Painfully Brilliant

Rating: 10/10 (10 October 2019)

This film isn't just what we needed as DC fans but what DC and Warner needed to present to the fans. After the disappointment of Suicide Squad and Justice League and the mediocre Wonder Woman and Aquaman, DC needed to regain some faith in their comic book movies. In steps Hangover director Todd Phillips taking on the biggest challenge of his career. What we are seeing here is that less is so much more. With a budget of just 55 million dollars (peanuts compared to 300 million dollar budget for Justice League) we have a film filled with suspense, dread and pure horror from a man isolated from society and is just a couple of bad days away from madness. In steps Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur, a lonely man segregated both physically and mentally and we join him on a downward spiral of madness and his transformation into the prince of crime. And taking on such an iconic role it's fair to say he has rather big shoes to fill.
But what Phoenix and Phillip's have managed to create with this film is a Nolanesque masterpiece of gritty realism and horror of what goes on in a mans mind, who is, through no fault of his own, having a mental breakdown. From perfecting the spontaneous laughter and the 52lbs weight loss, Phoenix gives a career best performance as does Phillip's in the directors chair. From the gritty 1980s New York feel of Gotham City, to the subtle references of Martin Scorsese's classics Taxi Driver and The King Of Comedy and Hildur Gudnadottir's heart pounding score, this film perfectly shapes the world of a lonely man struggling to find his place in a divided world where the rich are rich and the poor are forgotten.
With a storyline that's gripping from start to finish and a particularly violent suspense which is unseen in most modern 'comic book film's' the whole event packs an enormous punch which leaves us with 1 emotion, astounded.