A well crafted piece of cinematic genius

Rating: 9/10 (20 December 2019)

Heath Ledger set the benchmark for Joker movies in 2008, and in the 11 years which have passed, nobody's come within a long country mile of his performance.
Until now.
I am not a fan of the DC universe, and I tend to find DC movies pretty laughable. But this dark origin story for the Joker is easily one of the best films I've seen in years.
Joaquin Phoenix is utterly convincing. If he doesn't get some kind of award out of this, I'll be frankly astounded. His performance is absolutely consistent from the first frame to the last.
We are shown the real Joker as he was originally intended to be, before Hollywood's lazy depictions warped him into a cheap imitation of the comic book villain.
Most important of all, we finally learn the Joker's true origins.
Batman's dad is a complete *******, just like Batman will grow up to be. He had an affair with the cleaning lady, which resulted in the birth of the Joker. This means the Joker is Batman's older half brother, which explains the animosity between them.
The cleaning lady is fired, and forced to sign a confidentiality agreement. She lives in poverty with the Joker, who knows nothing of his connection to Batman.
The Joker eventually finds out and is understandably aggrieved. He visits Batman, but doesn't get a chance to explain their relationship.
The Joker becomes disillusioned with society. He does some stand up comedy, and manages to get a spot on the Murray Macklemire show, where he takes his revenge on society
Batman's parents are murdered by a bunch of clowns because screw rich people.
I went into this movie with low expectations, and they were blown right out of the water.
Supervillain films usually follow the 'bullets and explosions' formula, but this is nothing like that. It's a well crafted piece of cinematic genius that delivers the most authentic portrayal of the Joker ever produced for the big screen, and (at long last!) the canonical story of his twisted origins.
To me, the ultimate significance of Joker is twofold: it's the first movie to rehabilitate the Joker as a sympathetic anti-hero with an official backstory, and it's the first movie to establish Batman as a canonical character within DC's Dark Extended Jokerverse
I rate Joker at 29.97 on the Haglee Scale, which works out as a stunning 9/10 on IMDB.