A fantastic character study brought down by a subpar script

Rating: 6/10 (15 February 2020)

Joker is so much better than it has any right to be, and is far better than most comic book movies I've seen. Joaquin Phoenix is incredible here, and his Best Actor award is well-deserved. Unfortunately, Joker suffers because of its inability to escape the trappings of the comic-book genre, with cliched dialogue, unnecessary ties to Batman continuity, and poorly thought out characters (with the title character being the sole exception). Ultimately I'd recommend this movie to fans of the Joker character only. To everyone else, you should go watch Martin Scorsese's films Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, which Joker heavily borrows from.