Should've been titled "Arthur"

Rating: 6/10 (28 November 2019)

I wanted to like this movie so much but from the trailer alone I knew I would have some issues with this and I was right.
This is not a review, its a rant as I can't do a spoiler review before the blu-ray release. Right off the bat let me tell you that its a fantastic movie in almost every way. It is beautifully shot, has a good soundtrack, it is well paced and brilliantly acted. Joaquin Phoenix gives his best performance yet and I would love to see him get an Oscar for this. The supporting cast is also pretty great and as I said I have absolutely no complaints regarding its technical features. I could've easily seen myself giving this a 8.5/10 or maybe even a 9/10
But I can't and won't. You see my main issue with this movie is with the Title of the film. Had the movie been called "ARTHUR" and it had no connections to the Batman mythos I could've and would've given it a 9/10.
When a movie is titled "JOKER" there are certain things I would expect being a comic nerd and Joker being my favourite character of all time. Sadly this movie failed in every aspect of that, literally every possible way. The movie fails miserably every time it tries to shoehorn itself into the Batman canon. Now it might not be anything serious for most as they don't really care about the comics and considering the unanimous positive reviews everywhere I would say that number is a lot.
But to me it is. Joker doesn't have a Pseudobulbar Affect or PBA, he doesn't laugh just because its a condition. He laughs because he finds it amusing. Stop trying to establish a relation between Bruce and Joker, it doesn't work very well. The very idea of a Joker origin movie is a contradictory one, even THE KILLING JOKE by Alan Moore was a mixed bag for awhile even though it is regarded as one of the best comics ever.
Also I wont spoil but what the hell was the cinema hall scene? Are you trying to alter and take a piss on the most iconic origin story in all of comics? That's a big red flag, atleast for me. I seriously mean it when I say it was the most infuriating scene I've seen in any comic book movie ever. That scene alone forced me to deduct another point from the already below average score I'm sadly going to have to give it.
The direction is pretty questionable too. Its almost as if the director had no faith in his work and decided to vehemently and forcefully tie the story to the Batman canon so people would see the movie. And that is what exactly killed the movie for me. It would've been a fantastic take on a character similar to Joker that deals with Mental health issues, personality deterrents and societal abrasion. Instead what we got was a half baked comic book movie with a confused direction and its feet in both boats.
This movie had so much going on and should've been a surefire hit. The amazing technical aspects and a mindblowing performance gets washed away by its need to mindlessly shove itself into the Batman mythos to stay relevant. It was simultaneously one of the best movies I have watched this year and the most infuriating movie I have seen the same. I'm honestly saddened to my core for not being able to give this a good rating as it really is a good movie aside from the Batman bits.