A very dark and gritty look at the creation of the greatest character ever put to film

Rating: 8/10 (4 October 2019)

I always remember when 'The Dark Knight' was made Christopher Nolan saying that they made a decision very early on not to explore the Joker's origins. I always thought that was such brilliant decision because the less known about the character the more intriguing he is. So when I found out a 'Joker' origin movie was coming I wasn't sure how I felt about it. Interestingly, now that I've watched the film, I'm still not sure how I feel about it. It is a really well made film and I feel like that is its saving grace. If it wasn't well made people would be saying this film should never have been made.
Joaquin Phoenix gives the performance of his life. What a treat it must be for an actor to be asked to play this character (Jared Leto aside of course). He is masterful to watch and considering he's onscreen for basically every second of the two hour runtime, the fact that he never makes a misstep is quite incredible. Robert De Niro on the other hand was one of the only bad things about this movie. Completely miscast and boy has he lost his acting talents. It was quite hard to watch at times.
This is a very dark film. I'm so glad they gave them an R rating to work with. The film wouldn't be what it is without it. Be prepared though for a very depressing ride for the majority of the film. This isn't your typical upbeat 'Joker' that you're used to. It ca even be a little uncomfortable to watch at certain points. I would have really liked this to be another hour long and actually got to explore more of him once he actually became 'Joker'. It felt like we did all the hard work to get to that point and then only got a snippet of the payoff we wanted and deserved. Still though, this is a very fine film that is well worth your time and money.