Phoenix gets the 5, nothing else.

Rating: 5/10 (22 December 2019)

I purposely avoided reviews and comments about Joker as I wanted to watch it impartially. And overall, it wasn't a bad film but it's far from a masterpiece.
Phoenix was excellent portraying a man struggling with mental illness and his own self worth. He did credit to himself and will probably be Oscar nominated for this performance, but that's it. I can't think of anything else positive to say about the film.
We know he is going to become the Joker but the directors dragged it out over the entirety of the film. There were glimpses of how he might become Joker and they would have been good moments to show this, but the directors just dragged it on for a bit longer, and a bit longer and again, a bit longer. By the time the Joker materialised, I was bored.
There are some nods to previous Joker incarnations such as him dancing like Nicholson or sitting in the cop car like Ledger, but even those looked overly directed, and boring.
I'm glad I watched the Joker...but this is not an origin story anyone will recognise, this is too long and boring and the plot was just awful. I'm just impressed that Phoenix shined in it.