One of the most memorable films of 2019

Rating: 9/10 (5 October 2019)

I went into this film expecting something along the lines of last years 'Venom' film, a comic book movie for adults. I must admit I did enjoy Venom and assumed this would be something along the same lines, but how wrong I was.
Joker is an incredibly complex film about a slightly delusional man with a mental illness, scraping a living and surrounded by a world of have and have nots that is close to boiling over into civil unrest. I won't ruin the story and give anything away but the incredible performance of Joaquin Phoenix here is really impressive, reminding me of the sort of gradually unravelling and unhinged role Daniel Day-Lewis portrayed in 'There Will be Blood' in 2007 or Robert De Niro (who turns up in this film) in 1975's 'Taxi Driver'.
Phoenix's psychologically damaged would be comedian, Arthur Fleck (a subtle reference to previous Batman Ben Affleck) is not exactly sympathetic, but it does a surprisingly good job of filling in the backstory to the Joker that isn't really properly explained in any detail in any of the Batman films. And whilst the late Heath Ledger gave an iconic legendary performance in the Dark Knight as the same character, an interpretation nobody thought could be bettered, Phoenix is similarly magnificent here, albeit in a different context.
Be prepared though for some gruesome violence that is definitely not from the pages of a comic book. In this respect the film is most certainly not suitable for youngsters (one scene involving a pair of scissors is more out of a horror movie than anything else) and the OTT special effects of previous DC character films are very noticeably absent, and weirdly this makes the film even more disturbing as it grounds it in a reality that is much more recognisable.
Various nods to classic 1970s violent crime films like Taxi Driver , The French Connection and Death Wish are visually very apparent. Much has been made too of the parallels between this film and 1982s 'The King of Comedy' and I won't disagree with that but this film is so much more than a homage to any of those, although you can see the influence in the visual style. However that is not to detract from a film that is original within the genre from where the story came from. We've had comic book character origins stories before but nothing like this. This film is as far away from the super-hero universe as is possible and because of that it is equally disturbing and watchable in equal measures, as we see one of life's casualties descend into a world of chaos both in real time and in his own mind. The character of the Joker is frightening because you can see how real he could be. No alien influence, no megalomania , no genetically enhanced villain or super advanced technology - this joker comes from the same human world as all of us. He is a powder keg of emotions, ambitions and circumstance, of mental illness and bad experiences and that makes him even worse because he could easily be real.
I think this is a film you will either love or hate. Your best bet is to watch it with an open mind, have no expectations and prepare for a slow burn as you watch one of the most iconic fictional villains start to look frighteningly real.