Why so delirious?

Rating: 5/10 (7 October 2019)

Reading some of the many reviews of 'Joker,' I have to wonder if the cinema in which I watched this film actually played the correct version. This is no masterpiece and unfortunately did not live up to the frenzied hype which it has received.
The idea of 'Joker,' i.e. an origin story about one of the most interesting and captivating villains ever being played by Joaquin Phoenix is mouth-watering. But sadly, I found the film to be unimaginative, predictable and boring.
There are few films where the phrase 'on the nose' is more applicable. 'Joker' is very aware of itself and handles its material and concepts too clumsily, serving its narrative upon the audience like a microwaved meal - pre-cooked and simple but not altogether satisfying. One such scene where it's revealed that all of Arthur's interactions with his 'girlfriend' were a figment of his imagination demonstrates this lack of subtlety perfectly - the fear and shock emanating from Zazie Beetz's character when Arthur turns up to her flat uninvited is more than enough to show that this interaction is maybe not one between two genuine lovers, yet the director still feels it necessary to insert a fight club style montage to show it was just Arthur's warped imagination all along! The bloodstained footprints when Arthur exits the scene were also something you'd expect more from an A-level horror film project rather than a fabled masterpiece.
The film simply fails to present an accurate depiction of what the Joker should be; clever, calculating and cold whilst retaining an element of charm that someone so charismatic and dangerous would naturally retain (see Harley Quin and admirers of Ted Bundy). An admittedly funny scene where Arthur walks into a glass door shows the character here is less prince of darkness more mad clown with clumsiness.
This is a film about descent into madness made by a person who isn't mad, as though the director sat with a checklist of all the things which could potentially make a villain and ticked them off scene by scene - mental illness, poverty, lives with mum, no friends, abuse, no more meds = villain. Then, how do we show this 'dark' descent - queue endless slow motion dance scenes and stomping of puddles.
Maybe the mouth-watering concept was just never that. After all, what makes the Joker so menacing and powerful is his mystique and merciless lack of motivation. A scene in Dark Knight springs to mind where Alfred recites the story about the gemstone robber - "some men just want to watch the word burn" - maybe the Joker should have just been left as that.