Outstanding

Rating: 9/10 (9 October 2019)

The Joker has always been Batman's main nemesis and he was also the single best character in the best Batman movie ever made: Dark Knight-so why shouldn't he have his own movie? Of course, this version of Joker won't be Heath Ledger nor Jack Nicholson, and thank God it's not Jared Leto. This rendition of Joker would be Joaquin Phoenix and I think he did a fine job.
This movie was the making of Joker--his backstory. What they did so well was create a mood. From the beginning the mood was set as somber, dark, despondent. Through the music, the camera shots, and the setting you got a feel of the environment that hatched the Joker. Gotham City was such that any person could have gone mad especially someone with just the right push.
The Joker was not born from a big bang like so many superheroes and supervillains. He was born from a series of small infractions, tiny iniquities, micro-offenses. Each little occurrence chipped away at his already fragile psyche.
By the time he'd reached Joker level insanity, it wasn't a flood gate that opened within him. His personality didn't dramatically change. We merely saw the man that we had glimpses of throughout the entire movie. When the door opened for the Joker to come out, he didn't storm out with megalomaniac level schemes and plans, he walked out with one simple plan and one simple target that just so happened to light the wick to a powder keg that was Gotham City.
The Joker didn't create the conditions under which he was made and under which Gotham City became a war zone. The Joker was what many of the Gothamites were waiting for and didn't know it. The city was simmering and bubbling just waiting to boil over when the Joker provided that final spark.
It was brilliantly done. The pacing, although slow at times, was even. The story was very cohesive with no noticeable gaps or flaws. The setting and the mood was pitch perfect. And the performance by Phoenix, which was a different Joker from his predecessors, was magnifique. He wasn't the effervescent Joker that we may be familiar with and it made sense. He was passive-aggressive, slightly muted, definitely delusional, and set to explode. He was outstanding.