Not just a great comic book movie, a great movie period!

Rating: 10/10 (5 October 2019)

After Jared Leto's letdown performance as the character in 2016's Suicide Squad, Joaquin Phoenix delivers the best performance of The Joker since the late Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight!
This film is a self contained story that doesn't draw heavily off of any one comic book story, though there are little nods to the comics, such as The Wayne Family/a young Bruce Wayne playing a prominent role in the movie, plus subtle nods to The Killing Joke and The Dark Knight Returns.
It's in a dark, gritty world that the film takes place, as we are taken back to 1981 and we're transported to a Gotham City unlike any we've seen before on film, a city not unlike our real world. It's a Gotham City on the edge of chaos, and Phoenix's Arthur Fleck/Joker is the catalyst that throws the switch, as the people of Gotham begin to riot against the elite and upper class of the city and regard The Joker as a folk hero and Robin Hood type of figure. The film has major echoes of past 80s films, such as Taxi Driver and Dog Day Afternoon.
It's within this gritty realism that the stakes of the movie takes place. Phoenix's portrayal of this mentally unstable man, whom society has turned it's back on, is both frightening and relatable. As his mental faculties begin to unravel, the viewer can't help but sympathize in some way with The Joker's plight. He's pained by what he's suffered in life, but he goes off the deep end into a life of crime. That's what makes Joaquin Phoenix's portrayal of the character so frightening. More than any other incarnation of the character, this one has echoes of our real world: that nothing is more frightening than a mentally unstable person with a gun.
But it also leaves The Joker's backstory up in the air and up for debate by the end of the film, as Arthur/Joker is an unreliable narrator, and the audience is left wondering what exactly in the film's narrative was the truth and what were just delusions in The Joker's head.
It's a film that transcends genres. It's not just a great comic book based film, it's a gritty, dark, and brilliantly done character study. It's a movie with real world consequences, as the characters are very reflective of the criminals that plague the news every day.
An absolutely stunning performance by Joaquin Phoenix, and the movie definitely is worth every amount of acclaim it's getting! Phoenix deserves an Oscar! It's a brilliant piece of film!!