I am surprised at so many gushing reviews. In the end I thought this was a pretty damn good performance that masked a pretty bad movie - so I guess it was average at best if you average the two?
Still don't feel like I would give it a 5/10 because I thought in the end it was inconsistent and kind of pointless.
Like I said on the positive - I think Phoenix was great, and I would watch him in just about anything. I really think he is one of the best living actors working today. The way he did the laugh while crying thing was mesmerizing and heartbreaking. He seems to morph into his roles and add these interesting little touches. I also thought it was pretty well shot and there were some really good looking scenes.
That said, I don't know what the point of having this as a Joker movie was. It basically felt like Phillips wanted to do a school-boy mashup of some Scorsese stuff he likes, but the studio wouldn't greenlight it unless they had a marketable comic book villain in it. If it's supposed to be the origin of the Joker we know, I don't buy for a second this guy is some organized supervillain capable keeping up with Batman. On top of that, it seems like there were all sorts of inconsistencies in the story and what he was saying, such as: this isn't a political thing, but two minutes later I will make it a political thing on the talk show with a rant and blaming society after he find out that it was his mom's fault. Mostly it felt like it was just presenting obvious themes/statements but not really digging deeper into any of them - income disparity bad, cutting funds bad, etc. Was there a point to giving it a 70s vibe besides the obvious homage to Taxi Driver/King of Comedy? (don't get me started on the casting of DeNiro) The themes, ideas, and details didn't seem to be set in that time. Maybe I watch too many dark drama movies, but I also don't get the comments about how disturbing this was or how dark it was - it's not like this was Requiem or something. I do admit, I was a lot more on board with the movie until the final act. Then I thought I was being hit over the head with stuff and it left a bad taste in my mouth. Things like his final "joke", having to show the flashbacks with the girl down the hall, the stuff with the crowd/riot, and I was tapping out.