More of a character study than an action hero film

Rating: 9/10 (28 December 2019)

Joker is a brilliant film. Joaquin Phoenix gives a stellar nuanced, multi-layered performance. Robert De Niro is superb in a role modeled after the late Johnny Carson, displaying compassion, open-mindedness, support and understanding - qualities he abandons in his frequent expletive-laced tirades against Trump. Supporting performances are uniformly credible. Kudos for production design and cinematography.
However, I was a bit disappointed in several regards.
First, this is the story of a psychopath's degeneration into madness, not the story of the rise and development of a master criminal with the cunning and resourcefulness to become Batman's nemesis. It is only through the confluence of social turmoil and a perverse fascination with his actions, that he is catapulted into celebrity.
A minor point, but he smokes during many of the scenes. This is a realistic character trait and is used to distinguish between the Joker's reality and his delusions, in which he never smokes. However, he is a role model, both within the film and to various groups that idolize the character in real life.
As with many current films, the producers seem obsessed with politically-correct inclusion, which has little to do with an a realistic portrayal of society. Black actors are given several key roles, always sympathetic with substantial dialogue, never as villains, although often as victims. One of the clowns is a midget. We never actually see him perform, but he has a fair number of lines. As conspicuous as the abundance of black performers is the lack of Asians. Also absent are scantily-clad babes, as may be appropriate for a movie about a villain who is identified with by self-styled incels. Zazie Beetz is a pretty girl-next-door/single-mother who becomes Arthur Fleck's fantasized love interest, but the real B-story love interest is his complex relationship with his mother.
The movie attempts to merge the origins of the Joker and Batman, but is not entirely successful. Set in 1981, young Bruce Wayne is played by nine-year-old Dante Pereira-Olson, who would be thirty-six in 2008, roughly Christian Bale's age, when The Dark Knight is set. But Joaquin Phoenix looks every bit his forty-five years, which would make his character 72 circa 2008, when The Dark Knight Rises is set. At the risk of charges of ageism, a 36-year age difference is a bit extreme for antagonists in action films and Arthur Fleck isn't portrayed as a cunning cerebral strategist.
As with many contemporary films, the filmmakers seem compelled to make political statements which are as incoherent and nonsensical as those make by actual political leaders. Arthur Fleck is, in the judgment of Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro) a self-pitying loser, who blames his problems on society (What do you get . . .?) and feels justified in wreaking havoc upon this uncaring society