Why so serious?

Rating: 5/10 (11 March 2020)

It wasn't a masterpiece. It wasn't even a great movie. It wasn't a bad movie but it wasn't what it claimed to be. It wasn't a comic book movie. It wasn't even a Joker movie. Except for a few shoe horned references to Batman lore it was just Falling Down with a little Fight Club and liberal amounts of Taxi Driver.
The character of Arthur, though well acted, was too pathetic to be any incarnation of the iconic villain. He had no charisma or cleverness. His 'condition' of laughing inappropriately more often than not sounded like sobbing and when he should have been laughing, he didn't. When he smothered his mother, maniacal laughter would have been appropriate.
The film fell victim to the same folly some recent horror remakes have. Child abuse creates monsters. Sometimes. We don't need to create sympathy for Michael Meyers or Joker. Psychopathy is scarier when you can't understand its root. Some people are just bad.
The Joker is not a tragic villain and to portray him as such is the first indication that this movie was a marketing gimmick. Slap the name of a character with an established fan base on a pretty unoriginal story and make a billion dollars. Good job Warner Brothers. If this is the formula for the DCEU going forward, I see why there are so many rumors about closing down comic book production. Wouldn't want fans comparing the movies to the comics, now.