"When you bring me out, can you introduce me as Joker?"

Rating: 9/10 (2 April 2020)

For a film with such incredible hype I was split. One, because while sometimes films with such hype or even build-up can be great they can lead the viewer to think they are much more ordinary than the reviews had told them. Second, I did want to see this film because I did think Joaquin Phoenix was a good actor.
My wife saw this in the theatre with a friend of ours and loved it, so she watched it for the second time, after perhaps a month with me this time. Early on in the film I could feel that this was going to be in the least a very good film and enjoyed how it had a completely different feel from other comic book-movies that are being made. Also like a total 360 degree flip to the classic SUPERMAN films of the 80s or original BATMAN series. Sometimes putting a new flavour on something known or loved can be a bad idea. Not here though.
Phoenix plays Arthur Fleck who is totally depressed. He has a number of mental illnesses, but one is that his dealing with stress is to laugh with hilarity. It is about him, his mental illnesses and his rise to become Joker. He is the most unstable version of the Joker I have seen.
While I thought there were some holes in the film and at times plausibility is sort of thrown out the window even though it is extremely grounded for a comic book-movie. But, that is okay because of Phoenix's performance. I think he is exceptional in the role and he did win an Oscar for it. Through his performance and the script we are looking at the mental illnesses as well as the wonderful performance. Not in the case of say Jack Nicholson (who I think does not get enough credit anymore for his performance, but that is what happens after Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix's performances) who shows a wonderful performance of someone who has mental illnesses, but not really looking at the mental illnesses.
The other thing I loved about this film was the casting of Robert DeNiro. For a lover of films and one who loves classic films as much as current films (okay...probably more) the addition of DeNiro when dealing with the subject matter of mental illness and him being late night show host Murray Franklin stirs up in my mind Martin Scorsese's THE KING OF COMEDY and TAXI DRIVER. Which is kind of like playing with a loaded gun in my opinion, but here co-writer/directer Todd Phillips does a great job in the handling of that character and DeNiro's performance.
Joaquin Phoenix's performance is and should be mentioned in the same breath as fantastic actors before him like DeNiro, Nicholson, Anthony Perkins and Anthony Hopkins who played characters with severe mental illnesses.
I would recommend this to anyone who has an interest in that subject matter before I would recommend it to anyone who loves comics or the BATMAN comics (who really only plays a minor role in this one). This one isn't for kiddies though due to the subject matter, violence and language.