Definitely a different kind of "comic book" based movie

Rating: 8/10 (27 October 2019)

The Joker, after so many incarnations, going in I wasn't sure what to expect. For one, I never really saw Phoenix as the joker, but he undeniably gave a masterful performance as the clown Prince of crime (in my opinion this may have been Joaquins best performance to date). The movie itself touches on a lot with regards to the origin of the joker, in particular his state of mind, which many DC fans know is not an easy thing to pin down. Yet the movie did just that, creating a very real scenario with a real issue without it being too definitive. Highlighting the severity of mental illness one can virtually see the character of the joker develop in front of your eyes and that's just part of the brilliance. It seemed that Joaquin managed to take aspects from all the previous Joker versions and fuse them into one, new original Joker. Going in however, one should note this is not your average comic book story line. There is no batman, no Harley Quinn. It's more of a psychological drama, and provides a lot of food for thought long after the end of the movie.