A good movie, but not the best.

Rating: 7/10 (5 October 2019)

The best thing about the movie is, without question, the performance by Joaquin Phoenix. His grounded, sympathetic, and eerie take on the character will (and should) be celebrated and talked about for many years.
That said...if you can imagine the movie without Phoenix's gravitas, you will notice that the rest of the film is pretty standard stuff. The cinematography is definitely great, and the director definitely knows how to speak in the language of film. And yet, there's a strange "safe-ness" to everything. Nothing gets too shocking- nothing gets too out of hand. Even the dialogue is surprisingly low-key and minimalist.
Compared to the films (and comics) that inspired this film, it starts to feel like a love-letter to other, more edgy, material. If you've seen Taxi Driver, or Death Wish, or read The Killing Joke, or The Dark Knight Returns, you will find lots of nods and similarities. It's all blended quite well, actually, but at the cost of feeling a bit predictable. As with any origin story, you already know the ending before the film begins.
In the end, though, I'd still recommend seeing it if you liked the trailer. You can't deny that the film is doing something new and enticing in the DC universe. I'd happily see a sequel to this film, continuing where it left off. I just wish they put more effort into making the film stand out a bit more from the material that inspired it, not just to rely on the lead actor to carry all the weight.