The Joker we need but maybe not the one we deserve right now! A rare masterpiece - an intriguing character study!

Rating: 10/10 (26 October 2019)

Before anything, I want to commend Joaquin Phoenix for absolutely nailing the 'Joker laugh'! It was so satisfying to hear the iconic menacing laugh on the big screen that has become so synonymous with Joker, ever since Mark Hamill's take on the character. The previous two jokers haven't portrayed this characteristic of the Joker in a way that Phoenix did.
However, saying that, this movie isn't your usual comic-book movie. It's been rated R and rightly so, because Todd Philip's Joker is a psychological character study, of "what you get when a mentally-ill loner is crossed with a society that abandons him and treats him like trash." This isn't the Joker we deserve but the Joker we need right now!
Now, I say he the Joker we 'don't deserve' because, he is not the kind that could ploy a masterful plan to ensnare Batman, nor could he bring Gotham to its knees by posing it with a philosophical riddle to choose its own fate (the scene where Heath Ledger sets up bombs on 2 ships in 'The Dark Knight' for example). At least, not yet. On the contrary, the film's description of mentally-ill individuals isn't very respectful and is presumptive in nature.
Instead of all this, the 'Joker' is grounded in raw reality. The filmmaker wants us to sympathise with Arthur's reasons to becoming the ruthless villain, rather than look at him as someone "who just wants to watch the world burn" (Alfred in 'Dark Knight') without any reason. And this, is the point of the whole movie. Arthur fleck is a hapless victim of one inciting incident spiralling into another ultimately turning him in the clown prince of Gotham.
That is the reason I say, "He is the Joker we need right now". We need reminding of the fact that every victimiser was once the victim himself. Joker, is the victim of a Gotham that uses its predicament (extreme poverty, economic collapse) as an excuse for the persecution of its defenceless. Arthur fleck being a mentally challenged, extremely poor and lonely civilian, isn't spared. It is therefore ironic, but not surprising that the city's worst bane later on, is of its own doing. Gotham's true son isn't Batman. It's Joker!