An oscar worthy performance by Joaquin Phoenix and I'm not a fan of the comic book genre.

Rating: 9/10 (13 January 2020)

Holy crap! THIS is Joaquin Phoenix at his best! That said, and with all certainty, he deserved an oscar for his portrayal of Commodus in Gladiator AND lets not forget his portrayal as John Cash in Walk the Line but he was overlooked on both counts. Why? Is he not cute enough, is he a little off color for the members of the "prestigious" (cough) academy? Does he not kiss enough critic/Hollywood royalty butt? What is it? And for the record, I'm female who does not read about him or care who he's dating, nor do I care about the Batman series or comic books. I pretty much went into it blind other than hearing it was a good movie but THIS, this is beyond the limits of great acting and he deserves a best actor award. He blew it out of the park and no one and I mean no one could have done a better job. He is an elite actor in a class of a handful of others who completely transform themselves. If he gets passed over once again, I will never watch another academy awards show (not that I really do) nor will I put credence to their choices because it will confirm, it's just another paid-to-join boys club. The fact alone that the critics call it a "dangerous" movie is comical to say the least. We must have seen a different film or I'm just not being paid to post my review. *wink*
This is a dark movie and IMO and simply put, it's a character study to the nines. It's not an action, over-the-top violent thriller/horror, or comedy. It's an intense journey into madness with all the components clearly at play. Driven by parental and societal violence/abuse a man loses his reasoning to make good decisions and spirals out of control while falling prey to emotional (or not), violent tendencies. All empathy, social conformity, and moral behavior cease to exist and in the end he finds a plethora of individuals who rush to his aid and who praise his new misanthropic nature.
Ah yes, our Joker is finding his way and I loved this film and I believe I do, not only because it was well made on all fronts but because Phoenix, was brilliant!
To all those who think his character is stupid. This is the beginning of his reign of terror, he is evolving into this new-found madness. He "was" a good man so this goes against his habitual grain so to speak. It's all about knowing what's happening to him. Some of you clearly don't understand what this movie is about and all I can say to that is, so sad for you.