The Dark, Depressing Descent into Madness

Rating: 6/10 (7 January 2020)

Be warned, this movie isn't your typical comic book origin film. It's more like a long, brooding art house film than an exciting blockbuster.
Joaquin Phoenix plays Arthur Fleck/The Joker as a depressed, lonely, mentally ill wannabe-comedian who's sick of a corrupt society that ignores the downtrodden. He doesn't have the same comic mischievousness of Caesar Romero, Jack Nicholson and Mark Hamill, nor does he have Heath Ledger's anarchic criminal genius.
If it wasn't for Phoenix's performance - or Arthur's tenuous links to the Wayne family - this would be another "crazy loner snaps" story seen on thousands of true crime documentaries. Phoenix's Joker is far more serious and disturbed than previous versions, his signature laugh due to a medical condition rather than criminal glee.
The slow pace (the action and bloodshed doesn't start until the final half-hour, when Arthur embraces his Joker persona) might turn people off, but Pheonix's immersion into Arthur/The Joker - supported by Robert De Niro as a veteran late night host - makes it worth watching.