Dark, Moving & Beautiful

Rating: 9/10 (3 October 2019)

Before I start this review, I just want to say that I am not very well versed in comic book law or canon, so I will not be reviewing the accuracy of the Jokers origin story in relation to the comics. Now on with the review...
This film is sensational! Everything about this film is brilliant, I can hardly find any fault in it! Joaquin Phoenix is magnificent and is deserving of an Oscar nomination in the very least, and from what I've seen of films this year he should probably win the Oscar at this moment, he is mesmeric every time he is on screen, which is the majority of this film, you cant take your eyes off him. Obviously his performance is going to get compared to Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker and that for me is not unwarranted, I'm not saying it's as good as one of the best performances ever in cinema, but the fact you are able to draw a comparison between the two tells how good Joaquin Phoenix is. The way the character is portrayed and written is very powerful, it's written in such a way that in the beginning you feel sympathy for this character and you almost side with him, meaning when it comes to the end of the film you almost feel personally responsible for the monster he's become.
This movie is very dark and goes to some extremely dark places and really makes you think about our world and our society and for a comic book movie to do that is something special and very refreshing. On to the only fault I could find with this movie and its not even a fault about the film, and that is I cannot believe this film is a 15, for me watching this film the use of violence is very powerful very gory and frequent enough in my eyes to warrant an 18 rating, and that's not to say if your 15 you're not mature enough to watch it, I'm purely comparing it to other 18 rated films and in my eyes it should be an 18.
The score, soundtrack, and cinematography on display in this film is masterful, some of the shots you see are works of art and there's a sequence towards the end of the film that tracks the titular character through Gotham which is particularly beautiful. The score is fantastic, and it does something similar to Into the Spider-verse, whereby it uses the same score throughout, but the score slowly swells and swells to a crescendo at the end of the film which really puts you back into your seat. The soundtrack accompanies the score and the film beautifully and changes with the character's descent into madness.
All in all, believe the hype for this film, you will not be disappointed it truly is a masterpiece and an exceptional piece of film making, which will surely stand the test of time, go and watch this film as soon as you can!
10/10