Simply masterful.

Rating: 10/10 (31 October 2019)

I'm seriously not a fan of the whole Marvel explosion of films that ,no matter how you view them , ends up being the same picture. This Warner Brother's film ,of the DC comic's top villain Joker, is nothing like any of those films. It's dark, depressing, bleak and extremely slow. Instead of letting the special fx's, fight scenes and testosterone filled action take center stage, it allows space for a mesmerizing acting performance by Joaquin Phoenix. Many are saying that he copied Deniro's performance in Taxi Driver, but I say that he honestly topped that performance by a mile. Deniro had no boundaries. Phoenix had to craft his performance within the boundaries of the comic book super villain named Joker, and he masterfully makes the transformation right in front of our eyes, within 120 minutes.
The plot has been criticized for being heavy handed, but honestly the simple fact that we can have such a story still be relevant in 2019, shows that as a society we haven't been heavy handed enough. There are no happy endings in Joker. Some might say that it even glorifies or at least justifies the evils of the world. Maybe it does. But remember , the story ,like Phoenix's performance is bound by the DC story in the first place. If you have a problem with the bleakness , it might be because you are coming to the realization that at some point we will be Gotham because we are definitely following on the path of Gotham's past that this film represents.
Overall, I don't know of a better Comic book film. As a matter of fact , it's the only comic book film of recent years that is Oscar worthy.