, but i do have some issues with it that i do consider them small, while still affecting the rating for me. I don't like that in some moments they reuse the same tracks in some of the scenes, but of course every movie in existence do the same technique (the only time that i didn't notice that technique was in Blade Runner 2049, but sadly i can't think of other examples right now) and some of the track don't stand out all that much, but most of them do.
The editing was great. The editor knew when to cut from one shot to the other, so for me - he succeeded.
The sound was fantastic. All of the sound effects are great and there wasn't a moment that i was distracted by the sound.
Overall the movie has it's problems, but there were still thing that i loved so much. It's a unique movie that i have to give praise to Todd Phillips, since he did a great job and gives justice to the character (unlike Jared Leto's interpretation of the character), but did it deserve all of the hype, huge ratings and controversy that the movie got? Of course not. Well... not for me at least. For many it can be a very overhyped and people will go to the cinema with some expectations and many of them may not like it and calling it overrated, because of those reasons. Just like The Dark Knight and Logan, "Joker" doesn't feel like a comic book movie, because of the way it's made and that's why i don't consider it like a comic book movie and for me it's a great thing. With the problems that i have - it's still a very good movie and it's worth watching in the cinema.