Phoenix has outperformed Ledger... sorry ;)

Rating: 10/10 (8 October 2019)

Joker is a beautifully crafted character study following a man called Arthur as he descends into madness following the events of what he describes as, "a bad day".
Phillips has managed to create an entirely original and incredibly thought-provoking origin story that keeps some of the Joker's best comic book moments at its core, whilst also altering certain things that have very rarely been changed in the past such as turning Thomas Wayne into a rich snob that looks down on the working class rather than portraying him as a prestigious Doctor, as well as changing not only the Joker's colour scheme but also his face as well. I fell in love with this new rendition of the Joker and I couldn't think of any appearance that would better suit the title of 'The Clown Prince of Crime'. I'd even go as far to say that the Joker's look in this film is probably my favourite Joker look of all time.
Initially, the thought of giving the Joker an origin story seemed strange to me, however upon watching the movie I realise that Phillips has been able to make this origin story as vague as possible; was the story itself a literal depiction of what we saw on the screen or was it another story that Arthur made up and told his psychiatrist whilst being locked up in Arkham State Hospital. It could be either, but in my mind, as much as I love the events of the film, I believe that the story of Arthur Fleck becoming Joker is just another story that Joker uses when he is asked about his past. This would then follow the idea explored in 'The Killing Joke' about Joker preferring his past to be, 'multiple choice'. Also, some events of the film are revealed to be delusions taking place in Arthur's mind, such as his relationship with Sophie, and his first appearance on the Murray Franklin Show, so what's not to say that the film itself is just one big delusion.
Hopefully a sequel is on the cards, however I can also understand why they would want this film to be a solo flick. It's very rare that you would find a film as artsy and as well created as this to have a sequel. That being said, I do hope that Joaquin Phoenix returns to this role as I would love to see what he can achieve portraying the Joker for the length of a full film rather than just in the the third act.